How can Newcastle get the best out of Ryan Fraser?
Since his move from Bournemouth following their relegation in 2020, Ryan Fraser has recorded 0 goals and 2 assists in his 18 Premier League appearances for The Magpies. A fierce contrast to his 7 goals and 14 assists in his standout 2018/19 campaign. With a well-documented tight budget restricting new arrivals and an unconvincing 2020/21 season still clouding the skies in the North-East, Steve Bruce will be desperate to get the most out of his current group, from the 27 year-old in particular.
During his time under Eddie Howe, Ryan Fraser was primarily deployed as a left-winger in a flat 4–4–2. This allowed for a full back to add defensive solidity behind the attacking winger when darting up the sideline to deliver a cross, and also an overlapping option to compensate and compliment Fraser’s tendency to drift into central areas and create. Callum Wilson and Joshua King made up a pace-strong strike force to get onto the end of Fraser’s said creative work.
Bournemouth’s stylish 4–2 win over Leicester City stamped Ryan Fraser’s name onto the front pages and serves as a broad display of his strongest assets and how Eddie Howe harnessed them.
At a glance, Frasers dribbling numbers are unflattering (all statistics taken from FBref.com). When compared to other attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe’s top 5 leagues, both his ‘players dribbled past’ and ‘successful dribble %’ statistics place him below the 15th percentile (the poorest 15% of monitored players). However, this could be indicative of the way he carries the ball, rather than how well he does it.
In wide areas, Fraser’s strength lies in his exceptional crossing. Rather than beating players to advance inwards towards goal, he is happy to either use his pace to earn some space for a cross, or to deliver the ball into the box early — something he excels at with his weaker left foot.
In his 2018/19 season he completed 4.41 crosses per game, placing him in the 98th percentile across Europe’s top 5 leagues. With their well-established link from sharing the pitch at the Vitality Stadium, the combination of Ryan Fraser’s delivery and Callum Wilson’s efficiency in front of goal is made an even more mouth-watering prospect.
In addition to his quality in wider areas, Ryan Fraser possesses an often fruitful tendency to drift towards the centre to control attacking movements from midfield. At Bournemouth, the lack of a structural number 10 reserved space for the wandering winger to drop between the opposition lines and slide balls through to the forwards. With 2-man strike force Joshua King and Callum Wilson both blessed with pace, Bournemouth thrived on getting in behind their opponents’ back lines.
So, how should Steve Bruce set up to best utilise Ryan Fraser’s talents?
Well, within an ever-present fog of justified and frequently reinforced pessimism surrounding Newcastle United, Wilson’s goal (above) against footballing powerhouse Doncaster Rovers is actually quite encouraging.
Lining up in a 5–2–3, Ryan Fraser was afforded the space to drift into the centre and create. Whilst Callum Wilson will be a consistent and obvious threat up the middle, the overlapping Jamal Lewis is a very promising sign for Fraser’s potential freedom in this Newcastle side. With a wing-back overlapping, not only is Fraser provided an additional passing option in attacking phases, but an opposition defender will have to occupy Lewis regardless, freeing up space for Fraser to dribble, create, or score:
An attacking wing-back like Jamal Lewis or even cover wing-back Matt Ritchie (yes, we have another ex-Cherries player), will complement Fraser brilliantly, and would be foolish to abandon given how it has so clearly assisted in his impressive pre-season.
Also, note the extreme positioning of right-winger Allan Saint-Maximin, that helps flood the left sideline and free-up Fraser for the finish. Where Newcastle’s system moulds to Fraser’s figure slightly less than Bournemouth’s is the use of a lone striker. However, with these sorts of roaming runs from the opposite winger and possibly a number 10 too, Newcastle will have no shortage of decoy runners and genuine attacking outlets in the final third.
The fact that Fraser and Saint-Maximin can play a similar role on either side of the team, means that he will still be able to get around and behind the defence himself. This is still crucial in order to get the most out of the Scotsman, given his impressive crossing numbers.
To get Fraser into these positions at Bournemouth, one of the two strikers would drop in between the lines, and Fraser would dart forward, either in wide areas to cross, or centrally to score:
Whilst tactically speaking the idea of Joelinton as a second striker makes an intriguing amount of sense, and could be a way of kickstarting another Tyneside underachiever, there are a few reasons why a two-man strike force is unlikely to be Steve Bruce’s first choice. Newcastle only have 3 strikers in their squad: Wilson, Joelinton, and Dwight Gayle — 2 of which share just 17 goals across a combined 142 Premier League appearances for the club. And, with the ongoing pursuit of Joe Willock and Miguel Almiron soon to return following Copa America, there is good reason to believe that Newcastle will deploy a number 10.
In attack this will function quite similarly in terms of the false-9 positioning between the lines, and will lend another midfielder to the work force during defensive phases — Brucey’ll love that. The darting diagonal runs of Allan Saint-Maximin, similar to Ryan Frasers above, will provide that extra channel-runner anyway.
Newcastle have a squad very much fit to compliment Ryan Fraser.
With the right tactical approach and some good fortune in the physio room, there is no reason why Ryan Fraser can’t revive his Premier League career this season. An opportunity to re-stamp his name into the headlines awaits.
