Scouting Antonee Robinson: High Quality Full-Back in Attack & Defence

Written on 07/01/2024

After an impressive 18 months since getting promoted to the Premier League with Fulham, Antonee Robinson is now being linked with a move to quite a few “big name” clubs, including Liverpool. 

The American international, who joined the Everton youth setup in 2013, played for Wigan Athletic and Bolton Wanderers before signing for Fulham in the summer of 2020. Post-date this sentence to the coming summer, the 26-year-old would have played three Premier League and one Championship season for the Cottagers. 

The encouraging thing about him is the progress he has made in the last year or so. It won’t be an overstatement to say that he is currently one of the best fullbacks in the country.

At 26, Robinson has reached the peak stage of a footballer’s career where quality is joined by consistency in making good decisions on and off the ball. His style of play can be suited to how Liverpool operate to an extent.

Keeping that in mind, let’s take an in-depth look at the player, his attributes, numbers and why he can be a good addition to the Reds, if it happens (ignoring the hindrance of Everton youth team bit).

Player Profile - Antonee Robinson

Robinson, who chiefly operates as a left-back, can play as a wing-back or a midfielder on that side of the field. Under Marco Silva, the American is more of an orthodox left-back than anything else.

Since the Fulham boss is predominantly a front-foot manager, the 26-year-old is able to exhibit his qualities in the final third along with being sturdy in one-on-one defending in wide areas. Although he is not blessed with the height of a traditional centre-back (though we have had CBs with height less than 180 cm as well), winning aerial duels is one of his key strengths.

The heatmap shown above is a perfect encapsulation of the profile explained in the previous two paragraphs. A modern-day fullback under an attack-minded manager has to cover the whole length of the field on his side and produce outputs on both the attacking and defending side of things.

Robinson has been doing that with good consistency for Fulham this season. He was excellent for them last year too.

Premier League Defenders - 2023/24 Season, ft. A. Robinson

This section has a few data visuals featuring Premier League defenders from the current season and how they stack as per key metrics. We will see where Robinson is found in these visuals.

With 0.16 assists per 90, the 26-year-old is going good in that metric in the league. Although he is below the average line in the final third passes, the 3.32 per 90 return represents an improvement for him if his previous English top-flight numbers are taken into account (more of that will come up).

The American international does not mind taking people on, carrying the ball in the opposition half and more. He has the pace and physical strength to ride off challenges and push the team forward from the left-hand side.

Not many fullbacks (even if they are centre-backs playing there) can boast an aerial duel win rate of over 70%. Robinson has that along with a high ball recovery average. He is combining his physical and aerial strength with good game-reading skills defensively. There is a reason why he is one of the best fullbacks in the league at the moment.