Richarlison

Richarlison
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Richarlison de Andrade





Current Club: Watford.

Previous Clubs: Fluminese, America-MG.

Loan Clubs: N/A.





International: N/A.

Trophies Won: N/A.





When Richarlison joined Watford last season, it looked like they had the perfect storm of a player. The Brazilian name, allied to skill and pace, alongside the aerial ability and physical strength to cope with English football and all it had to throw at him. Early on people overlooked the glaring misses as bad luck or something that would come along in time as he at least was in position to miss. However the misses got worse, and more often, as the season went on.



Richarlison is still young enough to improve on that, and any other aspect of his game, and the overall game is good enough to make him a very good player, so long as he is creating the chances, rather than the one on the end of them. He has the pace and trickery to beat a man, and the ability to deliver a good quality cross, play a quick one-two or pass.



On the ball he has the strength to shield the ball or outmuscle an opponent to get to a loose ball, he seems very much at home in the rough and tumble of the English Premier League. In fact Richarlison seems to relish the physical battle and loves to get stuck in to a battle with an opposing full-back. In the early weeks of the season, his physicality, skill and pace was a revelation, as opponents struggled to cope with his movement and workrate.



As the season went on, his performances dropped off, though it is difficult to point to one cause for that. Certainly defenders began to learn about his game and coped better with him, but it was also notable that the whole Watford team's performance level dipped too. Certainly partly due to fitness levels not being high enough, which caused the huge amount of injuries they suffered with once again last season. That also saw Richarlison's energy levels drop and that was such a large part of his game that it adversely affected him and his input into the team in particular.



There were also signs that his inexperience was holding him back, in more than just his complete lack of composure in front of goal. Where a more experienced player would learn to conserve his energy for the right time, he was still tiring himself out with unnecessary runs. That was as much of a problem for missing chances as a lack of composure, as he was getting on the end of things after sprinting about here, there and everywhere, rather than just biding his time for the right run.



He still looks an exciting prospect, but he has a lot to learn and is incredibly raw. Richarlison needs to learn to use brain rather than brawn to create chances. That reliance on his physicality is useful at times, but is becoming more of a hindrance as opponents work him out.