A jacket protects you from the cold. THE Jacquet protects you from strikers scoring past your befuddled goalkeeper. What’s more important is irrelevant, because Jérémy could probably tackle the flu as well.
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Angling Runs and Getting Goalside
Jérémy Jacquet is a good ground defender from basically any angle:
As soon as his marker gets on the ball, Jacquet notices that the fastest way for his marker to get a shot off is to run straight. He doesn’t have much time and space, so he may as well keep it uncomplicated.
So he runs toward him and tries to get ahead:
Considering his momentum is moving to the right, as evidenced by a strong step via ankle movement:
He’s able to shoulder barge his marker, hoping to knock him off balance. Even though this doesn’t happen, it does shift him further to the right, and away from goal.
Although his next step is wholly overcommittal, under the assumption that his marker would’ve been thrown off balance, Jacquet recovers rather well. He lands on his left foot, uses it to push off, and gets ahead of his man in the tackle:
And his foot makes contact with the ball the second the attacker shoots, meaning it’s more likely to go out of play:
What I really like about Jacquet is that his first intention is always to shove his man away, so it’s easier to win the ball back before doing something too dumb to do so (in the box).
But when he realises he can’t do that (weak upper-body strength), he goes for the ball before his marker even realises what’s happening:
Firstly, good jockeying; open enough to move in either direction. Secondly, on his toes; leaning forward, and positioned well to lunge
See also, here:
Quick changes of direction → easier to win the ball back in one step.
Tries to get his marker off balance [again], but good work from the attacker to push him away:
Gets the tackle in early, between the attacker’s legs, just as he shoots [again]
Similarly, good reach to get to the ball without going 1v1:
Proactivity
Jacquet’s [ground] defending is underlined by the fact that he’s proactive, which I love.
If you know what your attacker is going to do before he does it, you know how to step in before he realises what you’re doing, and bam. You’re a nuisance. Congrats.
Starts turning toward his man before he can fully turn with the ball:
Slides with his left foot, pushing his right toward the ball and into a more lunge-able position (smooth criminal 🕺)
Jacquet’s 6ft 2in (1.88m tall), and simultaneously looks like he’s 5ft 8in and 6ft 5in tall.
And I mean that in the best way possible. Essentially, his control over his body is pretty great.
Turns toward the ball and gets low to the ground, moving his arms out of the way just as the attacker sets his backlift in motion:
In the same vein, accelerating and decelerating in any direction means you can, well, win the ball back in any direction. Even in this one:
Back pedalling → getting onto his toes and leaning forward in one motion, then lunging in:
Timing your lunges well → lower chance of disciplinary action.
I think the extent of his proactivity does make up for the fact that his tackling is rather biased toward his right foot.
If he were to defend in a high line next to Jeremie Frimpong, for example, Jacquet would ultimately have to defend the area in front of him, behind him, and the flanks.
So while he’s currently limited by his one-footedness, he could become one of the best ground defenders in the world if this mitigating factor changes even slightly.
Aerial Ability
Jacquet’s good in the air. This is, of course, helped by the fact that he’s tall, but being generally light and mobile on his toes means his calves have developed a spring-y motion, which only improves his vertical leap:
And his headers seem to be well placed (retentive) as well:
I do think his headers are often mistimed, though. His height means that it’s often not an issue, considering he’s already matching up to most leaping attackers, but that, plus developing (not yet developed) upper-body strength, may not be the best combo to have.
Plus, it increases the chances of him falling down post-aerial duel, since his landing won’t be when he expects it to be. That effectively takes one body out of the box, meaning you have more room to take a shot.
Retention
I broadly categorise retention in two ways during/post tackle. One is during the block, by keeping the ball.
Swivels (💃) while blocking → bringing the ball down in one motion:
Cleanly intercepts; is composed enough to look at his surroundings, take his time, and pass the ball out with his weaker foot:
But when lunging in, Jacquet often finds himself off balance (similar to the above qualm re headers). This is fine if the ball’s been thwacked out of play, but if his clearance isn’t perfect, for example, him sliding away from his man and being unable to get onto his feet immediately could prove costly.
That said, even if he’s slow to get up, his general mobility does help here. Look at him, he may as well be breakdancing:
His first intention post-recovery is usually to progress, which should translate over nicely into top teams.
His long limbs also mean he’s able to cover ground rather quickly, and his general composure means he’s usually able to bring the ball out of dangerous areas:
In quantitative form:
Compared to some of his future (?) teammates:
Passing Range
Jacquet’s passing range is also pretty great. It’s always good to have a first-timer ping in your locker for quick transitions:
Leaning back (but still, shoulders over the ball) for speed and loft:
That said, I do believe that his lobs are often a bit too floaty, and can pretty easily be cut out by any relatively tall midfield:
However, his switches are reliable, which may just come down to the fact that his man’s isolated and there’s more room for reasonable error:
Skillset → Profiling
Jérémy Jacquet is (captain obvious alert) a CB. That much is pretty evident. BUT I do believe he’s good enough to play as an LCB, CCB, or RCB.
Regardless of where you play him, he’ll put in a shift. Of course, his current one-footedness in terms of tackling is not ideal for defending as a left-sided centre back, but his fundamentals are good enough that he should be able to move past that small hurdle.
I think the lack of upper-body strength would concern me should he move to the Premier League right now, but again, he wins the ball back comfortably even when his shoulders fail him, and that’s fine, if not all too ideal.
His long legs and general forward-mindedness mean he’s always going to be comfortable enough on the ball, and should suit a high line pretty darn well, considering how he eats up ground.
I wholly believe Jérémy Jacquet will become one of the best defenders in the world. I maintain that someone like Josh Acheampong is better, but hey ho, high standards.
You know what you’re getting from Jacquet, and his floor is just about as high as it can be. Given his position, I think his ceiling is sorta low, but when your floor is that high, does it necessarily matter?
So if someone like Charlie Cresswell is perfect for a mid-table side for the qualities he’d bring to one, Jacquet’s made for the best. Or for the winter. North Face, wanna throw in a sponsorship?
Thank you for reading! I hope you’ve enjoyed. If you’re also stuck in some rather frigid weather (and even if not), stay warm, and have a great week ahead!
For the Instinctive curious (?) here’s some more of my work:
