Swindon Town needed to rebalance their attack this summer, and have found an exciting candidate in the signing of Mitchell Clark.
One of Swindon’s biggest problems in the second half of last season was that losing one part of their attack threw the rest of it into chaos. An inability to replace what Finley Munroe provided down the left, even with the three signings which were designed to make up for his departure, meant that Swindon lost their menace on that side, but also everywhere else.
With teams no longer scared about what was coming from the left, they could concentrate on locking down the right and centre, knowing that they were not going to be punished for doing so.
Fixing that problem always had to be a big focus for Swindon this summer, and they have taken the first step in doing so by adding Clark.
Whilst he is naturally right-footed, the 27-year-old has played all the way down both wings, and during his spell on loan at Fleetwood Town last season, he played 75 per cent of his minutes on the left side.
The Cod Army generally played a 3-5-2 formation with Clark as the left wing-back, and with Ian Holloway viewing the same system as his Plan A for next season, he also has the former Welsh youth international pencilled in on the left side, although he can cover elsewhere.
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Speaking about his own game to club media, Clark said: “I am a hard-working player who is going to run through a brick wall for the team, and I will give my all for it.
“Defensively and attacking, I am just a player who is going to run through a brick wall.”
Speaking to those who have worked with him, Clark is seen as a player with a real motor down the flank, putting in all of the hard work defensively to free him up to bomb forward and sling crosses into the box.
Although he only played for Fleetwood in the second half of last season, and they were not a side that was consistently putting teams under pressure, his 0.83 successful crosses per 90 minutes ranked in the top 30 per cent of all wingers in the division.
And you can see in his cross map from Opta Analyst that he was eager to get towards the by-line and put the ball across, and so even though he is right-footed, he is not constantly having to check back onto his stronger foot and cross from deep.
In a Swindon team that is likely to be based around a front two of Harry Smith and Aaron Drinan for much of next season, the game is going to revolve around getting the ball wide and looking to find them in the middle. This suits Clark nicely, he is not someone who wants to cut inside and get lots of shots off or even link play, he will get around the outside and get the ball into the middle.
Defensively, he has the high-energy style that Holloway is searching for in new signings this summer. His 5.73 defensive contributions, 0,73 interceptions, and 2.92 clearances per 90 minutes all rank inside the top 25 per cent of players in his position. This also came as part of a team that were not generally looking to press high, and in Swindon’s system, he should be even more useful in this area.
Having already been promoted out of League Two with Port Vale in his career, where he was a fan favourite, Clark offers much of what Swindon have been looking for in a new left wing-back.
