Why Newcastle's Lewis Miley Is Such A Special Player
Lewis Miley scored his first goal for Newcastle this weekend to cap off an incredible (if unlikely) run in the first team. But at just 17 years of age, he already shows the signs of being a vital player for Eddie Howe's side.
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00:00 This young chap here, Lewis Smiley, who I think is really good.
00:04 Before we get into the hows and the whys and the whoos though, just wanna clear up two things.
00:08 First of all, this is a re-record. I already made this video and then got halfway through the edit at about 3 or 4 o'clock and found out it was unusable.
00:15 So if I seem demented, that's the reason why.
00:18 But also, one thing I noticed when doing the edit was that I said, "He's 17 years old!" loads and loads of times.
00:24 So for my own amusement, I'm gonna put this little ticker in the bottom of the video.
00:29 And every time I say it again, we'll just see how that goes.
00:32 So, what makes Lewis Smiley so good?
00:34 Well, he plays in this right-hand number 8 position in Eddie Howes' 4-3-3.
00:39 And I think that is the most important role in this entire Newcastle United side.
00:45 Why's that? Well, let's just draw four little lines on here.
00:49 You will see the players nearest to him on the pitch are Newcastle's four most important attacking players.
00:56 Up front, it's either Wilson or Isak and they do a lot of this kind of movement.
01:00 They drop deep to receive the ball, they move away from the back line, or they press right up.
01:04 They do a lot of that.
01:05 Over here, and I'm gonna have to shout, you've got Miguel Almiron, usually, who does a lot of this movement.
01:10 He comes from outside to in to join the attack.
01:13 And behind him, there's Kieran Trippier. I'm gonna have to shout again.
01:15 He does a lot of this movement all the way along that side of the pitch, getting to the byline,
01:20 or occasionally, just getting in that sort of half space to do the David Beckham thing.
01:24 And then, I'll put him back, and then behind him, there's Bruno Gimaraes, who does a lot of this movement.
01:28 He receives the ball from back four. He is in charge of building the attacks.
01:32 He is Newcastle's central hub for everything.
01:34 And what that means is that this right-sided number eight, usually Sean Longstaff, is responsible for spotting the gaps.
01:41 And that's the gaps in both the sense that their attacking movement will create space for them to get into when an opportunity arises,
01:47 but also, just their movement out of position will leave spaces behind which they have to protect.
01:53 That's why when Bruno pushes up, you'll quite often see Longstaff dropping into the number six position.
01:57 It's why when Trippier pushes up, you'll see him covering over into the right-back area.
02:02 But it's also why you see him bombing into the box when an opportunity arises.
02:05 You remember his goal against PSG? That was pure reading of the game.
02:09 So, let's review. To be the right-sided number eight for Newcastle, yes, your technical ability has to be spot on.
02:15 That goes without saying, but your footballing brain has to be perfect.
02:19 Therefore, you would think that were a long-term injury to happen to Sean Longstaff at exactly the same time a long-term suspension was to happen to Sandro Tonali,
02:28 Newcastle would be f***ed.
02:30 But of course, they were not, because Lewis Miley, all 17 years of him, ding, has entered the fray and looked like he's been playing in that position for the last 10 years.
02:41 And of course, he's not been playing in that position for 10 years, because if he had, he would have made his debut when he was seven.
02:49 Because he's 17.
02:50 In August this year, Sean Longstaff did an interview for The Athletic, and one of the many things he talked about was Louis,
02:56 and why he thinks he's one of the greatest players he's ever seen at the club.
02:59 Why he's actually a little bit nervous about the fact he plays in a similar position to him.
03:03 And a lot of people read that and thought, "Alright, mate, he's just like some 16-year-old in the academy, just calm it down a bit."
03:09 But Sean Longstaff had seen what everybody at the club had already seen,
03:12 and that is that Miley is one of the most naturally gifted footballers to emerge through the academy in a very long time.
03:19 Now, what's special about Miley is he has come into this team at a time when the injury crisis means it's really disorganised,
03:26 and everything's all over the place, and he's gone into a position that requires such a footballing brain,
03:31 such a high level of on-field intelligence, and just looks like he's been there forever.
