In talk of preparation for the Premier League and areas of the team that need strengthening, it often appears that people are either forgetting about Kieran Dowell or underestimating his qualities.
Unfortunately for Kieran, an injury early in the season meant he could only start to fully feature and make an impact towards the end of the season. His chance came due to the birth of Emi Buendia’s second child which meant he was unavailable for the Nottingham Forest away game and was handed Dowell only his 4th start in the league for Norwich. Emi’s absence from a Norwich team always caused nervousness due to the astonishing lack of wins whenever he was not available. However, with Dowell taking up the position on the right of the attacking three, there was no problem and Norwich coasted to a 2–0 win. Both goals arrived in the opening 15 minutes and the second scored by Dowell in what was the first of his five league goals for Norwich. The game also saw Lukas Rupp, who made both assists in the game from the №10 position, pick up a hamstring injury and a starting position in Norwich attacking three behind Pukki became available. From then until the end of the season Dowell did not look back.
When comparing the three attacking midfielders that Farke favoured at the end of the season it is clear to see that they all had top quality for the Championship.
Unfortunately for Norwich Emi Buendia was the stand out player, not just for the team but for the whole league. With him leaving there will be a lot of questions about how Norwich replace what he gave in creating chances, and for the first time in his Norwich career, consistently getting into dangerous areas to score goals.
Cantwell, who often drops the deepest of the three to pick up the ball, showed his range of passing and ability to carry the ball through dribbles, but lacked clinical finishing.
Norwich fans will have seen the least of Dowell due to being a newer arrival and then missing a large part of the season. His radar shows that while he may provide less in the build-up in deeper positions, he produced high levels of key passes and xA as well as making a large amount of accurate shots per 90 mins.
There is no doubting that Dowell showed how he can provide a real goal scoring threat from the attacking midfield position. In Norwich’s previous Premier League campaign they were hugely reliant on Pukki for goals, with Stiepermann, Hernandez and Buendia all incapable of repeating their goalscoring rates. Cantwell stepped up to be Norwich’s second highest scorer, but also struggled in the 2nd half of the season.
Dowell registered over 2 shots per 90 last season, and had an impressive 17% conversion rate considering the majority of his shooting comes from outside the box (although the majority of goals coming from within the box). Had he been available for the full season he could have well ended up with a goal tally similar to Buendia’s.
When looking at the combined xG and xA per 90 of Norwich’s attacking players, Dowell registered .48 compared to Buendia on .63 and Cantwell on .33 (Pukki had the highest at Norwich and the league at .73 per 90, although mainly in xG).
It is clear that Dowell not only possess the ability to threaten goal with his finishing ability, both long and close range. He also has that ability to create high value chances for his teammates. Much of the fear with Buendia leaving is who will supply Pukki with those chances he thrives on?
The below video clip shows that Dowell can set up opportunities with through ball passing. This is the type of pass that a lot of Norwich’s attacks are based on. On all three of the examples shown the eventual shot was missed but Dowell used good movement, and awareness to get himself into a good position to release the pass, and his technique allowed him to get the pass away precisely and quickly. While he attempted less through balls per 90 than either Cantwell or Buendia, he was more accurate in the passes he did make and they were usually into more dangerous areas.
Dowell had little time to make a big impact for Norwich in the Championship and the season certainly finished too soon for him. He has often been overshadowed by Norwich’s other attacking midfielders but it shouldn’t take away that he was highly effective in the final 10 games of the season. You would assume he could have become even better with more games to build up his confidence and understanding with his teammates.
With a good pre-season and hopefully no recurrence of his injuries he could be a key player for Norwich in the Premier League, the man to feed Pukki and Rashica with the through balls they need in attack. On top of this Dowell has demonstrated the ability to score himself and if Norwich can pose a threat from outside the box and spread the goals more evenly across the attack, it will certainly be an improvement from 19/20.
In Dowell, Norwich may have a ready made replacement for Buenida in the building. Even if he doesn’t reach such heights, he is certainly someone who should not be forgotten about in the melee for new signings.
