Welcome to the Radar, a Sky Sports column in which Nick Wright uses a mix of data and opinion to shed light on need-to-know stories from up and down the Premier League. This week:
💪 KERKEZ MIXING POWER AND Precision💥 Fullkrug's West Ham Thuis Tressions🐺 Munetsi key to Wolves Improvement? 🔎 A player to view this weekend
Powerhouse Kerkez is a lot of application
There will be Milos Kerkez eyes when Bournemouth is opposite Manchester United on Super Sunday. The left back is much to ask like a target for Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid this week. It is no surprise after an excellent campaign.
Kerkez showed his potential in patches after his arrival from AZ Alkmaar last season, but his development is accelerated in the new campaign. The 21-year-old has played more minutes than any other Bournemouth player. Encouraged to push higher by Andoni Iraola, he has produced two goals and five assists.
Those figures, of a lonely help from the past term, are the result of attacking greater responsibility. Kerkez has more touches and makes more passes. They also come to more advanced areas. He crosses more and creates more.
Iraola has emphasized its improved decision -making. “He adds quality to his deliveries,” said the Bournemouth boss last month. “He is calmer when he arrives.”
That newly found calmness is a welcome addition given the physical qualities that he already has. Kerkez is an exceptional athlete, his speed and endurance visible in the fact that this season he belongs to the top 10 of the Premier League's top 10 players covered for distance and sprints. Only 15 players have carried the ball further.
His boundless energy provides constant support for his winger, usually Antoine Semenyo or Dango Ouattara, whether it is on the outside or the inside. Kerkez is in second place in the Premier League for overlapping runs this season and the top for noticeable runs.
The variety of runs makes Kerkez more difficult to defend against the opponents of Bournemouth and it is no wonder, seen how much he offers in his position, that Iraola has built his attack around him. Bournemouth sends a higher percentage of attacks through their left flank than any other Premier League side.
Kerkez is a major threat when crossing the name rule, as shown with his assists for David Brooks and Semenyo against Everton and Manchester City respectively this season.
But he can also deliver diagonally from deeper areas, as he did with his beautiful intersection for the opener of Marcus Tavernier in the 2-2 draw of Bournemouth with Spurs in March, after a interception and a driving behavior of the flank that, together with the delivery, emphasized his unique mix of strength and precision.
His scotch aid map shows an approximately even division between those two scenarios, storms to the name rule and overshall of further back, and further illustrates its appeal to the European elite.
A move to Liverpool may seem like the most logical next step, given his stylistic similarities with the aging Andrew Robertson and the influence of their sports director Richard Hughes, who drew him for Bournemouth. But Kerkez has options.
Sunday's game is another chance to show why.
Potter reproduces full crime, but he had a point
Graham Potter rejected the outspoken interview of Niclas Fullkrug after the 1-1 draw of West Ham with Southampton last Saturday. “I don't think it's useful for the club,” he said. But the candidate of the striker was refreshing. It might just be the kick-up the backside that his teammates need.
It was difficult to argue with his assessment of where they went wrong by slipped another new lead. Fullkrug complained the decision of Alphonse Areola to steer his passes long after Jarrod Bowen's 47th opener and the change of emphasis can be seen in his pass cards.
Fullkrug also expressed his anger about how West Ham returns back after their goal. “It was hard to bring the boys back to go up,” he added. Again, his claim was accurate. Their average positions were remarkably deeper after the break when the team was stretched.
The result was that, instead of guaranteeing what a comfortable victory should have been, West Ham gave the bottom of the Premier League a foot on the ground. The Momentum card below shows their deceased equalizer, scored by Lesley Ugochukwu, had come.
Potter felt that the views of Fullkrug should have been kept in -house. Others claimed that he spoke from the turn after an injury season in which he managed only four Premier League-Start.
But the 32-year-old, only a Champions League finalist at Borussia Dortmund last year, was signed to help increase the standards. Perhaps expressing some home truths was part of that.
'Infiltration Player' Munetsi pulls the eye
Wolves host Leicester on Saturday at a point of five consecutive Premier League victories. Their excellent form has a lot to do with Marshall Munetsi, a signing of £ 16 million in January that helped at the side of the eight of the eight games he started.
Will Still, the former manager of Munetsi at Reims, this week praised his impact on Monday evening football, the midfielder described as an “infiltration player” and used his goal in last month's 1-1 draw with Everton to emphasize the quality of his runs in the box of Deep.
That goal against Everton remains his striking moment for wolves, but the off-the-ball run that led to the chance has become a characteristic of their game under Pereira.
According to following data from Geniusiq, the average of Munetsi of 32.33 runs per 90 minutes is the third highest under Premier League players this season.
His movement has made him an invaluable attacking exhaust valve for wolves, but his runs are not only a means to place themselves in scoring positions. Just as important, they serve to create space for his teammates in and around the opposition box.
Pereira has emphasized his role to get the best from Jorgen Strand Larsen, who scored five goals in six starts next to him. “Munetsi now plays close to him, opens the space for him and helps him to play the space and attack,” said the Wolves boss.
The striker is also not the only player who has benefited.
In the images below, from the 2-1 victory of Wolves on Ipswich on April 5, Munetsi runs to Cameron Burgess as soon as Joao Gomes receives the ball, which occupies the left-sided center-back of Ipswich and gives Gomes the space he needs to unleash a shot that allows the post.
Sometimes the Munetsi runs serve both purposes in one.
In the example below, of the 1-0 victory of Wolves in Bournemouth on 22 February, the movement of Munetsi Lewis Cook drives away from Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, who has room to receive the Pas from Strand Larsen and then produces a low intersection where Munetsi himself burns widely when he has to score.
The only frustration, nine games in his Premier League career, is that Munetsi's goal is not higher. His finish has been irregular, but the added value of his off-the-ball runs is clear. Wolves made his arrival in January, together with that of his former reims teammate Emmanuel Aggbadou.
Player Radar: Who else should keep an eye on
Harvey Elliott is probably one of the replacements again when Liverpool strives to get the title against Tottenham on Super Sunday, but he continues to impress in cameies and deserves more playing time, whether in Anfield or elsewhere.
Live Radar: What's on Sky this weekend?
Super Sunday starts with the Bournemouth match against Man Utd, live on Sky Sports Premier League and the main event from 13.00 prior to the kick -off from 2 p.m.
Then it is on the way to Anfield for the potential Premier League gest of Liverpool, while organizing Tottenham to know that a victory would win the crown. That game starts at 4.30 p.m.
Read the Radarkolom of Last Time
Can the 32-year-old Mohamed Salah continue his extraordinary score parties? The radar weighed the evidence after news about his new contract in Liverpool. There was also a look at the groundbreaking work by Brentford on Set pieces for their meeting with Dead-Ball Specialists Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.