03:36 In fact, so impressed with the club with Miley that they didn't want to loan him out this year,
03:40 just in case any opportunities to get into the first team came about.
03:45 Like, they weren't expecting the kind of injury crisis they've had, but they thought at some point,
03:49 there's going to be a gap or a cup run or something we can get him in, and if we can get him in, we absolutely should.
03:54 Like, you've no doubt seen his assist for Isak in the Chelsea game. It's a brilliant disguise pass.
03:59 He draws the Chelsea defenders towards him by feigning to shoot, and then plays this ball,
04:04 which doesn't really look like it's on, especially when he's got a far easier option.
04:08 And Almiron to the right-hand side, it looked brilliant, and he rightly got loads of applaudeds for that.
04:12 But if we just, if we may, go back slightly further in the build-up phase, what he's doing there is just impossible for a 17-year-old.
04:21 To Newcastle, move the ball out to the right, it comes to Trippier, and in this area of the pitch, they are 3 vs 3.
04:27 Now, because Almiron is positioned slightly higher up, that means there is a gap behind Kukerea,
04:31 so Miley, recognising this situation and knowing nothing's going to be achieved by him offering the ball when he's marked,
04:37 decides to run into that. Now, straightaway, because the midfielder is marking him, and he's also running into the space behind Kukerea,
04:43 both those players have to react to that. Miley's movement pulls them both away from Almiron, leaving him with way more room than he had before.
04:50 Now, Almiron could come into the centre of the pitch here, into the space that Miley has vacated, but he wants to go down the byline.
04:56 He's joined by Trippier, who leaves his defender behind him, and they both effectively run up the right-hand side
05:03 with no challenge for about 20 yards, because Miley has pulled those players further up.
05:09 Now, the easy thing to do in this situation is, well, I'm already running down the line, I might as well keep going and see if someone gives me the ball,
05:14 but he decides not to do that. He cuts back inside once Trippier and Almiron have caught him up to give more depth to the position.
05:21 Now, this is the particularly clever bit, because they end up in this situation here, and Miley could receive the ball, but he's not really a great option here,
05:29 so he decides what he's going to do again is just move some players around.
05:33 So what he does is he spots this space in between Kukurea and the defender and decides just to run into it,
05:39 which sounds incredibly simple, but it means one of two things is now about to happen.
05:44 Either the midfielder will react to this and go with him, allowing Almiron to put a ball in straight away on his left foot,
05:50 or he'll leave him, and when he gets into Kukurea's space, Kukurea will be effectively pinned.
05:55 He won't really be able to go with him, but he also won't be able to close the gap to Trippier here.
05:59 And what happens? Miley goes into the space, the ball comes out to Trippier, and you can literally see Kukurea here.
06:05 He wants to go and close that down, but he looks, and there's Lewis Miley, and if he rushes out, then it's just going to come inside him,
06:12 and he's got a problem. Miley has once again created loads of space here.
06:16 Now, what happens next, like some kind of really badly written drama, takes place off screen.
06:21 Trippier puts the ball over, it goes a little long, Gordon goes and recycles it and brings it back into the middle.
06:26 Now, let's just do a little jump cut, okay? When last we saw Lewis Miley, he was in this proximity to these two players.
06:35 When next we see Lewis Miley, as he's about to put on the assist for Isak, he is in this proximity to these two players.
06:42 And you can just go through pretty much every single game he's played during this run in the team and find those little moments.
06:48 Like in the Man United game here, he dominates Bruno Fernandes in the air, he doesn't let him get any space, he tracks him all the way back.
06:54 And when you castle do turn the ball over, he then gets some separation from Fernandes, who's his man, drives into a more dangerous area,
07:01 realises that he's left him behind, so now Kobe Menuh has to pick him up and drives on, pulling him out of Joe Linton's area.
07:09 Like, this is the amount of space Joe Linton has when Miley releases the ball, and this is the amount of space Joe Linton has when Miley completes his run.
07:15 Do you see all this space here? Lewis Miley, who is 17, made that.
07:20 Again, the Milan game, he sees the space in front of him, he points where he wants it, he draws Milan's defenders to him in a panic,
07:27 and his very first touch of the ball is to just roll it back for Joe Linton, who scores.
07:31 Do you see this little bit of space here? Lewis Miley, who is 17, he made that.
