Finally, a signing. Adam Price takes a look at new boy on loan Alex Mitchell.
It’s been a while since I was able to write something like this. After six weeks of my new signing spreadsheet (yes, something that genuinely exists in my life) collecting dust, Plymouth Argyle finally announced a new arrival early on Monday evening.
Alex Mitchell was the man through the door, arriving from Charlton Athletic on a season-long loan deal. The 23-year-old centre back was part of a Lincoln City team who just missed out on the League One play-offs back in 2023/24. That was before joining Charlton, who not only made the play-offs but won them last year. Despite his relatively young age, he’s clearly experienced at this level, and used to challenging at the right end of the table.
Mitchell has already featured for Argyle, having gone straight into the starting 11 for Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat to Leyton Orient. Thus, we’ve all already got a slight idea of what he may offer, and I sense much of this piece is going to confirm suspicions. Nonetheless, let’s delve into the data, see what we can unearth, and assess whether he can be the successful centre back Argyle desperately require.
Prioritising the basics
Last season, Mitchell played 2,337 minutes in League One across 31 appearances for Charlton. And supporters of the Addicks have been vocal on social media about what the player may bring to Argyle. Their assessment is that he’s not a flashy defender, but he tends to do the basics well and put his body on the line when required. Having looked at his numbers, I tend to agree.
Mitchell is, to put it mildly, not flashy. We’ll come onto his possession figures later. He does appear to excel, however, when carrying out basic defensive actions. Nowhere is that more apparent than clearances; Mitchell completed more clearances last season than any player in an Argyle shirt.
| Player | Clearances |
| Alex Mitchell* | 189 |
| Julio Pleguezuelo | 182 |
| Victor Palsson | 167 |
| Nikola Katic | 159 |
| Kornel Szucs | 147 |
| Adam Randell | 98 |
Naturally, there is the caveat that Mitchell played more minutes than, at least, any of the other defenders in that list. Per 90 minutes, he made an average of 7.27 clearances, putting him behind Nikola Katic, Victor Palsson and Julio Pleguezuelo. In that order.
However, we can flip that caveat by considering the fact that Charlton were promoted, whilst Argyle were relegated. Of course you’d expect Argyle’s defenders to be making more clearances, with their team under more pressure, and the fact Mitchell was able to post the number he did in a team that was dominant most weeks is impressive.
It isn’t all perfect. Mitchell won 35 tackles and was dribbled past on 14 occasions last season. That gives him an implied tackle success rate of 71%. Whilst that may have been around average for Argyle players in general, it’s not ideally what you’d want to see from a commanding centre back. To put in a way many will appreciate, it’s much more Palsson (72%) than Pleguezuelo (88%).
Mitchell can, and probably will on occasion, be troubled by tricky, pacy forwards. However, when it comes to the basic principle of defending – keeping the ball as far away from your own goal as possible – I’m sure he won’t leave us disappointed.
The aerial question
One of the key attributes for a defender, particularly below Championship level, is their aerial ability. Teams in the third tier and below tend to play long balls at a much greater rate than those in the top two divisions, and the centre backs need to be able to win their battles in the air to prevent their teams from coming under pressure. That can come in the form of genuine “route one” football or swift, direct counter attacks.
Naturally, therefore, my next objective is to look at Mitchell’s stats when it comes to winning aerial duels. Last year, he won 88 aerial duels in total, more than any Argyle player managed in that timeframe. However, he also contested plenty – 151 in all. His eventual success rate of 58%, when compared with Argyle’s central defensive options last season, could probably best be described as “fine.” Nothing more, nothing less.
| Player | Aerial Duels Contested | Aerial Duels Won | Success Rate |
| Nikola Katic | 120 | 78 | 65% |
| Lewis Gibson | 57 | 37 | 65% |
| Victor Palsson | 105 | 65 | 62% |
| Alex Mitchell* | 151 | 88 | 58% |
| Maksym Talovierov | 59 | 32 | 54% |
| Julio Pleguezuelo | 100 | 51 | 51% |
| Kornel Szucs | 125 | 63 | 50% |
| Brendan Galloway | 46 | 22 | 48% |
Given the amount of clearances he made last season, and the style of player we know Mitchell is, I honestly expected aerial duels to be one of his key strengths. And in fairness, it’s not as if it’s a weakness either; his numbers are perfectly acceptable. However, given he spent last season battling League One attackers, and Argyle’s were facing forwards in the Championship, I honestly expected Mitchell’s figure to rank even more favourably by comparison.
I don’t anticipate Mitchell coming in and having a Nikola Katic-style revolutionary impact on this team. From what I can tell, he looks to be a perfectly fine and functional defender. And, given where Argyle find themselves at the moment, perhaps “fine and functional” is exactly what they need.
