Ivan Toney, A New PL Star
After a very solid Premier League debut in Brentford’s 2–0 win on opening day vs Arsenal, I wanted to do a deep dive into one of the best new talents in the Premier League in Ivan Toney. Last year Ivan Toney had arguably the best season in the Championships history thus setting the bar high for this upcoming Premier League season. I don’t think people realize how amazing he was last season, and I want to put out my opinions on why I think he’s going to prove himself as a star in this upcoming season. Toney is a unique hybrid player with plenty to his game, so let’s analyze his game and strengths and talk about how he will do in the Premier League.
Basic Play Style
Ivan Toney is a unique hybrid striker. Not only was he one of the most clinical strikers in all of England, but he was also an elite playmaker. He lead the league in scoring and was joint 5th in assists, scoring 31 goals and creating 10. The 31 Goals and 10 assists lead to a rate of just under 1Goal Involvement per 90 at 0.96 G+A/90. Toney is a hold up Striker who thrives scoring in the Penalty area and using his physique to hold the ball up and be an outlet for long balls. Toney stands at a well-built 5'10 and although that’s not the greatest height, he makes up for a lot of it with his leaping ability. We know the basic logistics of his game, but let’s go more in-depth about both his scoring and creation.
Scoring
Toney is the definition of a Penalty Box poacher. Almost every single one of his shots comes from inside the box. The graphic on the left is Ivan Toney’s shot map of all 135 of his shots in the 20/21 Championship season. We can see a very clear trend and that’s almost every single one of Toney’s shots came from inside the box excluding some random heaved shots. If you look closely, you can see that all the Red Stars representing his goals are inside the box.
All 31 of Toney’s 31 championship goals came from inside the box. His positioning and instincts are second to none making him an extremely clinical striker. Toney last season got 43% of his shots on goal which is a very decent rate. Although we need to take these numbers with a grain of salt as he played weaker competition in England’s second division, there’s no denying how impressive his track record is in front of goal. Toney’s ability to score so much from almost entirely in the box should make him one of the top scorers in the Premier League.
Playmaking/Creation
Most of the best playmaking metrics aren’t tracked by the Championship so we have to work with the basic assist counts as our best measurement of playmaking, but we will work with what we have. As I said earlier, despite being a score-first player, Ivan Toney finished tied for 5th in assists. Toney is very good as a hold up man and most of his assists come from when the ball is at his feet and he can knock it off from the arriving action. Toney can also drop a bit deeper and play some through passes to on-running wingers and midfielders. He is limited as a dribbler and relies more on others to get him the ball, but he makes up for the lack of self-creation through his hold-up action.
Not only can he play hold up, but he’s an amazing outlet for long balls too. This was displayed at full effect vs Arsenal Friday night. His ability to get up and win aerial duels and hold up the ball means teams can look towards him as an outlet when they sit deep. It allows Brentford to absorb opposition attacks and them immediately counter through him. Toney won 7/17 of his aerial duels Friday night vs Arsenal not only shoeing tenacity in winning them but the volume at which he competes for them.
And none proved to be more valuable than his header which should’ve counted as an assist that created Brentford’s 2nd goal. A long throw was hoisted in his direction and he knocked it down to create a tap-in at the back post for Christian Nørgaard. Him being an outlet to create for others makes him one of the best strikers in Premier League football.
Overview
Ivan Toney has a perfect combination of scoring and playmaking and a skillset that thrives playing as a lone man up top. With Brentford forced to play deeper against better opponents he offers them everything they need up top. Toney is one of the best Strikers in the league and by the end of the season, I think he’ll make that well known. Ivan Toney is a terrific player and I think he’s destined for a great season, and maybe even an England cap at some point during the season.
