Chelsea’s senior and youth teams are full of attacking talent, but there’s one in particular catching the eye right now. Donnell McNeilly is in his first full U21 season after scoring 21 in 20 appearances for the age group below last year. It’s all the more impressive seeing as he splits time between striker and attacking midfield.
It was a slow start to the season with lots of competition; Stutter and Kellyman were involved before their loan and injury respectively, while Morgan, Mheuka and Washington have all featured. He’s been a mainstay however from gameweek 4 through today (12).
Today against Nottingham Forest he was utilized as an attacking midfielder behind JJ Morgan. In this position what did I want to see from him?
- Can you link play and retain possession in the middle and final thirds?
- Can you contribute inside the box?
- Will you work hard to both press and protect the pivot?
Straight off the bat the first one was very evident. Within the first five minutes he dropped off the front line into space three times. The first time the goalkeeper doesn’t use him, the second time he gets the pass to link play, and the third he wins a freekick. This persisted throughout the first half.
There’s more to like here too; McNeilly uses his arms to keep the defender at a distance and protects the ball by playing with his front foot.
Once in possession what can you do? Over the past few seasons I for one have been sick of watching Mudryk, Sterling, Felix, and even Madueke, sometimes Palmer turning over possession. This simply wasn’t the case with McNeilly today and often isn’t.
Around the 25th minute there were two instances of him receiving under pressure. Upon receiving he wriggles free of multiple players to a) retain by passing backwards and then b) progress in the wide area. The latter is pictured below and while the same principles apply about protecting the ball we also now see progressive passing and a willingness to make an additional run after the pass. He doesn’t get the return but it’s great understanding of space and off-ball concepts.
Before halftime there were multiple instances of him trying to link and progress play; some successful, others less so. Once again the pass is on the front foot, protecting it from the defender; this time his right. The ideas were clearly there and it would come off more in the second half after a reset.
At half time Chelsea were 2-0 down and dead in the water with very little created. McNeilly seemed to be given more license to push up and enter the box as they searched for a lifeline.
There were a couple of runs into the 18 before he scored. His eighth of the season was a tap in at the front post, running in front of the center back as he looks to the linesman for offside. Some good box movement and a deserved reward for his efforts to that point.
The second is from a similar area but a different situation. Morgan finds his run and he finishes again on his left foot with the help of a slight deflection off the goalkeeper. This was one of the first times he got in behind and he made it count. Three touches on his left keep the ball away from the defender and set him for the shot, albeit he could have hit it slightly earlier.
You can see both goals, and much more here:
The goals aside he played a huge role in advancing play and combining with other attackers; first left and then even more so on the right with Ampah, Hughes and Morgan.
Above he rides contact from the central midfielder well to allow the left sided player to get involved. Below he drops in to receive on his back foot, cuts inside (importantly taking a large touch across the player chasing back) and plays the same way, dragging players across the field and changing the picture.
Obviously his goals were the main contribution inside the box but there were also some good moments combining with teammates, predominantly to his right. After his goals he spots an unmarked Morgan, who was perhaps unlucky not to get a penalty.
Finally, will you work hard for your team and not act like an entitled maverick, who is above hard work? This could be answered in one action, albeit there were many more instances. In added time he sprints to win the ball back and recycles to the goalkeeper.
He’s also relatively strong in the air at this level despite being ‘only‘ 5’11. It may not necessarily translate into senior football, but we’ll have to see how much more he develops physically.
An area for improvement perhaps is the angle of some of his pressing and controlling the outcome by making sure to decelerate. At times he was easily evaded with a turn simply because he went into too quickly. But at 19 this is something he certainly has time to improve.
Morgan may get more plaudits for his two goals and two assists but this was a complete performance from McNeilly where he displayed not only important fundamentals (protecting the ball with his arm and front foot for example) but also wide variety of useful attacking concepts; receiving between the lines, switching play, combining with wide players and delaying runs to receive on the edge of the box. He also an uncanny knack for consistently shooting between the width of the goalposts, or at most the 6 yard box, generating high xG opportunities.
I would love to see him sign a new contract and have a successful loan next season before being integrated into the first team setup, but if not another club is going to have a real gem.
The Chelsea Spot 
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