If you rely solely on numbers in a spreadsheet, you’ll miss the impact of Che Adams. 

20 Premier League goals in 97 games is fairly meh. 295.4 minutes per goal doesn’t sound any less meh while his seven strikes last season were exactly that: a bit meh.

But all this number-crunching doesn’t get to the heart of the player Adams is and with only digits, you’d miss out on the crucial role he played in Saints’ revival against Leeds on Saturday.

READ MORE: Goalscorer Aribo explains Hasenhuttl selection decision

That isn’t to say Adams' goal return is enough. It isn’t and his team needs more from him in terms of his statistical output. But his value can’t truly be quantified and against a backdrop of rumours linking him with a move away from St Mary’s, that fact was seen yet again last weekend.

At his best, Che Adams is a facilitator, making those around him better and Saints’ attack more fluid and potent. It’s this less tangible side of his game that often leads to him being overlooked - but working at his best - is a hugely vital cog in Ralph Hasenhuttl's team.

The clearest example of that came in the build-up to Joe Aribo’s lightning rod recovery-starting goal in which Adams won’t get any official mention on the scoresheet - but wouldn’t have happened without him.

Firstly - Adam Armstrong who deserves huge credit himself - gets on the ball with three Leeds defenders around him. Adams immediately sees his strike partner outnumbered and shifts over to help, centre-back Robin Koch following behind him.

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As Armstrong breaks past one Leeds defender, Adams recognises the room for the pass that has just opened up and makes a sharp movement towards the ball.

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Koch is trapped on his heels allowing the pass to be played, giving up just enough time and space for Adams to receive the ball. In the image above , you can see Adams in full movement and Koch stuck rigid.

It’s small margins but that is what is at the centre of Premier League football - the small almost unseen pieces of brilliance that can give your team any slight advantage.

Koch attempts to recover - stepping on Adams in the process - but the striker gets his first-time pass away and sets Armstrong running off down the line.

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When Armstrong looks up to cross he sees Sekou Mara and Aribo arriving in the box with Leeds lacking numbers thanks to Koch’s position 20 yards back - on the ground.

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Che Adams isn't even in the picture when the ball hits the back of the net but it wouldn't have reached Aribo in the first place without his involvement. Outside of numbers, this is what Adams does - he makes his team better.

Here’s another example from pre-season against SK Klagenfurt. On this occasion, Adams pulls out to the right wing where he receives the ball. With space centrally vacated, four Klagenfurt defenders are drawn to Adams, keeping their eyes locked on him.

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Before the defence can react, Will Smallbone makes a smart run into the heart of the space Adams has left, and the striker finds him with the Irishman's shot eventually hitting the post.

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Adams’ movement is extremely unselfish and helps open up opportunities and space for the players around him. Take a look at his touch-map from Saturday’s 2-2 draw.

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The vast majority of goals come inside the box between the width of the posts, and as such, strikers are often taught to focus their energy in those areas - that's where the world's best poachers make their mark.

But Adams' role is far less one-dimensional, instead roaming all over Saints’ attacking half in order to link play and physically assert himself. It’s no coincidence we regularly see him in the two positions outlined in the examples above, either far from goal because he’s come short to help link play, or out wide to open up space in the middle of the pitch.

This is a contrast to how he was utilised at Birmingham City where he smashed in 22 goals in his final Championship season.

Heat maps can be confusing over a full season as there are a multitude of areas highlighted but the point from the images below is still clear: at Birmingham (left) he spent much more of his time centrally whereas with Saints (right) he’s asked or required to move all over the pitch.

Daily Echo: Adams' 19/20 heat map while at Birmingham (left) and last season with Saints (right). Images: WyscoutAdams' 19/20 heat map while at Birmingham (left) and last season with Saints (right). Images: Wyscout

Below is one more example of the relative sacrifice Adams’ makes to help the team with his all-around ability outside of his own attacking box. 

