On 20th June 2023, Dan Crowley signed for the newly promoted Notts County in League Two.

A product of Arsenal‘s academy, Crowley spent several seasons across the English Football League, including spells at Morecambe, Cheltenham, Hull City, Birmingham City, Oxford United and Barnsley, as well as spells in the Eredivisie with Go Ahead Eagles, SC Cambuur and two spells at Willem II.

Notts County has made a fantastic start to life this season in League Two, and the addition of Crowley is a big part of that. In this tactical analysis and scout report, we take a deeper dive into some of the tactical reasons to provide an analysis of how Crowley is having this sort of effect on Notts within their tactics this season.

Attacking

Crowley is an attacking midfielder who has been playing regularly on the right of a front 3 in the 1-3-4-3 formation that Notts County have most commonly deployed this season. As you can see by this Pizza Plot below, he has been one of the league’s leading players in possession-based data.

Crowley is in the top 20% of players for progressive passes per 90 and dangerous passes per 90. He is also in the top 10% of attacking midfielders for pass accuracy percentage. Most significantly, Crowley is in the top 2% of attacking midfielders for passes received and made per 90.

EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Pizza Plot comparing Dan Crowley to other Attacking Midfielders in League Two

Now, what sort of an impact might this have on Notts County? Well, I think it’s important to understand the style of play that Notts County deploy. Notts have the most average passes per sequence in League Two at 4.43 passes per sequence; they also have the longest average possession time at 13.42 seconds.

Combine this with the fact that the average ball progression speed is 1.13m/s(The slowest in the division), and you can get a real feel for what they are trying to do on the ball, with the team looking to play a patient possession-based system.

Now that we know what Notts are trying to do in possession, how does Danny Crowley fit into that? First, it’s important to note where he is positioned with him being out on the right wing, generally operating between the lines and often playing in the half-spaces, CB-FB gaps of the opposition.

This is a real contrast to his role at Morecambe in 2022/23, where he was asked to mostly play as the central attacking midfielder in a 1-4-2-3-1 shape. This apparent change is shown below by the two heatmaps with his Morecambe 2022/23 season on the left and this season with Notts on the right.

EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Crowley playing the half-spaces of the opposition.
EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Comparison of Crowley’s positioning at Morecambe (Left) and Notts County (Right)

Above, you can see a representation of Crowley playing in those half spaces in a recent game against Forest Green Rovers. This enables Notts to play with Wide diamonds, which allows them to stretch that field as they look to build and find an opening patiently.

Another of the most critical ways in which Crowley has been able to help Notts is his ability to cross the ball, often picking up dangerous positions around the edge of the box. When they can switch the ball from one side to the other, Crowley can play dangerous crosses with his right foot into the box, which can cause all sorts of problems for opponents.

Below is an image of Dan Crowley’s crossing zones from this season. I think it’s fascinating to note how many of them are played from relatively deep mid-way through the opposition half and aimed more towards the back post, likely to David McGoldrick, one of the division’s leading aerial players.

EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Dan Crowley Crossing Zones 23/24
EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Crowley’s wide positioning enables him to be in space to play a cross into the box.

Above, you can see an example of Crowley’s wide positioning. This is an example where the ball has just been moved from the middle by 18.M.Palmer, and the most obvious thing is how open Crowley is. With Notts being able to create this amount of space for a player like this, it will always create problems for opponents.

Additionally, to Crowley’s ability to be effective when crossing the ball from the right side, he is also able to make well-timed and effective back post runs to get on the end of crosses played in from the left side, as shown below in this goal against Swindon where David McGoldrick crosses the ball in from the left side and Crowley times his run expertly to arrive in this gap on the gap post just as the ball arrives there and finish it off close range with a one-touch finish.

EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Crowley’s back post run enables him to score a goal against Swindon Town

These attributes have aided Notts in their possession, allowing them to capitalise on their positional play as they stretch out opponents.

Defending

In the defensive phase, Notts don’t tend to be aggressive in their pressing and have the 7th worst PPDA at 15.2. But instead, Notts operate a more reserved press where they look to force their opponents to play wide. They do this by positioning the wide players Crowley and McGoldrick narrow. Here, they are tasked with blocking the passing lanes centrally and look to manipulate opponents into playing the ball wide.

It’s interesting to note that in terms of high turnovers, Notts are the 11th-best team with 79 high regains this season. So clearly, despite not putting direct pressure on the opponent players in the build-up, they can instead manipulate opponents into areas where they feel confident they can regain the ball.

EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report

High defensive regains by Crowley.

EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Crowley blocks the inside passing option, forcing the defender to play wide.

