Photograph by www.carlislunited.co.uk
New signing Dylan McGeouch was announced on Friday, 7th July signing a two-year deal with the club. The central midfielder comes with a decent amount of League One, SPL, and Scottish Championship experience. At 30 years old and with 186 senior appearances to his name, Simmo will be hoping that McGeouch will be able to make a big contribution this coming season.
Personal Profile
Full name: Dylan McGeouch
Date of birth: 15 January 1993 (age 30)
Place of birth: Glasgow, Scotland
Height: 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position: Central Midfield
Player Profile
McGeouch is a defensive central midfielder, who seems most comfortable operating in the left-hand side of a double pivot. He's a player who likes to receive and pass the ball a lot while keeping possession. He's also a player who likes to make tackles and interceptions as well as winning a high percentage of ground duels. He's not much of a goal scorer or creator due to him operating at the base of the midfield
Player History
Last season McGeouch made 24 League One appearances (1794 minutes, averaging 75 mins per appearance) for Forest Green Rovers. During his tenure, he was voted player of the season and captained them on a number of occasions. Unfortunately for FGR McGeouch's influence could not stop them from being relegated.
Prior to this, McGeouch had played for Aberdeen 2020 - 2022, only managing 1744 league minutes over 2 and a half seasons, which averages at under eight 90-minute appearances per season. His time here was riddled with injury.
Looking further back he played for Sunderland in League One 2018 - 2020, making 30 league appearances over one and a half seasons, which averages just under thirteen 90-minute appearances per season.
In his earlier career, he had a spell at Hibs where he played quite a lot making 72 appearances.
Where does McGeouch fit into the squad?
Having looked at some video and the data from his season, I think it is fair to say that McGeouch will be contesting the central midfield position with Callum Guy. Both players have similar stats, as well as physical profiles.
I have taken the data from both players from last season. You have to bear in mind that McGeouch's stats are compared against League One players, while Guy's stats are compared against League Two players. Also, need to consider McGeouch was playing in a team fighting in a relegation battle, while Guy playing for a team chasing promotion.
Anyway, there are some interesting things to take from this.
Their defensive numbers are pretty much mirrored with McGeouch winning a few more duels than Guy. That could be due to the fact he's making more defensive actions due to him playing for a struggling team.
Guy had a good season in terms of goals, so his goal involvements are a bit higher with MceGouch not scoring and making one assist.
What's the most interesting thing to take from the radar is possession and ball retention stats. McGeouch performs much better than Guy in this department. McGeouch was in the top 10% of League One players for the number of passes made per 90 minutes. Plus, he was in the top 20% of League One players for the number of successful passes made per 90 minutes. His pass completion rate was 72%, while not the best, still higher than Guy's. McGeouch was also in the top 15% of League One players for dribble success rate, again, showing that he has excellent ball retention skills.
Final Thoughts
It isn't something that I have mentioned too much in the blog post and that is injuries. He had a torrid time at Aberdeen missing a lot of games and spending around 5 to 6 months on the sidelines during his spell there. His time at Sunderland was blighted with injury, with him getting injured in pre-season and not being able to get into the team. He was available for FGR from November to May last season, which is a positive. I suppose there is no pressure for him to play every game and expect him to be rotated with Guy. I am certainly expecting him to make an impact for us in possession, especially at home when we will have more of the ball. Let's hope he's fit and available for us.