Losing 1-0 to Watford at St Mary's, Kyle Walker-Peters carries the ball forward before playing it to Adams' feet with a Watford centre-back right on trail. Adams in turn plays a quick pass to Oriol Romeu as Smallbone streaks into the space behind the Watford defence on the right side.

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As can be seen in this next image, Watford are defensively all over the place as Romeu sends the ball towards Smallbone's run. The centre-back who pressed Adams is now totally out of position while the Hornets' second central defender must come across to try and make up the ground.

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The move ends up leading to nothing but it's yet another example of the impact Adams has all over the pitch with his link-up play and movement - helping his teammates flourish.

Last season amongst Saints players with 1500 or more Premier League minutes, Adams ranked fourth in chances created per game (behind Nathan Redmond, Moi Elyounoussi and Oriol Romeu) and second in assists per game (behind only Redmond).

But taking away everything Adams does do on the ball, it’s his persona and attitude that makes him so critical to this team. Despite standing at just 1.75m (5’7”), Adams provides a physical spearhead to Saints’ attack, capable of challenging with much larger centre-backs in the air (as seen winning a header against 6'3" Koch below) and extremely competent with his back to goal, evidenced by the examples above.

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In a team that can sometimes lack the nastiness to thrive in the Premier League, Adams is never found wanting in that arena. 

A great example of that could be seen late in proceedings against Leeds as Saints piled on the pressure in search of a winning goal.

A relatively aimless long ball is launched in the direction of Adams who not only manages to take it down under pressure but toys with two defenders before being fouled.

As the ball drops out of the sky, Adams backs into the Leeds player and gets very low, keeping a strong centre of gravity and making sure he can't be pushed aside despite having arms wrapped around him.

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With the ball bouncing, Adams again has to hold off the player at his back and when another Leeds midfielder joins in, the Saints striker flips the ball between his two opponents before getting hacked down.

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Whether it's chasing a game or protecting a lead, this desperation to keep the ball is one of Adams' best and most crucial traits. In an extremely physical first half on Saturday, Adams was up for the fight, even getting booted in the head for his trouble. 

As someone with his stature who possesses such battering ram qualities, Adams is something of an underdog against the giants that occupy Premier League defences. But that is where he thrives and why he is such an important emotional piece of the Saints puzzle.

Growing up in the Coventry City academy, Adams was released at age 14 and staring into the abyss of the football wilderness. Never one to give up, Adams took an alternate route back into the professional game, joining non-league Oadby and then Ilkeston. Taking a train from his home in Leicester to Derby and then a long bus to get to training each morning, Adams’ sacrifice paid off as he became a regular in the first team by 16.

“It’s just a question of how hard you’re going to get kicked,” he told the Guardian in 2019 of his experience in non-league. “You definitely get kicked harder in non‑league because the referee is all the way in the other penalty box or on the other side of the pitch.

“Of course it’s frustrating but I was a little boy and I couldn’t really say anything to the older men, could I? It’s a little kid running around you and you just want to kick him as hard as you can to stop him from doing that.”

Fortunately, the painful experiences lower down the pyramid taught Adams the valuable lesson of kicking back no matter who the odds favour, a staple of his game in the top flight today. 11 goals and nine assists came in 16 games at Ilkeston and with a host of football league clubs circling, Adams moved to League One Sheffield United in 2014.

Daily Echo: Adams pictured with Hasenhuttl after the draw with Leeds. Image by: Stuart MartinAdams pictured with Hasenhuttl after the draw with Leeds. Image by: Stuart Martin

From there the rise was meteoric, first to the Championship with Birmingham and then to the Premier League with Saints.

He caused a bit of a stir upon his arrival on the South Coast by proclaiming that “Obviously, we want to win the league.” The line was met with derision from rival fans for its relative lunacy but it's a little insight into the mindset of the Saints striker. He’s a believer and he’s always been a dreamer.

