Tom Lawrence.
- Ellie Biggerstaff
- Feb 8, 2019
- 19 min read
This is yet another player that has gotten an unfair amount of criticism and some of the criticism, I do agree with.
But most of it is absurd. Football is not solely about scoring or assisting. It is a team sport, with eleven men on the ball.
Are we forgetting that there are so much aspects to football, the beautiful game that we all adore?
Before I start all this analysis, I would like to quickly state that all this is kept as brief as possible by just looking at basic statistics, heatmaps and highlight videos. There are so much more information to be taken by looking at more websites, full length matches and further statistic analysis. This is just a quick analysis of all 25 appearances that Tom Lawrence played.
For starters, let's look at positioning. The players has got to stick to a formation as decided by the manager, as we all know - and Tom Lawrence has been effective in doing this. He also regularly puts in a shift both on and off the ball, even when we don't see it, and poses an attacking threat as well as carrying out defensive duties in tracking back and winning tackles; this is more than we could ask for from a winger who is not even a winger. He's an attacking midfielder, but he has adapted to the winger role quite well and quickly. The red hot form he was in for Ipswich, he played down the centre, and with more choices to go for goal or to pass to either left or right sides of him, he had, for entire games, the opposition was eating out of the palm of his hand. He knows he has got the ability, but where can he express all this ability when he is restricted to one side of the pitch?
Tom Lawrence has gotten five goals and an assist in 22 league appearances, which is quite unflattering for someone with as much talent as we all know he possesses. However, Tom Lawrence is our third top goal scorer in the league, bagging four while Jack Marriott has got 7 (in 22 appearances too) and Harry Wilson with 10 (in 23 appearances). Mason Mount has got 4 (in 26 appearances) and Martyn Waghorn has got 2 (in 22 appearances) in the league, so quite obviously, Lawrence deserves a bit of credit for that, especially if he has been so up and down in form and missing a couple of games through injury. Imagine how lethal he could be if he had full backing, stayed fully fit and remained in good form.
Again, about the undoubted talent he has got, we see glimpses of it in certain games, but he does not bring it into the next fixture. I have no idea why this happens - maybe it is something to do with his confidence. Maybe he gets overconfident, or maybe he loses confidence - social media has got a huge influence on the modern day players, and I have seen plentiful criticism of Lawrence, even after he puts in a brilliant performance. Maybe this has got an effect on him.
An aspect of his play that I admire, and is something that goes unnoticed - he distracts the opposing defence. The defence up against him is fully aware of his potential, and most of the time, they will mark him heavily, and when Derby goes on the attack, there will be two or three sticking closely to Lawrence to prevent him getting a key pass in, or scoring or even assisting, therefore freeing up space for others, such as Marriott or Wilson to take advantage of not having anybody mark them because they are so focused on marking Lawrence. Here are a few examples of when this has happened.
This is an example of Lawrence's positioning opening up opportunities for others within the team. Just moments before, he made a threatening run and passed to the side, and FOUR Reading players stick with Lawrence, leaving just two Reading men to mark three Derby players - this led to a goal from David Nugent that was scribbled off due to offside.
Mason Mount scored the first of the Reading game from this position - Tom Lawrence is keeping two players at bay, and he had placed himself into a dangerous position, causing David Meyler (Reading's number 8) to be in two minds, which then leads to him making a late decision and leaving Mount free to take a shot at goal from long range; this gives the Rams an equaliser to make it 1-1.
Against Bolton, Lawrence has made a run into the box and three, possibly four had he not gone down for a tackle, are focused on marking Lawrence and shutting down any possible chance he might take, and this frees up space for Marriott to try his luck - this shot dribbled wide. It was a massive chance for Derby to equalise after being 1-0 down.
The ball is played to Lawrence by Fikayo Tomori in the 1-0 defeat at Rotherham, and four men go after the ball, towards Lawrence, freeing up space for Tomori to either cut in after receiving the ball back or to cross it to someone else in a better position - this pass resulted in Lawrence being fouled and Derby getting a free kick on the edge of the box; arguably, our best chances this season has come from set pieces from positions like this, and who wins these free kicks? Tom Lawrence, as well as Harry Wilson.
Norwich likes to flood the box with defenders when they are in a compromising position like this - Lawrence makes a threatening run into the box, and it results in the marksmen getting confused as there is a sudden miscommunication on who should be chasing down Bryson and who should be staying with Lawrence. In the end, a split second decision is made but it is too late; Bryson scores from this position that left Norwich open and vulnerable.
