Since Fulham’s promotion to the Premier League in the 2022-23 season, the Whites boss Marco Silva has garnered a reputation for the constant evolution of the club and the individuals within it.
Quite simply, Silva makes players better.
In recent years, Bernt Leno and Willian reignited their careers after a fairly tumultuous time in North London. Alex Iwobi, meanwhile, has improved drastically, while Sasa Lukic has been a standout this season.
Every recipient’s evolution is marked by a specific game, and the 3-1 win against Newcastle at the weekend was Adama Traore’s.
Defensive responsibilities
The Newcastle fixture revealed that Silva now expects his attackers, including Traore, to help out more defensively.
This means that they drop back and bolster the midfield, perhaps motivated by Andreas Pereira’s vulnerabilities as a No. 6 alongside season standout Sasa Lukic.
In doing so, not only does it shore up the middle of the park but it also enables the likes of Traore more space to drive into once they force the turnover of possession.
On Saturday, Cottagers supporters saw this exact situation play out on a couple of occasions.
Early in the first half, a frustrated Bruno Guimarães attempted to break the lines, driving at pace through the centre of the pitch.
Actioning Silva’s gameplan, striker Raul Jimenez and Traore worked together to dispossess the Brazilian midfielder.
They were rewarded for their tenacity, dropping back and successfully winning the ball to prevent Lukic, and in particular Pereira, from being overrun.
Another example came later in the game when the 28-year-old could be found picking up the ball deep into Fulham’s half.
The winger was then able to provide the Whites backline with an outlet as well as receive it facing forwards and exploit the space to play through Emile Smith Rowe, who would go on score from the attack.
In terms of ground duals won across the 90, Traore’s three were only bettered by defender Kenny Tete and one of the press spearheaders Smith Rowe.
More reliable end product
The effectiveness of Traore’s incision has never been in doubt, the winger has a reputation for breaking lines with ease through his dribbling ability and sheer pace; however, it is his end product that has left much to be desired.
That being said, the numbers from Saturday’s match suggest that the Spaniard’s incision is gradually being matched with a more reliable end product.
First of all, the 216-capped Premier League player demonstrated this with an expected assist contribution of 0.7.
Of course, it was Traore who teed up Jimenez for Fulham’s opener.
Adopting a starting position that was very wide in the attacking transition, almost hugging the touchline, meant that when Pereira won the second ball from Andersen’s diagonal to Iwobi and it fell to Jimenez, the Mexican could pick out the winger in acres of space.
With his positioning, the free signing from Wolves had manufactured the perfect one-on-one scenario and had the time and space to decide his next move.
Previously, the attacker would have favoured driving on the outside of the defender and down a blind alley, instead, he cut back to whip in a delicious cross onto the chest of his former Wolves teammate Jimenez, who applied the finish.
Further into the first 45 minutes, Traore found himself in an ideal one-on-one scenario once again, this time with the less mobile Dan Burn.
The Spaniard deceived the Magpies defender and forced a good save from Pope at his near post.
Given the tightness of the angle, it had an xG of 0.10, so he did well to trouble the England international when there were times in seasons gone by that he would have squandered the opportunity.
This also manifested itself following an excellent burst forward early in the second half.
He shrugged off Joelinton, carried it down the right channel, got his head up and floated it towards the back post, picking out a completely free Iwobi, who had his close-range volley denied by Nick Pope.
Interestingly enough, the expected goals for the former Everton winger’s volley was registered at 0.26, in reality, the 28-year-old will disappointed he did not convert it, which is a testament to the quality of the delivery.
The overall presence of Smith Rowe in the final third has helped Traore.
Fulham’s new signing seems to occupy the attention of every defender around him, freeing up the likes of the in-form winger, which has improved his decision-making and therefore his overall threat.
This is evidenced in his passing, having an expected threat of 0.34, level with Harvey Barnes, while his carries threatened at 0.170, the most on the pitch.
Blossoming partnership with Kenny Tete
The blossoming relationship between full-back Tete and Traore has been developing throughout the start of the 2024-25 campaign; however, on Saturday it proved particularly effective.
Even though all eyes were on Traore in the build-up to the first goal, and justifiably so, the Dutchman played his part.
The 28-year-old’s overlapping run forced the Newcastle defence to deal with two threats down the right as opposed to one, and decide whether Traore would indeed cut inside or send Tete clear away to cross.
Their one-touch link-up play allowed the duo to attack right, and kickstart another attack from out of nowhere.
A couple of stepovers, a cute give and go, and before you know it Lukic was teed up wide open in the right pocket to deliver towards Jimenez, who fired over.
Tete and Iwobi then combined to send Traore clean through following an intelligent underlapping run – it would end up being the chance where he tested Pope at his near post.
It was no surprise that the majority of the Cottagers play in the final third, 48%, came down the right owing to the strength of their partnership, which in turn improved Traore’s performances in white.
Tete and Traore were taunting Newcastle so much that Eddie Howe had no choice but to pull left-back Lloyd Kelly at the break.
Improved efficiency in and out of possession
Traore’s heatmap on Sofascore showed that Silva had given him extra license to roam free in order for him to get more involved in the game.
As expected, the majority of his activity remained down the right in the final third, but there were also heat signatures that cropped up more centrally as well as out towards the left.
This was first noticeable following Jimenez and Traore’s tenacious turnover of possession involving Guimarães.
The winger found himself with the ball and instead of turning and dribbling down a blind alley, he was efficient in possession.
Composed, the 28-year-old set it back to centre-back Joachim Andersen whose risky line-breaking pass allowed Smith Rowe and Iwobi to combine, the latter to rattling the bar.
For the Smith Rowe goal, Traore picked up the ball deep and in a more central position than he is accustomed to.
Driving, he played through Smith Rowe and supported the summer arrival centrally by making up 20-30 yards in no time at all, thanks to his blistering pace.
Having darted into the penalty area, not only did he give the Magpies something extra to consider but he was also alert for the tap-in if Pope had saved it.
It was a lovely underlapping run in the right pocket from Traore mid-way through the first half that provided Tete and Iwobi with an outlet on the touchline.
Their combination play had dragged both left-sided defenders out wide and gifted the former Barcelona winger a run at goal.
While the Iwobi close-range volley in the second half had come from Traore’s better decision making in possession, choosing to go on the outside of Schar and cross rather than going alone on the inside.
Throughout the game, Traore made six progressive passes and carries, 3.67 pass field gains, 12 forward carries, boasted 96% passing accuracy, three key passes, and one big chance creation.
These numbers emphasised that in possession he is starting to be much more efficient for the Cottagers.
The Verdict
Traore is no longer running at breakneck speed down blind alleys and being wasteful.
The Newcastle victory has demonstrated that the winger’s decision making has much improved.
As a result, the 28-year-old has been able to accept increased responsibility, fulfil Silva’s demands, and be boosted by the support of Tete.
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