Connah's Key | Callum West

Callum West - Connah’s Key

With 14 goal involvements in 25 Cymru Premier appearances, the 20 year old midfielder has been a key part of his club’s recent title challenge. 

Regular readers will know that, for a number of reasons, I am a keen watcher of Welsh football. Four years ago, one of my earliest scouting reports sent to a club identified Bala Town’s Will Evans as an ideal recruitment opportunity - both physically and technically - into English football, so it was amazing to see him score against Arsenal in this season’s FA Cup 5th Round. Louis Lloyd was an obvious call given his blistering form for Caernafon in a wide-forward role that Evans had excelled in previously. More recently, my blog celebrating the talent of Gabe Kircough foreshadowed his move to Forest Green some months later: An Ode to Gabe Kircough

Callum West’s name is likely to join the growing list of young talent that has made great strides amidst the hustle and bustle of the Cymru Premier when their peers in England’s pyramid are still making tentative steps into first team football. The league is a fantastic platform, and one that is likely to become more competitive as a competition. There have been recent takeovers and investment in a number of Cymru Premier clubs that may result in threatening the long-time monopoly held by TNS, with Barry Town’s recent Welsh League Cup Final win the first indicator of a shifting landscape.  

But from a scouting perspective, games against TNS remain the best context to view a potential talent in, seeing how they cope when facing quality opposition that will keep the ball well or put intense scrutiny on a player when in possession. West’s most-recent litmus test came on 3rd March, facing TNS at home in a top-of-the-table clash that proved decisive in crowning TNS champions for the 18th time. 

This game may have sealed TNS’ title, but it also rubber stamped West’s potential for me. Playing as an advanced midfielder when in possession, West was able to utilise his dangerous left foot while drifting out wide to create an angle for close-proximity rotations or sending a progressive ball diagonally over the opposition back line. He selected his touches well, showing clear awareness of the space he was in and how best to utilise it to retain or progress possession under the intensity of the TNS press. 

I was also impressed with the discipline he showed when out of possession, dropping deep into the midfield line that looked to compress space and block passing lanes - a decision that worked well in thwarting the TNS threat deep into the latter stages of the game. Though not often required to press aggressively, there were moments where West spotted opportunities to break shape to unsettle TNS players in possession in their own half with good pace and determination. These were certainly not empty pressing gestures. 

While I didn’t get to see the type of finish that has been a staple of West’s season so far, the powerful, deliberate drive from outside the area having found himself time and space or even a replay of his mazy run and finish against TNS some two months prior, he remained determined to be a threat in and around the box. The fact that he was willing to be a direct threat in a game of such magnitude reassured me that this is someone teams can rely on to try and turn games. 

But don’t just take my word for it…

Fellow contributor Willem van Riel (DutchProScout) recommended I use Earpiece by Twelve Football to compare the live experience vs their data visualisations and AI-driven summaries. 

Now, I’m not an easy person to give advice to. Those that know me well will testify to that. I rarely accept recommendations easily (which is one of the reasons I still have never watched The Wire) but know that Willem has had great success with it and written some fantastic content on his experiences: Dutchies in Scotland

The first obstacle was an understandable one. The Cymru Premier’s mid-season split into top and bottom groups has impacted the way it perceives overall outcomes of West’s season, limiting his data to just ten matches rather than seeing the season holistically. 

What did impress me was the platform’s ability to read outcomes in the data that matched closely to the performances I’d seen in live games, particularly in the categorisation of his main strengths: 

Though the headline of ‘effectiveness’ might seem a little generic, the platform’s ability to break this category down further graphically is another fantastic plus, as it is the closest representation to the performances I’ve seen of West when in possession.

That said, and for complete clarity this is certainly not an issue with Earpiece alone as a data provider, the perception of defensive output is certainly something that needs to be contextualised with watching games live. 

West’s defensive actions are seen as well-below that of fellow midfielders (a categorisation in itself that can be problematic) but struggles to account for how West is often deployed when out of possession. 

Particularly in games against TNS this season, West is seemingly asked to drop into forming a more robust defensive shape when out of possession, limiting the potential for higher ‘active’ defensive numbers purely by the lack of engagement allowed to him. But when he did press and, as mentioned, he is more than capable in doing so, it was often as the first wave with an expectation to force the ball into less central areas or to prompt errors from defenders in possession, rather than explicitly winning the ball himself.  

But to be fair to the platform and the player himself, rather than seeing this as a deficiency, surely this needs to be seen as an opportunity for growth. While other metrics would enable West’s defensive role to be recognised more easily by the platform, West himself must see this as an aspect to consider evolving if he is to make the progressive move I expect. 

What Earpiece and I confidently agree on, is that Callum West’s performances for Connah’s Quay make him an ideal candidate for any club looking for the key to unlock defences next season. 

*Screenshots taken with Earpiece’s permission. All data correct as of 12/3

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About The Author

As well as being an active Goalkeeper Coach Analysts Bar Co-Founder is a Technical Scouting and Talent ID professional with experience is supporting clubs both in England and overseas, currently working as a First Team scout at National League level.

Away from football Colin is an Educational Consultant as a former Head of English as well as a regular guest on BBC Radio Nottingham's 'In The Game'.

Written by Colin Sisson | @colin_sisson

Editor: Richard Ogando | @notts_stats

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