Chris Richards Scout Report
Drawing from his player report, let's delve into a scout report for the US Centre Back, Chris Richards, currently lacing his boots for Crystal Palace in the Premier League. In his 2023-24 season, Richards showcased a powerful presence in the backline with particularly impressive ball recovery skills, featuring in the top 23% of his position. Complementing this is his strong ball retention abilities, placing him comfortably in the top 15% of centre backs.
However, where Richards shines in defense, he lacks in offensive threat. His knack for chance creation and goal threat falls alarmingly below the median range while his progressive carrying and passing falls woefully short, landing in the bottom 5% and 10% respectively. This confirms his predominantly conservative style of play on the pitch.
His assist per 90 metric, though, stands out at 72%, suggesting a keen eye for creating opportunities even if his own goal-scoring is more modest (45.33%). But his accuracy in pass completion is a concerning factor, nestled in the lower 37%.
Defensively, Richards performs reasonably overall. Despite a less than stellar win percentage for aerial duels, he makes up for it in ground duels, confidently sitting in the top 35%. His interception metrics reinforce his defensive merit, ranking among the top 36% of his peers. His player stats, however, reveal a relative weakness in recoveries and a tendency for fouls; aspects the 24-year-old would certainly need to improve upon.
Richards seems to favor the midfield, with almost half his possession seen here while sharing the rest nearly equally between the defensive and attacking thirds. This distribution underlines his style of play as a conservative, defense-first player. Overall, Richards brings considerable defensive strengths to his team, but must work on his attacking contribution and discipline to round out his game.