These aren’t the easiest qualities to visualise on the pitch or see in a statistical report, but it’s certainly the attitude I would want in my team. It’s this attitude that helped Adams shake off a horrific start to life at Southampton and become the pivotal player he has been over the past few seasons.

“He is a guy who is one day a little bit frustrated when he sees he doesn’t play but then when the game comes, he shows up immediately and this is fantastic,” Ralph Hasenhuttl told the Daily Echo in February 2020.

The same rung true on Saturday as Adams returned from a much-publicised role on the bench at Spurs to be the focal point of Saints’ recovery.

Tactically, Adams is also a key element of this squad. The 4-1 defeat to Spurs showed that Adam Armstrong can’t realistically be relied upon to start up front on his own; his strengths just aren’t suited to the lone striker role. Meanwhile, Sekou Mara may well have the tools but he’s just 20 years old and will need time to adapt (despite his hugely impressive cameo vs Leeds).

Adams is better in a two where he can help facilitate the attacks for his partner and roam the pitch without Saints losing their vital edge up front. But he also has the physical capabilities to operate on his own - as seen Saturday when he was chosen at the tip of an attack that included Stuart Armstrong and Moi Elyounoussi on either side of the Scottish international. This flexibility just makes him more useful and it’s something that not all of Hasenhuttl’s attackers have.

Beyond all of this though, beyond all the stats, graphs and intangible talking points, there is a larger issue that looms with a potential Adams departure. This squad is already dangerously thin up front. Most - including Hasenhuttl - would say this group needs another forward and this is with the current options all still around.

If Adams did leave, that would see Saints have just two recognised strikers in a team that normally plays two up front. One of those strikers has two Premier League goals and the other is yet to make his full Saints debut. You would assume another forward will arrive should Adams leave but three is still likely not enough, particularly with the question marks around those that are at the club.

Daily Echo: Adams in the pre-season win against Monaco. Image by: Matt TempleAdams in the pre-season win against Monaco. Image by: Matt Temple

It's possible that Armstrong has a higher ceiling than Adams, in that he may be more likely to break the ten goal barrier based on his Championship track record and tendency to operate as a more 'typical' number nine. But Adams is far more of a guarantee. We are yet to see Armstrong actually do it in the Premier League whereas Adams’ goal returns over the last two campaigns - nine and seven - are not incredible but still a necessary contribution for a team that generally struggles to score.

On top of that, those numbers don’t properly tell the story of how important Adams’ goals have been. Five of his seven strikes last season were to give his side the lead while another was an equaliser. Only his goal against Brentford - to make it 4-1 - didn’t really count for much.

The same was true for the season prior, as six of his nine goals came to either equalise or give Saints a one-goal lead. Adams hasn’t only stepped up when it’s easy, he’s been vital to securing huge points.

All this doesn’t mean he should completely escape criticism. There are very real areas where he needs to improve, particularly when it comes to finishing. Adams’ last goal came all the way back in February and the rut he’s been on has included multiple opportunities to break that duck. 

Up to that final goal against Norwich, Adams’ seven strikes came with an expected goals of 4.97, displaying above average finishing for that period of the season. But he was provided with opportunities worth 2.72xG through the rest of the campaign without any more actual real-life goals.

Big misses against Manchester City in the FA Cup, Burnley away and Chelsea at home stick out in the mind as Adams regularly failed to convert through the back-half of last season. This obviously needs to change. Saints don’t create enough chances to squander them.

However, this doesn’t have to be a major concern just yet as he’s been a relatively average but not poor finisher in his Saints career as a whole. His 20 Premier League goals have come from a total xG of 19.8, putting him right in line with where he should be - based on the chances he’s been given.

Regardless, Saints don’t have the luxury of being overly critical. All their attacking options lack somewhere or something but Adams can be relied upon. He can’t necessarily be relied upon to score but he can be relied upon to make his team better. That’s why Saints should deeply deliberate the possibility of selling him and that’s what he reminded everyone on Saturday.

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