- Kenny McLean missed Norwich City’s trip to Hull City with a back injury.
- Jacob Wright stepped in as Norwich’s replacement for their captain in midfield.
- Assessing how Wright performed in his audition for the role of McLean.
Norwich City were without their captain for their 2-1 defeat to Hull City on the final day of the Championship season.
Kenny McLean had issues with his back that caused him to miss a few days of training, which meant that Philippe Clement was without him on Saturday.
It was the first league game of the Belgian’s reign that the Scotland international, who is off to the World Cup this summer, missed this season.
Kenny McLean’s role for Norwich
McLean’s absence was a problem that needed solving because he plays a starring role in Clement’s Norwich story.
The Player of the Season is the orchestrator and the heartbeat of the team in possession. Norwich rely on the skipper to knit moves together and kickstart attacks with his excellent passing.
| 25/26 Championship | Kenny McLean | Rank Among Norwich Players |
| Touches | 3,189 | 1st |
| Passes Made | 2,466 | 1st |
| Passes into Final Third | 304 | 1st |
| Assists | 4 | 1st |
| Expected Assists (xA) | 6.32 | 1st |
| Key Passes (Chances Created) | 53 | 1st |
| Big Chances Created | 10 | 1st |
McLean, as shown in the table above, ended the season as the stat leader in a host of key possession and creative metrics for the Canaries, illustrating his importance to the team on the ball.
The Scottish ace is not a midfield bulldozer who will break up play consistently as a defensive midfielder, but that is not his role.
Pelle Mattsson was cast in that role and played it brilliantly throughout the piece, finishing second in the Player of the Season voting.
Mattsson and McLean work so well together because they complement each other’s respective skills, with the former providing defensive strength and mobility, and the latter dictating play on the ball.
That is not to say that Mattsson is not good enough on the ball or that McLean does not do much defensively, but they excel at different parts of the game.
Jacob Wright stepped into the skipper’s position against Hull, and it felt like an audition ahead of taking on the role in the future.
Assessing Jacob Wright’s performance against Hull
The former Manchester City starlet has had to settle for seven of his starts coming as an attacking midfielder this season, due to McLean and Mattsson’s form, but he was finally given an opportunity as a six against the Tigers.
Norwich’s performance in the first half was nothing short of brilliant in possession. Despite going in a 1-1, it was the Canaries who had the most possession, the most shots, the most shots on target, and the most dangerous attacks, but they failed to make the most of it.
Wright was central to everything good that Clement’s team did on the ball. His passing at the base of the midfield teed up every attack perfectly.
He was incredibly unfortunate not to assist the opening goal when his delightful pass over the defence to Kellen Fisher was met with a poor first touch from the full-back.
Wright was then involved in Mohamed Toure’s goal to make it 1-0, as he played a pass between the lines to Anis Ben Slimane, who assisted the Australia international.
Of all midfielders and attackers on the pitch, the 20-year-old ranked 1st for touches (71), 1st for passes (63), 1st for crosses (six), and 1st for xA (0.43).
Whilst the game went south for Norwich, it was still a sublime performance by Wright, who Read Norwich gave a 7.5/10 player rating.
The Norwich midfielder produced an eye-catching audition that surely left Clement planning to increase his importance to the plot of the story moving into next season.
Wright still has areas of his game to work on, as every player does, but he has the technical quality and creativity to eventually take over from McLean when the 34-year-old’s time to pass the torch comes.