07:38 But I think, honestly, what's most impressive about all of this is not merely what he can do on the pitch,
07:43 it's how much his teammates around him trust him to do it.
07:47 Like, how many times have you seen it when a young player breaks into a team like this, especially at this level?
07:53 They try and protect him, almost, don't they? Like, they won't give him the ball in tricky circumstances,
07:59 they'll sort of compromise on their own game to stop him getting exposed.
08:03 There's just none of that with Miley and the team.
08:05 And I can prove this one, right? So, progressive passes, we've talked about them on the channel before,
08:10 they're basically any pass that really does help move you up the pitch.
08:15 They've got to be at least 10 yards, they've got to go forward,
08:17 they're the kind of pass you'd always want to play if you're able to.
08:20 Now, a really good way of measuring midfielders, especially number 8s, so not like defensive midfielders,
08:25 is how many of these they are receiving.
08:28 How many of these passes they make is a good measure of sort of how involved in chance creation they are,
08:34 but if you want to measure how much their teammates trust them, how they will give them the ball in every available situation,
08:40 you sort of want to look at how many they're receiving.
08:42 So here, you've got this particular stat in the Premier League this season for 5 of the best number 8s currently going.
08:48 You've got Martin Oerdegaard, who's great, Dominic Sapozlai, who's great, Lucas Paqueta, who's great,
08:53 Pascal Gross, who's great, and Conor Gallagher, who I like.
08:57 So you can see the bar here is between like 3 and 6 progressive passes received per game.
09:02 That's what the top players at this level do.
09:04 And now it's time to bet on Lewis Miley.
09:07 Where's he going to come? How's he going to rank compared to all these other players?
09:12 Get your money down, don't be shy, gather round, place your bets now.
09:17 Betting ends.
09:19 Oh my word, would you believe it?
09:22 Lewis Miley, who's 17, by the way, he is absolutely comparable to these elite number 8s in the Premier League in this particular regard.
09:30 In fact, in many instances, he's better.
09:34 And part of the reason for that, here is an increasingly crazy statistic, is this.
09:38 In terms of how many times he fails to control the ball in a game,
09:42 Lewis Miley actually has one of the best touches in the Premier League.
09:47 And he's... yeah.
09:49 His teammates all trust him implicitly with the ball because he's technically excellent
09:54 and he reads the game as well as they do, if not better.
09:57 Like even these two just seemingly trivial stats, he's one of the best in the Premier League at not getting dribbled around.
10:04 He can read players trying to go past him and win the ball better than pretty much anybody.
10:09 He's one of the top midfielders in the league already for just intercepting passes,
10:13 for sort of reading where the ball's going to go and getting there to recover it.
10:17 Just to rewind to before when I said that Newcastle opted not to send Miley out on loan,
10:22 that's because you send these players out to get first team experience.
10:26 You can have all the ability you want, you can do what you want in training and the reserves,
10:30 none of that matters unless you've got the mindset and sort of the mental capacity to do it in senior football.
10:36 And that's why Newcastle didn't send him out on loan,
10:39 because that's the one thing they knew for definite he had.
10:42 Like the mental capacity to play at any level, like the technical ability will improve or may follow
10:49 and that's stuff they're going to work on, but they knew if nothing else,
10:52 this was a player with the kind of brain you need to play at this level.
10:56 And that's why he doesn't look like someone coming through an academy
10:59 and getting a couple of starts and showing a bit of promise.
11:02 He looks like an established, experienced Premier League player, because he thinks like one.
11:09 Now just a disclaimer, nothing's ever guaranteed in this life, things can go awry, things can go wrong.
11:14 He's still got a lot of work to do to be a first teamer when everybody's fit and available
11:19 and I truly hope his career goes in the direction it looks like going, but nothing's given to you.
11:25 Who knows?
11:26 But anyway, that small disclaimer aside, Lewis Miley's f***ing mint, isn't he?
11:30 And he's only 17, so there's, I wonder what that says, I can't see it.
11:33 Right, if you enjoyed that video, and I certainly did the second time around,
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11:54 Thank you very much, and until next time, I've been Adam Cleary.
11:58 God knows when this is going out, and I'll see you soon.
12:01 Bye!
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