This screenshot is from when Derby beat West Brom 4-1; Lawrence makes a run into the box and distracts two West Brom men to give Wilson a perfect gap to slot the ball home to make it 3-0 to Derby, proving Lawrence's positioning to be vital to Derby scoring goals.
This is from the game against Chelsea - the man who was meant to mark Jack Marriott has had his head turned by Lawrence and is marking him until he realises his error and it is too late, Marriott scores the first equalising goal against Chelsea - Lawrence's positioning has given Marriott the space needed to score.
Lawrence has made a run into the box and brings three Birmingham players with him, and although one makes a late decision and breaks away, it is enough to give the space to Mason Bennett to enable him to make a run into the box too and score the equalising goal against Birmingham.
In this game against Stoke, Lawrence was very efficient, and he managed to put in a threatening run that resulted in FIVE players running to mark him, leaving space on the left for Jack Marriott to score or to the right, for Harry Wilson to either score or set up a goal - his hold up play has created a couple of different choices, and somehow, Stoke atrocious defending has left an open gap between Ashley Williams and Erik Pieters (two nearest to the box) and Lawrence took this opportunity to get a shot on target, which Jack Butland put a strong hand to and it deflected into the open space that Lawrence caused, and it was unfortunate that Marriott could not complete his run to score.
In this situation, Lawrence has received the ball, moved himself into the box, and at this point, many fans got frustrated with him to play the ball but by holding onto the ball, he has encouraged FOUR Southampton men to go after him, leaving both David Nugent and Jack Marriott free to go through on goal. Holding the play is not always a bad thing if executed correctly, and in this circumstance, it was done perfectly and this was just a moment before Marriott scored the first goal to make it 2-1.
As you can see, Lawrence is about to play a pass - there are three defenders focused on Lawrence and they are set on closing him down, leaving both Mason Mount and George Evans free on either side of Lawrence; a clear goalscoring opportunity because Lawrence's dangerous run has distracted the defence from the other two. The ball was played to Mount, whose shot was blocked expertly by Luke Ayling.
Now, let's take more of an in-depth look at his performances over the 25 appearances he has played this season including statistics taken from official websites and viewing of brief highlights, and heatmaps.
What a game to kick off the season with, and we all know who got the last minute dramatic winner - Tom Lawrence. He played, pretty much, the entire game and was substituted off in the final minute of the game, and as the game kicked off again, the full time whistle was blown. I think none of us can argue that he put in a class performance that game, and was effective in completing a comeback from 1-0 down. He had a pass completion rate of 79.5%, five shots (two on target, one deflected), made a clearance and three interceptions to dispossess Reading. He also won 4 fouls for Derby which proved to be the spark needed to get fire into the bellies of the Derby players.
We lost heavily to Leeds, 4-1, this game but Lawrence put in a lot of hard work. Although the score does not reflect that, Lawrence was one of Derby's better players, and it was unfortunate that he could not really do anything about our leaky defence this game. He worked all over the pitch, tracking back and attempting to lend a helping hand to the defenders in dealing with unplayable Leeds, and he played the full game - he had a 70% pass completion rate, four shots (two on target), made two successful clearances, and won three fouls for the team. From just looking at the heatmap, Lawrence put in a proper shift, and tried to claw the game back from despair.
We lost this fixture against Millwall, an unfortunate 2-1 defeat and I think this was one of those games where we just could not find a break through. However, Tom Lawrence had a threat going into the game, he was being involved in a majority of the attacks that the team launched - he played the full game also. As you can see from the heatmap, he has tracked back and has moved himself all over the pitch to play a huge part in attacking as well as defending; he worked his socks off this fixture, it was just unfortunate he could not get rewards out of this. 29.6% of his completed passes were forward passes, 33.3% were to the right and 22.2% were to the left, giving a total of 85.2% passes giving the strength of threat to the attacking players around him. He also made two interceptions, won 75% of aerial duels and a clearance, as well as winning a handful of fouls for Derby - showing his contribution to the team defensively.
You cannot deny that Tom Lawrence really impressed this game - he covered quite a vast amount of distance and tracking back was also a strength as shown in the heatmap, and he played the full game too. He bagged a goal in the 68th minute from a free kick, had a pass completion rate of 75%, 41.% of the passing going to the right hand side of him. He also had a 50% shooting accuracy, scoring with his only shot on target and the one other shot he had was off target. He also contributed in defence with a clearance and won a foul as well as making two clean tackles to regain possession. Derby also had 62% possession so Lawrence, and the rest of the team, couldn't have really contributed anymore to the defensive line.
