Jamie Cumming

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James Andrew Cumming



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Current Club: Stevenage (on loan from Chelsea)

Previous Clubs: Chelsea

Loan Clubs: N/A





International: N/A

Trophies Won: Europa League 2018/19, English Youth League 2016/17, 2017/18.





Watching this youngster playing for Stevenage and you have to question the wisdom of this loan move, if Chelsea see his future as Premier League level. Cummings is learning very little that will be of value to him in the top flight in a team that seem to play very much like they have just received the Charles Hughes coaching manual (for those that do not understand the reference, Hughes was the FA director of coaching who authored the 'longball' tactical manual).



Cummings is constantly encouraged to kick the ball long downfield for the forwards to scrap over and the praise from the sidelines seems to increase by the distance he covers with the ball. It is very strange considering in the games I watched his team lost all the headers bar one! When he had the ball in his hands he once took a nice, quick throw to launch a counter and the silence from the coaching staff was telling.



Every other time he hung on and waited until everyone had moved up field and performed a long, hoofed, drop kick down field for people to scrap over. All in all it made it impossible to tell if his distribution was any good at all, nothing Cummings was doing was about accuracy, it was purely just about smashing it long.



Is that something that will help him long term? I am really not sure that it will, as it is not something that really requires any kind of skill and he does not seem to be improving his game by being part of a team set up that requires him to do so. At least positionally Cummings looks solid, though he did look to be erring ever so slightly towards the centre of the goal, which would leave the near post open to better quality forwards than he is facing in League Two.



Communication is one thing that he was very strong on, you could hear the goalkeeper shout clearly when he was coming out to claim but his bravery is extremely suspect. On crosses he flaps at them, rather than smashing through the players in the way, he just tries to reach over them, often leading to weak punches putting his team in trouble.



Worse was when against Forest Green Rovers a ball had bounced up between him and an attacker, he could have easily moved forward and taken the ball in the air, but he stopped and leaned away because the forward was attempting to kick it and just threw his hands up to block a shot. Cummings needs to be braver and catch the ball and take any kick that comes with it.



His handling in general was very suspect, he fumbled easy catches under pressure and generally looked a bit scared. So maybe this move is with the thinking that Cummings needs a bit of toughening up? However it just seems that he is getting more and more nervous under the physical bombardment he takes.



It is a shame because he does have quick reflexes and moves quickly across the ground, but he desperately needs good coaching to take him on. Whatever he is getting under Alex Revell at Stevenage, it is not good coaching!





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Requested by - Roman_199