Jamie Gittens: What Separates Talent from Trajectory
A technical and psychological breakdown of Jamie Gittens
Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens is just like Nico Williams, albeit less polished.
Get him on the touchline and he can destroy you 1v1.
Gittens is textbook in this type of moment with the way he receives to let the ball run across his body and face you up to beat you on the inside or outside, via speed or skill, just like Mr. Williams below.
Gittens also has the quality to shift the ball out of his feet and get a high quality cross into the box if you stand off of him too much.
Get too tight and he will kill you for speed.
Stand off and he can use that space to kill you anyway.
At 20, a very nice talent.
However, I say less polished because although Gittens has a top technical level, he is less technically secure in his actions than Williams.
Players who play in Spain seem to develop a ruthless technical consistency that is often lacking in more explosive English talents.
Sure, you get unstoppable moments in transition like this:
But you also get careless moments like this:
Nico Williams is equally as explosive as Jamie Gittens but he is simply more reliable technically.
He is sharper and more ruthless.
When I say ‘sharper and more ruthless’ I am not referring to their ability, but more so the consistency of their actions.
Nico Williams is like Saka with his reliability.
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You know that ball-retention that Grealish, Sancho and the like have?
You get frustrated at them for not being direct, right?
Fair enough, in those specific circumstances, but some wingers are almost too direct and lack that balance (Doku).
This lot have the optimal balance.
Every player on that list combines goalscoring and creativity with ruthless technical efficiency.
They are risk-takers, yes, but they are also reliable for their team tactically in specific relation to their on-ball decision making.
They have the quality to 'feel the temperature' in a game.
The level to play slow when required.
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The best comparison I can liken it to is 'pausa' i.e., the ability to play like you have all of the time in the world in an incredibly fast-paced environment.
The best wingers have that pausa to assess each moment at speed.
Then they can use their qualities to be decisive.
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Sancho and Grealish are overly cautious (probably because they lack the physical qualities to consistently break free from their man).
Doku is overly aggressive (probably because he is too loose technically to play with pausa).
Gittens is more like Doku, but not that extreme.
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That is why I liken him most to Nico Williams, albeit more loose and not as technically sharp, proficient, or as reliable.
That is not down to a lack of quality, though.
As I said, he can kill you with speed but also if you stand off of him.
That is why he is a top talent.
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However, to reach a truly top level, he will have to become more reliable technically.
Gittens certainly profiles as a better fit than Sancho for Chelsea, but he could do with adding a bit of Sancho's delicacy to his game.
But the key with Gittens is he has the tools to do it.
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I wrote an article about Ekitike the other day and he is a relevant comparison to make right now despite being totally different players.
The technical quality is clear, but each player is simply lacking in maturity and as a consequence of that the subsequent reliability of their actions suffers.
This goes back to something I tweeted the other day about 'mentality'.
To develop that ruthless efficiency, you have to be 'locked in' mentally.
Everything you do must have a purpose behind it.
Every subtle movement, every drop of the shoulder, every step.
All designed to manipulate the opponent, for short or long-term benefit.
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For example, Yamal will not always try to take on his man, but he will always collect information via his actions.
Not only will he be conscious of what he is doing when he receives possession in a certain way, but he will make mental notes of what the opponent does so he can manipulate them the next time he receives in a similar situation.
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This is often a subconscious process, but that collection of information informs future decision making.
If the defender reacts a certain way when I threaten to do X, then I will threaten to do X again but feint and attack him in a different direction because I know how he will defend based on the prior information that I have collected.
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For example, look at Nico Williams here. Just before this action he darted in behind and left Mazraoui for dead.
So, he threatens to run in behind but checks to come to feet. Because Mazraoui is scared of being done in behind again, he is too loose to get close to Nico who has the the space to penetrate United’s block as a result of his subtle action.
Players can have fun when doing this (Neymar, Yamal, Doué), they can be ruthlessly efficient (Messi, Salah), or they can be as efficient as possible relative to their profile (Nico Williams is the best iteration of a textbook winger).
Gittens needs to aim for the latter idea.
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Qualitatively and physically, he has all of the key attributes to succeed.
Whether he has that mental ferocity and determination required to reach the level of a Nico Williams will highlight that.
With some players, it's easier to tell than others.
Besides, humans are complex.
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Messi does not display confidence in a public manner. He is calm and nonchalant.
Yet, on the pitch, he explodes into life and attacks the box with intensity and speed that we have never seen before (with and without the ball).
Ronaldo is the opposite but is similar on the pitch.
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This is why it is hard to assess players like Šeško, Gittens, Ekitike, and co from the outside.
We can talk about their physical, technical, and tactical qualities all we like, but they are calm characters.
Whereas it is clear that Gyökeres, for example, relishes responsibility via his outward actions.
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Maybe Šeško, Gittens, and Ekitike relish responsibility too, albeit in a less externally obvious way.
This is where contacts and having people you trust in recruitment is everything.
It is also why meeting players before you sign them is a necessity.
Remember the Klopp and Julian Draxler story?
Managers have to feel a burning desire in players to develop personally but also to help the team.
With some characters, that is clear.
With others, it's not so clear and you have to rely on what your eye tells you based on their behaviour on the pitch alongside what contacts tell you.
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When I see Haaland leading the press like a man possessed, I know he has the right mentality.
When I see Šeško press with some caution about what is behind him, I see a boy that may lack tactical direction or he may lack assurance within himself.
Both could be true, one factor could be true, or neither factor could be true! That is why humans are complex and difficult to assess.
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For example, with Gittens, let's look at these two defensive moments:
First, a positive.
A tell-tale sign of a player with a good attitude is how they respond when the press is bypassed. Do they think their job is done because they sprinted hard at the ball initially, or do they turn around and sprint back because the ball hasn’t been recovered yet?
Here, Gittens sprints back.
However, in this moment, Gittens is dribbled past and he could easily fight off the front of his teammate here to attempt to win the ball back but doesn’t.
But is that coaching? Has that behaviour not been drilled into his psyche? Again, we don’t know.
This is why ‘character assessment’ is arguably the most important factor in signing a player - it can elevate an average player into a top player but also downgrade a top player into an average player.
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Alas, that is ‘potential’ and Jamie Gittens rolled into one for you.
Physically, technically, and tactically, I have no doubts about the player.
Whether he has that ‘dawg’ in him will only become clear in time.
If he has the necessary mentality, then Chelsea are about to sign one hell of a talent, but they better do their homework on him because his character will determine his ceiling.
