It feels like he’s older because he was getting a lot of hype at 16/17. He looked very good and he’s one of those players where his talent is very apparent, makes him exciting to watch as well.
He initially caught my interest with his impressive performances for Spurs and England at youth level.
This is taken from a post of mine in 2017
In this post I was proven to be incorrect when I predicted it was only a matter of time before Edwards was introduced in the starting berth for Spurs. Pochettino would reveal how he was disappointed by his attitude, and mentality. As illustrated below:
Marcus Edwards has admitted to having a questionable attitude -
However, it seems like going out of his comfort zone (currently plays in Portugal for Vitória S.C) has brought some much needed maturity.
One area which Marcus Edwards has matured in his game is his eagerness to receive the ball.
The above is from a game against Benfica this season.
Here he receives the ball by the touchline, and his immediate reaction is to pick out his teammates, as opposed to dribbling with his head down in an attempt to do it all by himself. This has been a criticism of him in the past. To digress for a brief moment, it was very recently when Daniel James received criticism for playing with tunnel vision against Man City, going for goal when Bruno Fernandes was in a better position.
I particularly liked this moment against Benfica. Nice vision here, tantalisingly close. It was put to a halt as the keeper came out. But the idea was good.
Before
Now against Porto, he once again has the ball up. This time its when he's moving at pace.
After
Perfect execution here as this defence splitting pass leads to one of the best opportunities in the game.
Marcus Edwards vs the big three in Portugal
Benfica:
It was an encounter where Vitória S.C. put in an admirable performances. Not a one sided affair by any stretches of the imagination. Without mentioning the instances of the pictures above, there was a moment of individual brilliance with a dribble in a tightly congested area. In terms of position, he was consistently situated in dangerous areas. Sometimes he was offering himself as an outlet by staying wide and providing width, other times he was finding himself in between Taarabt and Pires, other times positioned by the half spaces.
Porto:
So apart from the defence splitting pass which is in an image above, he had other noteworthy moments.The game against Porto offered a different dynamic to the one against Benfica, as Porto were very dominant. In any case, Edwards had a shot cleared off the line, with the keeper beaten. In the latter stages of the game he almost got a pre-assist,
Sporting CP:
• 5 of 7 dribbles completed
• 5 shot contributions
• 4 fouls won
• 1 goal
European Stage
Scored against Arsenal and Eintracht Frankfurt.
There was another moment against Arsenal I liked .... a flee footed dribble which started from his own half and ended by him advancing to the opposing box at a very high pace.
Areas he can improve
Sometimes he can be a bit soft. There was a moment against Benfica where Taarabt barely touched him, and he was on the floor. He did win a free kick, but I felt it was soft myself. Additionally, he's one footed, I remember him shifting his body to do an outside of the boot pass with his dominant left footed, instead of the much simpler option with just using his right foot. In the dying stages of the game against Porto, he did a fantastic job of trapping the ball dead, beat a player from that standing position, and then he spoiled it by attempting another a dribble. A dribble which wasn't neccessary, even if it was successful. The moment needed a desperate shot, or a last ditch pass. On that note, I'd like to see him shoot more.
How difficult would it be to get him?
He has a £13.6 million release clause to my knowledge. Potentially great from his perspective too, as I spotted numerous occasions where he was let down by his teammates.
Ignores the run of Edwards, and squares it instead.
Edwards in space, full back turns around
Edwards free on the right, player dribbles to the left touchline and then gets dispossessed
Stats:
FWR (Forward right) - 4 goals and 1 assist in 7 appearances = 7.85 WhoScored rating
AMR (Attacking midfield right) - 1 goal and 2 assists in 3 appearances = 7.41 WhoScored rating
MR (Midfielder right) - 1 goal and 1 assist in 9 appearances = 6.90 WhoScored rating
I came looking to see if there was a thread on him, I watched the Spurs game the other day and he looked very good. I was watching with a Portuguese guy I work with sometimes and he was saying he’s been very good for Sporting and expects English teams to come in for him soon.
He had his ups and downs last season. Seems to be blossoming this season as Amorim changed to a different approach of using full mobile forwards instead of having at least a reference forward on the team.
He was really impressive against the Spurs. 3 years at Vitória and now playing for Sporting — such an unusual career path for a young English player. Great to see.
I remember him being super highly rated from a sheer talent perspective but it never really working out in practice. Good to see he's found his feet a bit. He had the Spurs defenders on strings with his dribbling.
One of the conditions in order for Sporting to sign him was they had to take on the Spurs sell on clause themselves. Spurs didn’t receive any money when he transferred to Sporting, his previous club basically just kept the money and passed the clause onto them.
One of the conditions in order for Sporting to sign him was they had to take on the Spurs sell on clause themselves. Spurs didn’t receive any money when he transferred to Sporting, his previous club basically just kept the money and passed the clause onto them.
Such a shame that his long run where he skipped past several tackles and broke through in the box ended with a poor finish and a good save from Lloris.