In the game against Preston, Tom Lawrence was impressive. He had a passing accuracy of 88.9%, with 33.3% of them being forward passes and 27.8% being passes to the right. He also had a 50% success rate of tackles, completing one and losing another - bear in mind Derby had 49% possession and 50% of the action was in the middle of the pitch - Lawrence also made two interceptions and won two fouls for Derby. By looking at the heatmap, he was a bit all over the place but still put in a shift regardless, setting up attacking threats and switching sides with Harry Wilson.
Tom Lawrence played a total of 29 minutes of this fixture, coming on in the 61st minute for Martyn Waghorn, and he struggled to get involved in the game. In his time on the pitch, he had a pass completion of 72.7%, made two interceptions, had an aerial duel success rate of 60% and tackle success rate of 66.7% - as much as he struggled to get stuck in, he still made his presence on the pitch efficient in the handful of minutes he had. Lawrence also made the 'second assist' (the pass before the assist) for the match winner from Jozefzoon.
This was most certainly a game to forget for Tom Lawrence as he received a straight red card in the 58th minute, and his performance were not up to par, just like the rest of the team but these things happen- the team are just human beings. However, Lawrence did well in his passing, completing 81.8% of his passes and taking on three shots - one was saved well by the Rotherham keeper, one was blocked and one skimmed over the crossbar. He also contributed defensively by making three clearances, but in all, it was just another bad day at the office, and he could have given more in terms of more energy out on the pitch and moving about more as shown on the heatmap. He really struggled to get stuck in and he let that get to his head, resulting in a wild tackle to get sent off - it happens to the best of us. Derby concede the only goal of the game after his sending off...
Tom Lawrence played a total of 34 minutes, being substituted on in the 56th minute in this 1-0 defeat to low flying Bolton, and he was constantly switching sides with either Harry Wilson or Martyn Waghorn to try and break down Bolton's defences, as shown from the heatmap. Derby had 73.9% possession so there were not much need for Lawrence to track back, it was yet another one of those days where the team just could not break down the defensive line. Lawrence had 33 touches, and a pass completion rate of 72.6% - proving that he was one of those attempting to push the play up further the field and to try and get opportunities in
Playing a total of just half a hour after being substituted on in place of Mason Bennett, Lawrence still put in a shift, running all over the pitch as shown in the heatmap, and he also had a pass completion rate of 73.3%, and contributed with a key pass and had a 100% cross success rate and won the only aerial duel he was involved in - pretty impressive considering he was on the pitch for only 1/3 of the match. His positioning also contributed to Craig Bryson's equalising goal to grab the team a valuable point.
Lawrence played a total of 78 minutes, being subbed off for Martyn Waghorn to give him some game time, and Lawrence had to switch positions quite often in this match as the QPR defenders were proving to be a solid challenge to break down - as you can see in the heatmap that he was working hard, moving all over the pitch and chasing down the long balls and attempting to set up chances for the team. Only 20% of his passes went backwards, and all of his 75% completed passes were pivotal in pushing the play upfield. Defensively, he had a 100% tackle success rate, and 75% aerial duel success rate as well as making two clearances - he also got his side some advantages in winning four free kicks for them. It was just unfortunate that the other players could not convert these chances into goals.
Lawrence played a total of 54 minutes, being substituted on for goalscorer Craig Bryson at 36 minutes. He did remotely well in trying to get stuck in, and finally got involved in the second half. 73.7% of his passes were completed, he had two shots at goal and was mainly focused on pushing the play further upfield as Sheffield United were, and still are, solid defensively. He won 50% of his aerial duels, and completed a handful of tackles and played a part in defending although he was a bit absent in some aspects and in a couple of situations as the game went on.
I think we all would be in agreement here that Lawrence performed brilliantly in this fixture, scoring one of the 4 goals to topple West Brom 4-1 and playing a huge part in the other goals too. He covered a lot of ground on the left hand side, and helped both offensively and defensively - he had a pass completion rate of 87.2%, played two separate key passes that played a part in two other goals as well as scoring a goal himself, and winning two free kicks for Derby. Defensively, he also made a clearance and intercepted the ball twice. This has been one of his best performances this season, arguably.
