As I write this, I’ve just gone for a solo early morning coffee, and well, as solo early morning coffees go, it was 'awright'.
‘Awright’ is Scottish for ‘awesome’. It could also mean that you’re having a shocker but don’t want to talk about it, however, in this case, it is definitely the former. All that’s missing is a Gazetta Dello Sport.
Someone else who is doing ‘awright’ is Lewis Ferguson.
Catching up on the morning Twitter, if that’s still what it’s called (?), my gaze meets the post that hastens this article.
‘Fergie’ is well-loved in the beautiful renaissance city, and not just because he’s recently signed a new contract keeping him at I Rossoblù until June 2027. At 23, with a young family, he is happy, and settled - no mean feat for a footballer these days.
As a further education tutor, teaching on mindset, it is difficult to overstate just how important a settled home life contributes to performing well at your job. Amidst interest from the richer, northern clubs, Ferguson cemented his future further South, much to the relief of Head Coach, Thiago Motta.
For if Ferguson is looking settled on the pitch, it’s due in no small part to the relationship he has with the gaffer.
“Thiago knows how to create the group and has developed a game that amuses us and the public. With him and a group of ideal teammates, I can improve. What did Motta teach me? The way of playing, which is also fun for us who put it on the field. He has a great passion, he wants the best to grow together ”.
Gazetta Dello Sport, July 26
In the absence of the actual quote, translating a Scot to Italian and back to a Scot reads funny, but that aside, it’s interesting to pick out one word here - ‘fun’.
Sitting next to Roberto De Zerbi, Billy Gilmour recently said exactly the same thing.
“The way we’re playing football, everyone can see, it’s a joy to watch, and when you’re playing it, it’s even better.”
Joy. Fun.
When did you last hear two young Scottish footballers, at the top of the profession, in top leagues, citing such childlike experiences as the best component of their game? In essence, the respective journalists’ questions were getting at, “You’re playing well at the moment. You’re a talented player. You excite people. What is the secret?” and with both Ferguson and Gilmour, the answer is “fun”.
There are huge, deep roots here. Centuries of education theory asserts that learners only really learn something when it is connected to their lived-in, situated experience, or, their worldview. Maybe you're the same? In fact, I'm guessing with certainty that you are, so let's explore it a wee bit, then look at the stats.
In academia, we might refer to this pursuit of joy, leading to learning, as 'sensemaking', citing Mike Askew et al’s 1997 research, rooted in a bedrock of constructivist values.
Essentially, this view holds that the individual; me, you, Lewis Ferguson, Billy Gilmour, can’t help but see the world their way, and make sense of it through their unique lens.
If that seems like common sense, that’s because good science is exactly that.
If it also sounds antithetical to how Scottish football coaching, and the Scottish mindset, has historically valued footballing development, then that’s also because it is exactly that. ‘Fun’ wasn’t the operative word when I was personally being scouted. Our coaching was far more behaviourist than constructivist, with less room for individualistic expression and artistry.
Historically, we are a nation of grafters. Those forged by the Clyde and the mines. Yet, we often forget that that industry was also built upon Hume and Smith, then commented upon and represented by Ruskin and Mackintosh.
Without the constructivism of the Enlightenment, when Edinburgh became the ‘Athens of the North’, we don’t get the industry and invention of the steam train, the life-saving power of penicillin or the world-changing communicative properties of the telephone and television.
Essentially - we are a creative lot, us Scots. We punch a lot higher than our population, climate and geographical positioning would have you guess.
Back to the football, check this out this grafter.
Note the title comparison here, Ferguson’s data as it compares to Attacking Midfielders and Wingers is remarkable. Why?
Well, when something is full of green in an fbref stat drop, you pay attention, because it’s tried and tested. It’s what the player does more than anyone else in their position. It’s what they thrive upon.
We don’t focus on the ‘Successful Take-Ons’ because anyone who has watched Ferguson knows that that isn’t his game. He wins the ball, in the air and on the ground, he intercepts, he harries, he excels at these things because his fitness and mental ability to be positionally effective are second to none. He’s strong, clever, and uses his energy well. What does he do when he wins it? He finds a teammate, with 97% precision. And where does he go after that? Look at the top stat. He arrives to score ⅔ more goals than anyone in his position.
That graft might not be your definition of ‘fun’, but for Lewis Ferguson, it is something he thrives upon. It's why we are individuals with individualistic expression. Interestingly, it is representative of the older qualities that Scots were treasured for, fitting the stereotype. But hold on a minute, this box is bursting at the seams, he's no mere grafter.
‘Check out the Green’ has become common-speak amongst internet stattos, so I’ll use my training and analyse this one for you.
Considered alongside Midfielders, Ferguson’s NPG, NPGxg and Shots Total indicate that he is a very strong attacking midfield player. We know this because this sea of green is in direct comparison to other players in his position. When you combine this to what we learned earlier, we can assert that he is a very strong attacking player with very strong defensive returns (>90th percentile).
As an advanced midfielder, often playing in the hole behind Marco Arnautovic, Ferguson risks more with his passing in comparison to others, resulting in a fall off in his completions.
Before you get worried, we can understand this by actually watching the game, rather than stats alone, as Ferguson almost always completes his passes when considered an Att Mid/Winger, but compared to other, safer, midfielders, or those in a safer position, he does not complete as much.
Essentially, for an attacking player, this is exactly what you want from a defensive return in the final third: winning possession, and recycling it with near perfect retention (97%), or, otherwise attempting a risky through ball or lay-off higher up the pitch.
Crucially, off the ball, Ferguson remains a big problem for the opposition. Receiving the ball between the lines in front of the opposition defence 4> times a game, protecting it very well (90th percentile of touches in opposition box) then trying to slip his teammates in, or, more typically, playing the ball out wide, to Musa Barrow or the like. This again, admittedly, does not show up on the stats, but does on the ‘eye test’, when watching the game unfold.
For Scotland, this bodes very well, for who is our player who receives the ball between the lines, as in Oslo, before risking a through ball to an onrushing teammate? Who is the midfielder who harries and leads from the front, holding the ball up better than anyone?
Lewis Ferguson may not wield Super John McGinn’s majestic arse, or talismanic monicker with the Tartan Army just yet, but he is arguably ahead of McGinn in terms of their respective careers at 23.
Ferguson is settled, both in the Scotland camp, and in Bologna and the Serie A. He is a very strong attacking midfielder with excellent defensive attributes, and more than all of this, he is these things because he is having fun.
Don’t underestimate fun. Even when it doesn’t show up in stats.
Oh, and I found a Gazetta Dello Sport…
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