Just curious if that happens often with him? Brilliant build up and lacking the killer finish or final pass?
He initially caught my interest with his impressive performances for Spurs and England at youth level.
This is taken from a post of mine in 2017
In this post I was proven to be incorrect when I predicted it was only a matter of time before Edwards was introduced in the starting berth for Spurs. Pochettino would reveal how he was disappointed by his attitude, and mentality. As illustrated below:
Marcus Edwards has admitted to having a questionable attitude -
However, it seems like going out of his comfort zone (currently plays in Portugal for Vitória S.C) has brought some much needed maturity.
One area which Marcus Edwards has matured in his game is his eagerness to receive the ball.
The above is from a game against Benfica this season.
Here he receives the ball by the touchline, and his immediate reaction is to pick out his teammates, as opposed to dribbling with his head down in an attempt to do it all by himself. This has been a criticism of him in the past. To digress for a brief moment, it was very recently when Daniel James received criticism for playing with tunnel vision against Man City, going for goal when Bruno Fernandes was in a better position.
I particularly liked this moment against Benfica. Nice vision here, tantalisingly close. It was put to a halt as the keeper came out. But the idea was good.
Before
Now against Porto, he once again has the ball up. This time its when he's moving at pace.
After
Perfect execution here as this defence splitting pass leads to one of the best opportunities in the game.
Marcus Edwards vs the big three in Portugal
Benfica:
It was an encounter where Vitória S.C. put in an admirable performances. Not a one sided affair by any stretches of the imagination. Without mentioning the instances of the pictures above, there was a moment of individual brilliance with a dribble in a tightly congested area. In terms of position, he was consistently situated in dangerous areas. Sometimes he was offering himself as an outlet by staying wide and providing width, other times he was finding himself in between Taarabt and Pires, other times positioned by the half spaces.
Porto:
So apart from the defence splitting pass which is in an image above, he had other noteworthy moments.The game against Porto offered a different dynamic to the one against Benfica, as Porto were very dominant. In any case, Edwards had a shot cleared off the line, with the keeper beaten. In the latter stages of the game he almost got a pre-assist,
Sporting CP:
• 5 of 7 dribbles completed
• 5 shot contributions
• 4 fouls won
• 1 goal
European Stage
Scored against Arsenal and Eintracht Frankfurt.
There was another moment against Arsenal I liked .... a flee footed dribble which started from his own half and ended by him advancing to the opposing box at a very high pace.
Areas he can improve
Sometimes he can be a bit soft. There was a moment against Benfica where Taarabt barely touched him, and he was on the floor. He did win a free kick, but I felt it was soft myself. Additionally, he's one footed, I remember him shifting his body to do an outside of the boot pass with his dominant left footed, instead of the much simpler option with just using his right foot. In the dying stages of the game against Porto, he did a fantastic job of trapping the ball dead, beat a player from that standing position, and then he spoiled it by attempting another a dribble. A dribble which wasn't neccessary, even if it was successful. The moment needed a desperate shot, or a last ditch pass. On that note, I'd like to see him shoot more.
How difficult would it be to get him?
He has a £13.6 million release clause to my knowledge. Potentially great from his perspective too, as I spotted numerous occasions where he was let down by his teammates.
Ignores the run of Edwards, and squares it instead.
Edwards in space, full back turns around
Edwards free on the right, player dribbles to the left touchline and then gets dispossessed
Stats:
FWR (Forward right) - 4 goals and 1 assist in 7 appearances = 7.85 WhoScored rating
AMR (Attacking midfield right) - 1 goal and 2 assists in 3 appearances = 7.41 WhoScored rating
MR (Midfielder right) - 1 goal and 1 assist in 9 appearances = 6.90 WhoScored rating
Supremely talented player but he is unprofessional and has attitude problems. You can probably get him on the cheap, he will impress for a couple of months and then revert back to being shite. If I was Everton I'd get him on loan till the end of the season without obligation to buy. We are in a difficult position since he has devalued immensely and his contract expires in 2026 but I just want him out of the club.
Our new manager is a disciplinarian and doesn't put up with BS so when Edwards showed up late for training and was displaying poor attitude, he immediately took him out of the group and made him train alone. Edwards needs a change of scenery and is probably homesick.
Supremely talented player but he is unprofessional and has attitude problems. You can probably get him on the cheap, he will impress for a couple of months and then revert back to being shite. If I was Everton I'd get him on loan till the end of the season without obligation to buy. We are in a difficult position since he has devalued immensely and his contract expires in 2026 but I just want him out of the club.
Our new manager is a disciplinarian and doesn't put up with BS so when Edwards showed up late for training and was displaying poor attitude, he immediately took him out of the group and made him train alone. Edwards needs a change of scenery and is probably homesick.
Sounds about right! I think Forest were interested in him too. You'd think Moyes would be able to deal with discipline issues but as you say, a change of scenery could snap that out of him too. Especially if he's relatively close to London.