Lawrence played the full game in this quite bizarre game - the game ended 1-1 after own goals from either side. Lawrence had about 50 touches in this game, and had a cross success rate of 50%, as well as a pass completion rate of 75.8%, 65.5% of his passes were either forward passes or passes to the right - setting up opportunities and going onto the attack regularly. 50% of his shots were on target (2 on target, one deflected and one wide), but unfortunately he couldn't find the back of the net. He also made two clearances and an interception, and he played some parts of the game centrally to play a part in attempting to keep a clean sheet until an inexperienced mistake from Bogle allowed Middlesbrough to take a point from the game. This game, Lawrence worked hard, played a huge part in going forwards and defensively. He also forced a mistake by high pressing and allowed Malone to collect the ball and cross it in for the own goal that handed Derby a 1-0 lead.
Needless to say, I think Lawrence played brilliantly in this massive fixture against Chelsea - he had an impact on us presenting a challenge for a big club. He had to track back a lot, as shown on the heatmap, as Chelsea provided us with a challenge as well, and Lawrence carried out his defensive duties without question. He played the full game, and had a pass completion rate of 78.9% and a tackle success rate of 66.6%, made three interceptions and had a 50% win rate of aerial duels. He also constantly put pressure on the left hand side, chasing down every ball played in that area and pressing for errors from Chelsea.
Lawrence played the full game as he helped his side go from 1-0 down to win 3-1, getting 50 touches in this game, and achieving a pass completion rate of 90.6% (completing 29 passes and failing only 3). Lawrence was immense in this game, working hard up and down the left wing and dropping centrally every now and then to assist in attacking. He played a key pass, as well as having a 66.6% cross completion rate. He also had three shots, and they were on target, two were saved well by Lee Camp and deflected by Maikel Kieftenbeld. 57.1% of his duels were successful, and this resulted in him being able to play so much successful passes, and he won two fouls for his side too. He played a big part in his side having 70% of the possession, as well as his positioning playing a part in the goals.
This was a game to forget. Lawrence played the full game, and was identified and restricted, by the Aston Villa defence, to the left side of the pitch. However, he made a key pass and had a pass completion percentage of 68.75% - considerably lower than usual but the Aston Villa squad was so sharp this fixture, they latched onto every pass that rolled slower. However, Lawrence had a crossing success rate of 50%, and a massive 68.8% of his passes were forward passes as he attempted to pull the play further along the pitch to encourage other players to create and score chances. As shown from the heatmap, Lawrence had to move back a bit, moving into midfield as Villa were launching a flurry of attack upon attack and Lawrence helped out defensively too, making three clearances and although he conceded three fouls, he bought his side some time to get their heads together and rearrange the defence but it was not enough as Derby fell to a 3-0 defeat.
Lawrence came on as a substitute and played 13 minutes, and impressively got 13 touches - more than what you would expect from a player who usually struggles getting stuck in as a substitute. He had a 90% pass completion rate, completing 9 out of 10 attempted passes, as well as playing a key pass, and he also made a single clearance and dispossessed the opposition twice - an impressive display from a substitute.
This was a tough game, in tough conditions but Lawrence still played remotely well, playing the full game and getting 52 touches and had an impressive pass completion rate of 82.6%, as well as a cross success rate of 66.6% and played three key passes. He also had 5 shots, four of them on target - on another day, he would have scored but Jack Butland was immense this game. He contributed defensively too, having a tackling success rate of 100%, made two interceptions, a clearance as well as having a 50% success in duels. He won two fouls for his side too, and was moving around the pitch freely, putting in the kilometres to try and avoid the demise of his side. He was just unlucky that he did not bag a goal or an assist.
Lawrence worked hard this game, as per usual, and adapted to three different positions throughout the game - both side of the pitch as well as down the middle, and he had 60 touches of the ball, played two key passes and had a passing completion rate of 77.8%. He also had four shots on goal, one deflected and two strong saves by Erwin Mulder, as well as winning three fouls for Derby. He also had a 66.7% success rate on duels and 66.6% success rate in tackling. He did lose possession in an attack but he recovered the ball quickly and set up Harry Wilson's second goal. In this game, he put in a solid performance, and deserved a goal but unfortunately, it just wasn't to be.
Playing the full game, Lawrence switched positions a couple of times, drifting from the left wing to playing down the middle and back, and Wigan proved to be a difficult test as they put their entire team behind the ball after the sending off of their player, Naismith. However, Lawrence had a total of 50 touches of the ball, a 70.4% pass completion rate - with 81.5% of these completed passes going forwards - and a 100% tackle success rate, as well as making two clearances and an interception. Over the games, Lawrence has proved to be an efficient team player, regardless of how our perspective interpret his performances - this game was just yet another 90 minutes of proof that he can be effective.
Lawrence played incredibly well this fixture in my opinion, and was pushing and pushing for errors to be made by the Forest players, and constantly seeked out opportunities and kept the ball regularly. He was ultimately subbed off in the 74th minute through injury that he picked up earlier and could not shake it off which was a shame as he proved to be the only creator we had this fixture as Forest identified Harry Wilson as the biggest threat and shut him down at any chance they got. 77.8% of his passes were completed, he played a key pass and had a 100% crossing success rate. He also had a shot on target but it was deflected by one of the scum, and he also played a part in the clean sheet by making two clearances, two interceptions and had a 100% tackle success rate, winning two tackles he went in for. He also won two fouls for Derby, and although he gave away three fouls - that is never a bad thing against Forest, just try and take them out, one by one!
Lawrence made a massive impact in the 81 minutes that he was on the pitch - assisting the first goal, as scored by Marriott, and scoring the equalising goal to earn the team a replay at Southampton. 72% of his passes were completed passes, and he played two key passes, and his assist to Jack Marriott was something of pure genius and it was so cheeky too (I fucking loved it). He had a total of two shots, meaning he had a 50% conversion rate this game, and in my book, that's pretty efficient... He also made two interceptions and a 63.6% duel success rate, as well as winning two fouls for Derby. Going from the heatmap too, he worked hard across the left side of the pitch, as well as centrally and this is possibly why he was more efficient - because he was playing more central.
Personally, I loved Lawrence this game. The team around him just did not perform, therefore leading to the demise of Derby in this tough fixture - he worked hard, he ran tirelessly, he gave some attitude back to the Leeds player. He constantly challenged the referee, took no shit (pardon the language) and worked hard to create opportunities. He played the full game, took 58 touches, completed two key passes - as well as 71.4% of his passes being completed passes, he also took two shots on goal, both deflected well by an experienced Leeds defence, and won his side three free kicks. He had a tackle success rate of 50%, aerial duel success rate of 54.5% and made two clearances so he did contribute defensively too.
Lawrence played a total of 40 minutes - 10 minutes of normal time and the full half hour of extra time, and he played a big part in getting the equaliser for Derby, and held Premier League side Southampton all the way to penalties. As you can see from the heatmap, Lawrence was moving freely around the pitch, contributing and helping out in any way he possibly could. He completed 80% of his passes, won two fouls for his side and won 57.2% of the aerial duels he challenged for. He also scored the fourth penalty confidently, the one before Keogh's winning penalty.
This game was not impressive as a team performance for the attacking players, and admittedly, Tom Lawrence did not impress nor do as much as he is capable of doing. However, he played the full game, made two blocks, played a key pass to Wilson which Wilson's shot then ended up hitting the post. From the heatmap, you can see he did try giving it a good go in this game, he worked tirelessly, helping out in defence and creating opportunities both for himself and for his teammates. He had a 76% pass completion rate, 100% tackle success rate and 53.8% aerial duel success rate and made two clearances.
His body language is something that bothers quite a few people, and his attitude too but I see absolutely nothing wrong with it at all - he is a person, and with the criticism he gets, of course he will carry that sort of attitude with him. His body language does not affect his ability as a player so I'm not really sure what is the main problem with that, but let's not forget the body language of other players that used to really get on my nerves - Matej Vydra and Florian Jozefzoon had terrible body language but they never got stick for it. It is just a case of pathetic nitpicking at everything Lawrence does, and it is nothing to do with him as a footballer how he holds his stance on the pitch. That's the least of his concerns.
He regularly challenges the referees of games, and I have seen people complaining about this - why? He has not received a yellow or anything like that for talking to referees, he is just engaging in conversation to challenge decisions, and to win us some decisions in our favour. I have seen it go into our favour time to time, as referees realise their error and award a foul for us the next time the opposition puts in a tackle. Lawrence is standing up for the team, and I really cannot fathom why this is a negative thing.
Tom Lawrence is a good player, who can give more but there is something suppressing him, but regardless, he is a key play for us and he is someone who is incredibly valuable. The criticism he gets is unjustified, and unfair - he deserves more respect.
"We go into every game trying to win it and I think teams come here and know they have a game on their hands." - Tom Lawrence
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