Why is Mason Greenwood so Prolific?

(thread)

Playing primarily off the right (inverted winger as such), there are three main facets to Greenwood’s finishing game:

1) his positioning/posture;
2) his touch(es) to prime the chance;
3) his shooting.

Having scored 19 goals, Greenwood is the player who outperforms xG the most in the Premier League:

This level of out-performance may not be sustainable, but his high output can be, due to the three aforementioned facets to his game.

First we can look at his positioning and posture to receive the ball:

Greenwood is very smart with his movement to isolate a defender 1v1 (particularly on the right where he hangs away from the play). Once the ball is switched to him, he is ready for an immediate take-on.

Here is one of many examples from his goals reel (there are more examples from his misses, such as at Spurs and Southampton):

Apart from being smart in the positioning regard, Greenwood often performs small movements to maximise the space and time he has when receiving; see his feint versus Bournemouth to create the extra yard for his first touch:

It also helps that Greenwood is such an efficient player (like Timo Werner); his first thoughts are “where and how can I get to goal”. See for example in this turnover versus Newcastle, his first touch already primes him for an unpressured shooting opportunity:

Or here versus Norwich, he hangs back to give himself space in the eventuality that the ball drops to him; which it does. He therefore has more time, and means to manipulate the situation for a good shooting opportunity:

The second factor is his touches to prime a chance.

Out of his 19 goals this season, only one was a first time finish (versus Sheffield United).

Of the remaining 18, 13 of his goals see him perform a final touch and quick finish (almost one movement). It’s an automatic action.

So, let’s look into this touch.

The first example of it was versus Rotherham:

We can see in Still 3, that the touch creates a wider base for Greenwood to shoot from, generating more power. It simultaneously puts the defender off balance and creates a better shooting angle.

We can also see it in action versus Partizan. Due to the poor defensive situation, the defenders and the keeper are already off balance. The extra touch allows Greenwood to make up his mind to shoot back across the goal as both defender and keeper are fully committed.

Versus AZ Alkmaar, we see the touch again. When Greenwood is central, the touch (at about 45°), creates more of an angle to shoot across the goal; his favoured shot on the left foot.

This is better shown versus Norwich, where Greenwood actually makes two touches to further excentuate the angle he can create a shooting chance from.

Still 4 shows the final shooting position and the ability Greenwood has to open up a corner to shoot into with his double touch.

Here is the touch versus Everton; despite being manfully pressured by Baines, Greenwood’s touch also opens the space to shoot through the defenders legs (we see this so often). This also blindsides the keeper, making them slower to react.

Returning to the AZ Alkmaar game, here is another one that was pulled near post, after the specialist touch:

Versus Watford, again:

Versus Brighton: notice how slow the keeper is to react. This is a culmination of Greenwood’s speed of shooting after the touch, the shot through the defenders legs, and the power of the shot.

And most recently versus West Ham:

Finally, when looking at his shooting technique, a few factors stand out.

1) his power;
2) his accuracy;
3) the keepers’ lack of ability to save;
4) ambidexterity.

The ambidexterity is obvious; we’ve seen him score clinically on both feet. Here is that notion exemplified versus Bournemouth, with a good goal on both feet:

His power is generated by two things:

1) his wide and stable base, created by his priming touch prior to shooting;

2) his technique; Greenwood hits through the ball. When aiming low, he almost takes the lid off the ball by slicing across the top of it. This maintains .....

.. the shooting power whilst still arrowing it across the ground into the desired location.

This goes hand in hand with his accuracy, as he shoots in such straight line.

Additionally, he rarely shoots over as he has so much control of the vertical accuracy of his shots.

Look at his posture; the shooting leg is almost directly above the ball, in a straight line. His head is engaged, over the ball, and his standing leg is stable.

The level of control Greenwood exudes when in shooting positions allows him to execute such good shots.

Ronaldo learnt similarly in his time at United, and he is one of the masters of shooting angles and opportunity manipulation.

Mason Greenwood will regress towards the xG norm, to a degree, but he will always overperform due to the factors mentioned above.

The next step is for him to get in these positions more often (which he is showing signs of).

At 18 years old, we have a special talent at the club.