The first of two deadline day signings, Law McCabe joined on loan from Middlesbrough. Adam Price takes a look at the technical midfielder.
Plymouth Argyle head coach Tom Cleverley was clear about what he was looking for after his side’s 4-0 humiliation in Cardiff. Cleverley bemoaned his midfield, mentioning that a lack of experience in that area simply had to be addressed in the dying embers of the transfer window. And, I suppose, he got part of his wish.
On deadline day, Argyle announced the signing of a central midfielder. Law McCabe was signed, joining on a season-long loan deal from Middlesbrough. And he has all the experience of…a 19-year-old who has made three senior league appearances. I don’t think any move sums up the calamity of Argyle’s transfer window better. Less than 48 hours after the head coach said he wanted experience, Argyle signed a teenager…on loan, after a club statement claimed they were ending a reliance on loans.
None of this is said directly against McCabe. Argyle’s transfer policy may be scrambled, but it’s not impossible that he’ll turn out to be a strong addition; the Pilgrims certainly need that to be the case. There isn’t nearly as much statistical data available as I’d generally hope for in new signings, but let’s delve in anyway to see if McCabe is set to shine at Home Park.
Identifying the style
This isn’t going to be my usual, stat-heavy effort when analysing a new signing. As much as I’d like it to be, it simply cannot. Across his senior career to date, McCabe combines his three league games with a solitary League Cup appearance in each of the last three seasons, as well as a single FA Cup outing. Where stats are available, that totals to a figure of 277 minutes played in his entire senior career. It’s just over three full matches, and an impossible sample size for drawing any firm conclusions about his ability.
The only thing we can even try to assess in this situation is whether he’ll fit into Cleverley’s preferred style. Is there anything in McCabe’s numbers, at all, to suggest he’ll be able to improve a system that seems to have been malfunctioning since the start of the season?
In theory, yes. We know Cleverley values possession, and needs a midfielder comfortable on the ball. For all the pros and cons of Argyle’s midfield options at present, there doesn’t appear to be a purely technical talent available. That’s perhaps with the exception of Ayman Benarous, though he’s been forced to play in what appears to be anywhere but midfield thus far due to injuries across the squad.
Across, as I remain keen to stress, his entire professional career of seven appearances, McCabe has shown an ability to play in a possession-based side. His total pass success currently sits at 86%; Lewis Gibson (87%) was the only player to post a higher figure at Argyle last season. Additionally, McCabe would have topped Argyle’s charts last year for touches per 90 minutes, as well as passes attempted and completed per 90.
The small sample size naturally skews McCabe’s figures. I’m not suggesting he’s set to come in and suddenly be the best passer at Argyle. What his numbers do show, however, is that he at least has the ability to play in a team who like to retain possession. That, in itself, is a decent start.
Is McCabe the sort of player who can come in, win duels and dominate the midfield? My instinct is no. Partly because he’s a teenager standing at 5 ft 7, and partly because he hasn’t won nearly enough duels across his career to give me any confidence. Indeed, his numbers for both ground and aerial duels across his short career to date are disappointing.
I accept that the sample size weighs even heavier on this occasion. Passes are completed at a far greater rate than duels are contested – had McCabe even won one or two more, his number may have improved dramatically. However, when paired with other factors, I think it’s best that the midfield battling is left to the likes of Malachi Boateng and Bradley Ibrahim.
Concluding how well a player who has never played in League One (and indeed has only played seven times at any senior level) will do in League One is impossible. What I think we have been able to identify is the sort of player McCabe is – a technical midfielder who will aim to dictate play and create chances from deeper areas. In that regard at least, it’s exactly what Argyle crave.
Held in high regard
That’s about all we can meaningfully take from the numbers. The ones we’ve already covered are barely relevant at best, and delving into anymore would feel foolhardy. Instead, rather than looking at figures alone, I’ll take a moment to aggregate what those in the game have been saying about McCabe, including those who have been pivotal to his early development as a footballer.
Take his first senior manager, Michael Carrick, as an example. After McCabe made his FA Cup debut against Blackburn Rovers, Carrick was quick to praise his performance, and hint at his hopes for the future. He’s quoted as saying “I thought Law was really bright and handled the game well. He was a positive from the game. I don’t want to put too much on him at this stage though. I think he’s talented, there’s no doubt about that.”
Carrick’s comments in the aftermath of that game also back up our initial ideas about the player’s style of play. On McCabe, he said “His intelligence and quality on the ball is very high. There are other parts of his game to keep working on – the physicality and that side of the game, for example. But that’s all part of his development. You wouldn’t expect him to have everything at his age. He’s doing well and had good experiences this season so far in various ways. I thought it was a good step for him today.”
His current head coach at Boro, Rob Edwards, backs up Carrick’s thoughts on McCabe’s potential. In his most recent press conference after McCabe’s Argyle move was confirmed, Edwards stressed that the loan shouldn’t be seen as a verdict on his ability.
He’s quoted as saying “with the dynamic as it is in the midfield at the moment, with the lads doing really well, through no fault of his own it was going to be more difficult for Law to get that game-time here. Because we’ve got such high hopes for him, we want him to go and get that football that he deserves and he needs now.”
McCabe has also caught the eye of footballing journalists, such as Teesside Live’s Craig Johns after a pre-season friendly against Rangers this summer. In his post-match article, Johns claimed “McCabe showed his star potential with a really composed performance in what Edwards described after as a high-pressure situation, given the size of the ground and the context of the opportunity to impress. Once again he proved he’s more than good enough.”
Now, this is clearly not the be-all and end-all. For starters, nobody of a Middlesbrough persuasion would have any motivation to speak negatively about McCabe. And, just because McCabe is seen as a great future prospect, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll perform for Argyle in League One. We saw as much with Darko Gyabi; he was highly regarded by many at Leeds United, and indeed at Home Park, but his record at Argyle was certainly mixed.
All indications would suggest McCabe is going to have a great career somewhere. Let’s hope we get a taste of that during his Argyle stay.
Dealing with the demands
Now we’ve covered the tiny sample of data, and taken a look at what others have said about him, there’s really not a lot more to discuss on McCabe. So to close this one out, let’s have a brief word on what this deal says about Argyle’s transfer window, and more specifically about the pressure it puts on McCabe to deliver.
As I mentioned in the introduction, nothing seems to demonstrate the complete mess of Argyle’s window more than this deal. You simply cannot, in the space of two days, go from saying you want experience and don’t want to sign players on loan, to loaning in a teenager. Nobody can run their club in such a manner and expect fans to see it as anything other than a circus behind the scenes.
And, as I’d like to reiterate, I say none of this to disparage McCabe. Despite the comical circumstances of his arrival, he clearly has enough about him to at least have the potential to succeed at Argyle. As for the club, they find themselves in a situation where McCabe simply must perform.
Cleverley’s 4-2-3-1, which he has stuck to so rigidly, requires at least one technical midfielder to be effective. There needs to be somebody in the double pivot who can offer control, who can allow Argyle to build through the thirds, and who can playmake from a deeper starting position. With Benarous seemingly a utility man at present, that job falls squarely on McCabe’s shoulders.
We can all have our thoughts on McCabe’s talents, the deal itself, and the transfer window as a whole. I certainly do. Ultimately though, Argyle have put themselves in a situation where this deal must be a success, or the head coach’s system will continue to malfunction. That feels an unfathomable amount of pressure to put on a 19-year-old.