Joe Rothwell has become Russell Martin's second signing of the summer, joining Rangers on a permanent deal from Bournemouth.
The experienced 30-year-old will move to Ibrox following a season-long loan at Leeds United, where he played an integral part of the Championship-winning side. Rothwell previously worked under Russell Martin at Southampton, helping the side achieve promotion to the Premier League.
While Rothwell is well known to the management team, fans may be less familiar with the former England Under-20 international. To understand what we can expect, I’ve watched an abundance of clips, full matches, and consulted the data behind Rothwell's most recent season to gain a full understanding of the player arriving at Ibrox.
Let’s start with the numbers to provide an overview of the player.
What does the data say about Rothwell?
While data isn’t always easy to interpret, on this occasion, it is. Our bars represent the percentile in which Rothwell ranks in comparison to all other central midfielders in the English Championship, with the number on each bar showing the raw data behind the percentile. The longer the bar, the better. So, for example, Rothwell ranked as the best in the league for percentage of accurate passes, with around 92.55% of finding their man.
Within this graph, each section is distinctively different to one another. In the defensive section, we see a player who is rarely involved in defensive actions, coming in as one of the lowest involved central midfielders in the league for aerial duels, defensive duels, and successful defensive actions per 90 minutes. Some of this may be down to Leeds' dominance of the ball, as Rothwell is successful when he is involved in these duels, but I’m more inclined to think that this just shows a player who isn’t defensively-minded and only gets involved when he knows he’s going to come out on top.
We see two different sides to Rothwell when we compare his ability in possession. Within his dribbling data, a player who didn't take on players often across the course of last season. If his passing data was similar to this, supporters may have something to worry about, but thankfully, it’s not. Rothwell’s data in this area shows him as one of the best passers in the league. Again, potentially down to Leeds' dominance on the ball, we see a high volume of different types of passes per game.
What’s important to note is that his success rate is also extremely high. He’s the most accurate passer in the league, in the top four percent for forward passing accuracy, and in the top three percent for accuracy when passing into the final third. This exceptional use of the ball translates into his attacking data. While Rothwell isn’t one we expect to be chipping in with goals all too often, he’s in the top seven percent of central midfielders for assists per 90, and the top three percent for expected assists per 90. This depicts a player who is creating an abundance of high-quality chances for his teammates.
How does he fare on the eye test?
While there are similarities between the English Championship and the Scottish Premiership, as well as similarities between Rangers and Leeds, both being sides on the front foot the majority of the time and expected to have a lot of possession and win most games, there are also a lot of differences.
This has led to mixed success when it comes to players moving north across the border. I watched Rothwell in two entirely different games to get a view of how he performs against different opposition. Firstly against an Oxford United side who don’t press very hard, sit deeper, and finished four points from relegation last season. This would emulate a lot of the games we may see in the upcoming season, where sides try to sit in against Rangers and hope to reduce space in the final third and nullify their attack.
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I then watched Rothwell against a higher pressing, more dynamic and more impressive Sheffield United side who finished third in the league, to see how he would perform against a more difficult and higher calibre of opposition. There wasn’t much difference between his performances in both games, which bodes well for his ability to perform to a high standard against different styles of opposition.
The first thing I noticed when watching Rothwell was that he is constantly looking for the ball. His head is on a swivel at all times, and he’s either making small movements to find pockets of space or more intentional, quick darts to quickly create space and separation for himself. He’s always talking to his teammates, dictating play, and trying to be the deep-lying playmaker in the team.
His teammates clearly trust his ability on the ball as they are happy to play passes to him even under strong pressure, and Rothwell is very good at ensuring he takes care of the ball and retains possession. When on the ball, as we saw in the data, Rothwell very much prefers to pass as opposed to dribbling. While he did show in glimpses that he can drive with the ball at pace, it’s not something he attempted often. When he receives passes, his first thought is to go forward, and if it isn’t on, then he will go sideways or backwards instead.
One of my biggest annoyances with deep-lying playmakers is the amount of time they take on the ball in these situations, but it was notable how quickly Rothwell moves the ball on. The process of him making the decision to play a forward, attacking ball, or making a simple pass to a teammate is done extremely quickly, even when under no pressure. He doesn’t like to just hold the ball for the sake of it; he knows if the pass is on or if it’s not, and if it’s not, he moves the ball on. His thought process is very similar when under strong pressure. Firstly, ensuring he has safe possession of the ball, then tries to progress the ball forward, before finally sometimes having to go with the simple option to retain possession.
Rothwell averaged the highest number of key passes per 90 (2.36) in the Leeds team last season. However, only 0.7 of those passes were made in open play.
Again, the midfielder's quick thinking and tidy footwork enable this to be done at pace, which helps to keep the pace of the game high. His range of passing is impressive, shown by his passing accuracy and assist data. He’s able to switch the play well, use different styles of progressive passes and through balls into the channels, playing perfectly weighted passes on the ball and in the air to find the running attackers. Knowing he has these types of passes in his locker and plays them regularly makes his passing accuracy even more impressive. Rothwell was also on all set-pieces for Leeds last season, showing a consistently good free-kick and corner delivery.
Defensively, we shouldn’t expect to see much from Rothwell. I don’t think he is bad in this area, it’s more that it’s just not part of his game. When Leeds aren’t in possession, he will mark a space rather than a man, usually as the only free man in midfield, and use his awareness and positioning to do the work for him without having to get involved in lots of duels. He’s not a combative defensive midfielder by any means, and will most likely be used alongside someone in that mould, like Raskin.
Following the recent takeover, Rangers fans may have been looking forward to more “exciting” and exotic signings. We need to remember that Martin having players he knows and trusts in the dressing room will be key to a successful season, and Rothwell ticks those boxes.
He is the playmaker in midfield, adding calmness, composure and a great range of passing. He’ll create a lot of chances for his teammates, and always be an outlet in the middle of the park that is ready to receive the ball at all times, and quickly move it into space. Time will tell, but I think this could be a very strong signing for Rangers, both domestically and in Europe.
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