Above is an example of Crowley playing in the defensive phase. As the opposition looks to build from deep, the defender runs at Crowley and tries to isolate him. Crowley moves backwards and centrally, looking to prevent any real option to go centrally. Instead, the defender plays into the broad channel where Notts’ wingback puts backside pressure on the attacker.

EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Crowley blocked the inside pass as the ball played into the wide channel.

Above is an example of Crowley playing in the defensive phase. As the opposition looks to build from deep, the defender runs at Crowley and tries to isolate him. Crowley to move backwards and centrally, looking to prevent any central option for the defender. Instead, the defender plays into the wide channel, where Notts’ wingback puts far-side pressure on the attacker.

Along with his responsibility in the high press to sure up the middle and force the opponents wide, he is also tasked with working back and assisting his right wingback teammate, often 11. Aaron Nemane, to create a 2v2 in the wide channels when facing deep pressure from opponents. Crowley is asked to block any passes centrally across the front of the box and force opponents to be deeper. Below is a representation of the area Crowley is expected to operate over.

EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Defensive coverage by Crowley

Transition

Transition is an area of significant vulnerability for Notts as the team looks to dominate the ball for long periods. It would make sense that opponents are using counterattacks to try and score against them, which has proved somewhat effective. On the other hand, in the defence-attack transition phase, Notts generally try to retain possession and reset rather than launch a rapid counterattack.

However, last season, at Morecambe, they spent long periods in defence, and Crowley was an essential part of their ability to counterattack mainly due to his outstanding technical ability to progress the ball effectively with well-weighted passes and through balls, which aided the team in attacking transition.

EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Crowley leads teammate into space to score on the counter
EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Crowley takes touch away from the defender and then plays their teammate through on goal

Above, we can see a couple of examples of how Crowley is effective in attacking transition with his ability to play balls to teammates in stride, which doesn’t slow down the momentum of the attacks but instead leads teammates into space to attack high up the field.

Then, we have the attack-defence transition phase. In this area, Crowley does struggle somewhat; with him not being blessed with an abundance of speed, he can often struggle to work back effectively and be in a position to help prevent counterattacks from developing. Although he doesn’t always get it back in time to stop the attacks, he doesn’t give up on the chase and continues to try and work back into shape. So, if a teammate can slow down the counter, he would be able to help out in the actual shape.

EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Crowley working back into shape to slow down the opposition’s attack

Above is an excellent example of Crowley working hard to regain the ball. Having just lost it as a team, he will work back to get behind the ball and inside the opponent, preventing the opposition from attacking through the middle.

Strengths

Crowley’s greatest strengths are his technical proficiency and his ability to be consistently accurate, efficient and positive in possession . This has proved very important in Notts’ patient possession style of play. Below is an excellent example of how he can find passes between opposition defensive lines, which develop attacks with this ball, leading to a cross that resulted in McGoldrick’s goal.

EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Crowley is playing a through ball for a teammate to run onto, whose cross leads to a goal.

Another of Crowley’s greatest strengths is his ability to understand the game, and he is constantly finding himself in space between opposing defensive lines where he can cause havoc. His timing of runs is superb and enables him to arrive in the right place at the right time.

EFL League Two 23/24: How the addition of Dan Crowley has helped Notts County start the season so well - Scout Report
Shot map for Crowley 2023/24

Another of his most impressive traits is his efficiency in front of goal, where his goals scored significantly exceed his xG. You could suggest that there will be some regression to the mean, and this will slow down. Particularly considering last season, he only outperformed xG by 0.46 (2 goals to 1.54 xG.)

However, comparing the average xG per shot with last year, you can see where this extraordinary rise has come from. Last season, the average xG was 0.06/shot, coming primarily from long-range attempts, whereas this season, you can see the xG/shot has risen to 0.24 with a large number of shots coming from that back post area around the penalty spot. So, I would suggest that there is some potential that this increase in efficiency has, in part, to do with the new system he is a part of at Notts.

Weaknesses

Crowley’s biggest weakness is his lack of speed, which limits his ability to get back quickly to help in defensive transitions. It also limits his ability to drive at defenders and take them on 1v1, as he can struggle to create that quick separation. On average, he progresses the ball around 2.83m per carry.

Another of his weaknesses is his lack of physical size, which limits his ability to be a target in holding up the ball if Notts needed to have a plan B. This is well demonstrated in his time at Morecambe, where he proved less effective when starved of the ball.

Conclusion

Crowley’s has proven to be an excellent addition to Notts this season, with them currently sitting top of League Two. It has been a perfect marriage as it combines Crowley’s excellent technical skills and ability to be in space to develop attacks with Notts’ patient style of possession, where he can get lots of touches on the ball to do his thing.

This combination enables Crowley to flourish and has enabled Notts to be one of England’s most exciting attacking teams this season and push on for back-to-back promotions in 2023/24.