Jamie McDonnell v Sheffield United
Forest midfielder Jamie McDonnell played in Mansfield's brilliant 4-3 win at Bramall Lane yesterday - let's dig in to his performance!
Northern Irishman Jamie McDonnell has been virtually an ever present for Nigel Clough’s Mansfield side after joining on loan in the summer. In his first season at the level of League One, the 21 year old continues to go from strength to strength as career trends upwards.
Yesterday, he played on the right in a central midfield pair against Championship side Sheffield United. His hard work in the middle helped the team to a tremendous 4-3 victory, Mansfield’s first FA Cup win against a second-tier side for 55 years.
Looking at his action map, it would seem like he didn’t have a very busy afternoon. But so much of McDonnell’s work came off the ball in a match where his side only had 21% possession. In fact, due to the difficulty that the Blades had in getting through the partnership of McDonnell & Louis Reed, combined with some half-time tactical tweaks by Nigel Clough, the home side focussed a lot more down the wings in the second-half. This toned down McDonnell’s on-ball actions even further.
In this first clip, we see McDonnell move to press Sheffield United’s midfield. Because he’s playing in a pair in front of a back 5, this does mean there’s often large spaces in behind that Nigel Clough is hoping his centre backs can move in to.
McDonnell notices this space though and looks to cover for his midfield partner. He works hard to get back into position, surprises Arblaster on his blind side and nicks the ball off him. This starts a decent counter attacking chance for Mansfield.
On this occasion, Mansfield hold a 2-1 lead in injury time at the end of the first-half. McDonnell is responsible for Arblaster here, and initially closes him down very quickly just as he did for the whole first half. As the play develops, McDonnell retreats toward his box, but importantly checks his shoulder 4 times in less than 8 seconds to make sure he knows where Arblaster is.
As he feels like he needs to go back into his penalty area, he still has an idea where Arblaster is located - because of this he’s still in a good enough position to react quickly and make a great block on Arblaster’s shot from just inside the box. His great work here helps keep Mansfield’s winning margin intact.
This moment at the start of the second half was probably McDonnell’s best in the game. He capitalises on some hesitation from 3 players in possession, moves quickly to press and turn the ball over. This releases Rhys Oates (who had a tremendous game) down the right flank. The end result is a 3rd goal for Mansfield that only happens because of McDonnell’s intensity and pressing.
This final clip shows both where McDonnell is improving, but also where there’s still room for him to grow even further. He shows good patience in staying outside of the box, anticipating a loose ball falling toward him. He moves over to collect it whilst scanning for players on both sides.
This ball carrying is something I don’t think we’d have seen from him 12 months ago during his successful spell at Colchester. He calmly moves away from pressure and shows great strength to put a defender on the floor.
What he’ll probably be disappointed with here is being overcome a little with excitement and taking on a low-danger shot after some nice play. There’s a couple of passing options on here (though to be fair both tough options), or he could continue the carry slightly to win a free-kick. I’m sure these are the kind of moments he’ll be looking back on with an eye of improving his decision-making in the future. Remember, McDonnell is only 18 months in to his senior career.
Final Thoughts & Areas to Improve
At 21, Jamie McDonnell has shown some really good progress since making his first senior loan move to Colchester United in League Two last season. His defensive numbers there at this time last year were tremendous, ranking 1st among all defensive midfielders for both the amount and the success he had in defensive actions.
It’s a very similar story now he’s moved up a division to League One with Mansfield. He once again ranks as the best midfielder when monitoring the amount and the success of defensive actions - but this season he’s doing his defensive work in more high-value defensive areas (i.e. closer to his own box).
McDonnell has also managed to improve his work on the ball too. His Pass Completion is higher, and he’s bettered his goal tally this season too. Like we see in the clips above, he’s also carrying the ball much more positively.
One thing for him to keep an eye on is just to control his intensity a little better. There are times when he presses opponents so quickly, he ends up potentially selling himself for an easy one-two where he’s temporarily taken out of the play, or he can fall for a quick shoulder drop by a midfielder who has made his scans and knows where the press is coming from.
I’d also like to see him improve his attacking contributions. I think he has the quality and sheer work rate in those scrappy areas to get on the scoresheet a little more - although granted he was used in a defensive role from attacking set pieces yesterday, covering the potential counter attack rather than making a nuisance of himself in the box.
It’s already been a successful campaign for McDonnell, who forced his way into the senior Northern Ireland set up, made his debut off the bench away at Germany and made his first international start too against Luxembourg, both in World Cup Qualifiers.
The challenge for him now is to continue this upward trend in performances - as long as he stays fit he’s in a great position to get consistent game time with Mansfield. The Stags will be aiming to trouble the top half of League One and hopefully progress even further in the FA Cup too. Forest will be monitoring his progress closely, and in all likelihood McDonnell will be plying his trade in the Championship next season.