Percy Tau! A thread on his movements.

I have been watching him for more than 2 seasons now.

He is fast, tricky and has a decent shot. For me his best quality is his off the ball movement. I have seen him almost always make good runs.

@rscanderlecht vs @official_rafc match -

2nd half of a tense match, here we see Tau has two options, make a run via LH Half space or move inside. Both areas have empty space.
There are other @rscanderlecht players in support.

Next moment, he is moving to the half space keeping the RCB occupied. The center has huge gaping hole and pass comes there to Lokonga. Mukairu also stated to move to box in anticipation of a pass.

Next - Lokonga advances unchallenged and Mukairu takes a good position. These two things drag the defender inwards. Tau makes his run behind the defender towards the edge of the box. He times his run perfectly to run unopposed and unmarked.

Now, the moment of release of pass from Lokonga. You can see, Tau has made his run and is about to enter box from LH channel unmarked. A curved pass over the top and he will be 1 vs 1. With his pace, it's unlikely that he will be caught here.

The pass is to Mukairu, who takes a chance for a shot and scores. Look at Tau's run! He is in perfect position to receive a pass and would be 1 vs 1 with GK. From the bodyshape of defender, seems like he is also expecting pass to Tau and is unable to adjust when the shot comes.

The whole sequence is of 6 seconds. But here you can see how Tau's movement took him to a perfect place to receive the pass if that comes. His timing of the run, going behind the defender and finally destabilizing the defender was really good.
This is also not an isolated example

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