With Tammy Abraham signing for Newcastle, it’s important to note that the Magpes will not be receiving a finished article by any means. Abraham is still learning and, at the tender age of 19, will learn a lot in the next couple of years. Here are a few stats on Tammy Abraham before we launch into his strengths and weaknesses.
Age: 19
Height: 6ft 3″
Goals Last Season: 26 for Bristol City in 40 appearances.
Shot Accuracy (Squawka): 45%
Chances Created (Squawka): 41
Strengths:
– Fast but tall
One of Tammy Abraham’s main qualities is that he’s tall but fast. You don’t see strikers of this ilk all too often, but this is something that Abraham can use in the Premier League.
With a good burst of pace, he will do well against slow centre backs, keeping them on their toes, much like Dwight Gayle. Gayle is quick but sometimes lacks presence, which is definitely something Tammy Abraham can bring with his robust build and lanky frame.
– Poacher
Again, like Dwight Gayle, Tammy Abraham is a real poacher. Scoring 26 goals for Bristol City last year, most were scored with the “poacher” type goals. These types of players usually do well in the Premier League. Will Tammy Abraham follow suit?
– Good hold up play which developed later in season
Abraham was known last year for scoring the goals to effectively keep Bristol City up. Certainly, at the start of the year, Abraham was a poacher, but he was palpably struggling with the physical side of the game.
As time went on in the Championship and Abraham learned valuable lessons from team mate and seasoned pro, Aaron Wilbraham, the Chelsea starlet became much more effective at holding the ball up. Time will tell whether Abraham can replicate this in the Premier League, but his improvement in the second half of last season certainly gives room for optimism.
– Quick Learner
Having scored so many goals at the start of the season, it was abundantly clear that Tammy Abraham started to struggle mid season when teams started to “work him out.”
Tammy had to adapt quickly to make sure he continued to score the goals Bristol City so desperately needed. For an 19-year-old striker to be leading the line for Bristol City, he had to change his abilities and learn other parts of the game quickly.
– Willing to learn and listen (key for Rafa)
This point, for Rafa, will more than likely be one of the more important characteristics of Tammy Abraham. He is always willing to listen and learn. Lee Johnson, manager of Bristol City, said of the youngster “He loves football, and even yesterday I rang him and he was in the garden playing one-on-one with his brother – I was like, ‘get in, you’re supposed to be resting.” Abraham clearly wants to achieve, and Rafa will like that about him.
To consider:
– Never played PL football before
Abraham has only had one full season of proper first-team football, and that was last season for Bristol City. The prolific striker netted 26 times, for a decent but sometimes struggling mid table side.
It will certainly be interesting to see whether Abraham will be able to make the step up into Premier League football. He’ll have to adapt and that will most likely take some time.
– Others have done very well in Champ and then failed in the Premier League(Bamford)
We’ve all seen it before haven’t we? A player gets hyped up so much and then suddenly falls flat where there is too much pressure on him. That’s certainly what happened with the likes of Patrick Bamford and Jordan Rhodes who failed miserably to make the step up to the Premier League.
– Has a lot to learn
Tammy Abraham certainly has a lot to learn. The striker will need to further adapt and change his style to be anywhere near as prolific in the Premier League.
We, as Newcastle fans, have to remember that he’s only 19-years-old. Abraham thrives when he has the crowd behind him, and this is what we absolutely must do for him. We have to remember he will make mistakes, but support him through that and he could just prove to be an extremely shrewd signing this summer for Rafa Benitez.