A “structured” signing
Players of the Football Manager series, when they decide to release a game of course, will know of tactics being described on a spectrum of fluid to structured. Fluid tactics see defensive players required to help out in attack, and vice versa, whilst structured tactics are very much focussed on players maintaining their positions, and only contributing at their own end of the pitch.
The merits of using what now appears to be a biennial football gaming franchise in this discussion is up for debate, and I promise you that’s where its input ends. However, if we are to use those definitions to refer to a player, as well as a tactic in general, Mitchell falls firmly into the “structured” category. Yes, he can defend. No, he absolutely cannot attack.
Mitchell did manage to score two league goals last season, both headers from corners, but that appears to be where his attacking contribution ends. On average, Mitchell took 0.35 shots per 90 during his time as a Charlton player. Last season that figure was beaten by, to name just a few, Lewis Gibson, Jordan Houghton and Nathanael Ogbeta.
It’s not as if Mitchell is particularly threatening in a creative sense either. Despite spending some of his Charlton spell playing at right back, and having a few more opportunities to put in a cross or two, he still only managed an average of 0.23 key passes per 90 last season. That was a figure topped by the likes of Pleguezuelo, Kornel Szucs and Adam Forshaw.
I’d like to clarify that I don’t particularly see this as an issue. Pointing out that Mitchell does little other than defend is a nod to his style of play, not any observation regarding his ability. My God, Argyle need someone who can defend. Mitchell may well be that man, even if it means he doesn’t accomplish a great deal at the other end.
Not every defender needs a Graham Coughlan-esque double-figure goalscoring campaign…and I’d be amazed if Mitchell even got close.
A fit for Cleverley’s style?
Perhaps my biggest worry with Mitchell’s arrival is how he’ll fit into head coach Tom Cleverley’s plans. Sure, Argyle’s defence has been akin to a sieve in the first few weeks of the campaign. Mitchell, as he showed in a much narrower defeat against Leyton Orient, clearly has the ability to come in and do a job in the backline straight away. However, longer term, I’m not convinced Mitchell is the centre back Cleverley would have chosen if he had the final say in such a matter.
We know from Cleverley’s style of play that keeping possession, and building through the thirds, is particularly important. The lack of a creative player in the deeper midfield positions has, in my view, contributed to Argyle’s slow start to the campaign. Perhaps that will change when Ayman Benarous isn’t forced to fill in at left back. Right now though, a lack of creativity in the heart of the side puts even more onus on the central defenders to play the ball out from the back.
From his stats, Mitchell does not appear to be the sort of player. At all. We’re able to forgive his shooting stats, because the likelihood of him ending up in the opposition’s penalty area is slim at best. However, under Cleverley he will largely be required to play out from the back to start attacks, and we’re going to need to see a big improvement in his numbers for that to prove effective.
Last season, Mitchell posted a pass success figure of 68%. I find that to be stunningly low. Argyle’s collective success rate was 74%, despite playing Miron Muslic hoofball for half the campaign. And Mitchell’s number ranked lower than all of Argyle’s centre back options last term – even Katic.
| Player | Passes Attempted | Passes Completed | Success Rate |
| Lewis Gibson | 1146 | 1001 | 87% |
| Kornel Szucs | 1313 | 1128 | 86% |
| Brendan Galloway | 407 | 318 | 78% |
| Julio Pleguezuelo | 750 | 575 | 77% |
| Maksym Talovierov | 323 | 242 | 75% |
| Victor Palsson | 590 | 423 | 72% |
| Nikola Katic | 349 | 243 | 70% |
| Alex Mitchell* | 1045 | 711 | 68% |
Again, it could be argued that this shouldn’t be an issue. Mitchell has been brought in to defend, not to pass, so why should these figures matter? In some cases, I’d agree with that assessment, and under Muslic I think Mitchell would have been perfect for the system. Under Cleverley, however, Mitchell’s inability to play with the ball at his feet puts a great deal of pressure on his defensive partner/s to commence the attacking moves.
One thing Mitchell does have in his favour is his versatility. With the likes of Palsson and Katic signing for Argyle across recent windows, we’ve become used to the more “basic” centre backs needing to play in the middle of a back three to succeed. That isn’t true of Mitchell. Records suggest he played across every role in a back three, at right centre back in a four and, as touch upon a little earlier, even at right back. I suspect he’ll be content to slot in wherever Cleverley requires.
Mitchell may not be the perfect Cleverley player, but his arrival could be crucial in allowing the head coach to deploy his preferred style.