Norwich City had a tough start to the English Premier League this season. The Canaries earned their first points of the season after playing a goalless draw against Burnley before the international break. The team has conceded the most number of goals and are at the bottom of the table. However, they have some players who have shown improvement and one of them is Max Aarons. The 21-year-old is playing his second season in the Premier League with Norwich City and has been linked with big clubs after his recent performances.
The England U-21 international has featured in all seven games for Norwich. He has played every minute for his team and averages one shot per game this season. Aarons is yet to provide an assist or score a goal but has shown some promise while going forward. A total of seven smart passes and 11 through passes have been attempted by the youngster. Last season while playing in the Championship his stats were somewhat similar to this year’s stats in the first seven games.
When looking at the above chart, the general rule is that the longer the bar the better the performance – you can see the league average in the middle and the % is the percentile rank the player is in.
These are the defensive actions of Aarons in the previous season. Norwich won the EFL Championship and were playing more of an attacking side of the football. Therefore the defensive actions were less for the full-back. He averages very little in all the departments when we compare him to other defenders in the league.
This season Norwich has to defend more and have conceded the most number of goals in the league. However, Aarons has shown some improvement and has more defensive actions than half of the defenders in the Premier League. The player averages 13 defensive actions per 90 and his success rate is 81%. Norwich have recently changed their formation from a back four to back five and Aarons has featured as a wing-back in the recent two games.
Aarons has taken six touches in the opposition box and his heatmap shows that the player has tried to get inside the 18-yard box of the opponents. He has attempted three passes from inside the box and one pass landed in the 6-yard box. The average player of the youngster is within his own half. A total of 14 crosses have been attempted by Aarons from his natural side.
He has attempted the most number of passes towards centre back Hanley. The highest threat is created by the passes towards forward Josh Sargent. His passes towards their main striker Teemu Pukki has created the second-highest threat.
Max Aarons and Norwich have defended a lot in every game. Norwich is considered to be one of the favourites contenders for getting relegated this season. Max Aarons is scouted by big clubs and the defender could be on a move in the upcoming transfer windows. Last time Ben Godfrey was acquired by Everton after the Canneries were relegated. The performances of Aaron have certainly improved and his club would be expecting more contributions while attacking.
