Thread:

Alex Telles.

This thread will cover:

1) archetype
2) strengths
3) weaknesses
4) suitability

Despite it being 25 tweets, it is a summary as there is much more that could be mentioned.

Archetype

Firstly, Telles is an independent creator. Due to his proclivity to cross the ball, he tends to be isolated on the left flank but found in good positions for him to utilise his crossing ability. This makes him useful in creating space for the LCM/AM/LW of any team.

Despite his chance creation from the left flank, he is not a player who plays many incisive passes — my in-house metric. Also, his completion rate of 44.7% in this regard — slightly on the lower end — is because he tends to force those passes at times.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing as losing possession whilst trying to create opportunities is a fair trade in the grand scheme of things. The most forceful creators in Europe — De Bruyne, Messi, Neymar, Alexander-Arnold, etc. — all likewise lose possession the most.

This tendency of his should make it easier for us to penetrate defences as he will attempt certain passes that other players do not. As a result, defences will have to defend vertically which is a dynamic he creates.

In terms of running intensity then Telles is an interesting case. This season, he has engaged in 135 intensive runs in just three games. He makes one of these runs every 61 seconds of possession on either side which quite significant.

However, a lot of these intensive runs have come on the defensive end. This is because he tends to defend by directly engaging with the opponent due to his duelling strength. He does make off-ball runs to receive passes but it doesn't occur enough for me to say it's his profile.

Lastly, his 85.5% pass retention on passes during build-up and progression stems from his tendency to pass backwards if he is closely guarded. He may be a risk-taking passer in the final third and in some deeper areas but if he is guarded he often focusses on retention.

So, we have an active player who is an intense defensive runner — diving in more than he should — who is also a final third creator but, at the same time, not a risk taker when in deeper areas.

I will get to what this means nearer to the end under ‘Suitability’.

Strengths

Let's get the obvious one out the way: Alex Telles is not only a good set piece taker, he is amongst the best in the world. He is proficient as a shooter and creator from any location within 40 yards to goal. Most creators have a weak angle but Telles doesn't.

He has a weakness related to over/underlapping which we'll discuss. However, the strength from this is that he has learnt to create from the touchline which is not easy for modern FBs. 49 of his 176 open play crosses in 2019/20 were played within 5m of the touchline.

The result of this, and another strength of his, is that he has a lot of gravity on the left flank which constantly creates pockets for others and he has the tendency to attempt passes to find players in those pockets.

Furthermore, due to his size — 5’11" (181cm) — he is quite strong in duels both on the ground and aerially. Last season, he won 68% of aerial duels, 65% of defensive duels and even 54% of duels when he was being challenged. These are all good to excellent numbers for a FB.

Lastly, he is an active defender in that he covers space well as he reads player patterns (i.e. movements, body positions, posture, etc) well. To add: he usually engages in duels with his body before tackling. In fact, he has a ratio of 2.7:1 for duels per tackle which is good.

Weaknesses

It is befitting we start our weaknesses here because one of them is that he dives into challenges at times due to being overzealous. Yes, he covers space and anticipates well. However, he still has a habit of duelling the man and not guarding the space.

Secondly, there are times when he delays on the ball in order to set up crosses and, as a result, he is dispossessed on the ball. I wouldn't say it is carelessness but, rather, there are frequent moments where he just focuses on the ball rather than his surroundings.

Thirdly, I mentioned that his pass retention in build-up and progression phases is quite high. This is because he does not attempt many progressive passes in these two phases. Shaw has developed this one-line-breaking pass in the last year which Telles still does not have.

So, his on-ball prowess will not be seen much until we end up in the final third or final 40% of the field. This will give a bit more progression duty to the likes of Rashford (drop back) and Fernandes (drift wider).

Lastly, he rarely takes on the opposing FBs and does not usually offer himself as an over/underlapper to the winger. This usually gives Rashford room to work with but Telles will not afford him that room unlike Shaw. So, Rashford will have to adapt.

Suitability

As he is an independent FB it means Rashford will be given room to drift further inside which, if done correctly, will be good for him. However, Rashford is not well suited to smaller spaces and, I feel, will struggle with that.

Moreover, Telles’ lack of progression during initial phases means that Rashford and Fernandes will have greater responsibility down the left-hand side in our initial progression. This would not occur as much with Shaw. Telles needs to be facilitated here.

There has been talk about Maguire covering for Shaw defensively — it's been exaggerated. It will, however, be seen with Telles in wider areas unless Matic fills in as Telles does have this somewhat silly tendency to plant has feet and stick out a leg when facing one-on-ones.

Generally, I would not say Telles suits us in terms of his archetype or qualities. He likes to cross when we have no box presence and he rarely creates space with movement which we need more of. Could it work? Sure but I have doubts whether Solskjær can.

Conclusion:

Alex Telles is definitely a good player with a few excellent qualities. However, I would not say he is suited to the other archetypes in the team and whilst he will benefit a couple of them, a few of them will have to adapt their games to fit him in.