The talisman of a Clermont side that massively overachieved in 2022/23, Muhammed Cham amassed 7 goals and 4 assists, impressive numbers for a man facing his first season in the French top flight. The Austrian international originally joined Clermont in the summer of 2020 after an impressive youth career in Germany and a one year stint at Admira, eventually being incorporated into the first team after a couple promising loans.
Muhammed Cham's heatmap for the 2022/23 season
As made evident by this rather erratic heatmap, Cham is often played as an inside forward or 10, with free range to roam between the lines. As his playtime has increased and he cemented himself in the side, the positions he picks up have become more refined and definite, tending to operate mostly in the right halfspace.
Muhammed Cham's heatmap for the 2023/24 season thus far
Despite his somewhat slight frame and build, Cham has some real burst and athleticism to him, something that crops up fairly often when out of possession and pressing. He has quite choppy and quick steps despite his long legs, allowing him to fly in short areas and change directions quickly, but concedes speed over long stretches where longer strides are more advantageous. Given he is someone that wants to drop between the lines and pickup the ball in midfield areas, having good short area speed is a necessity in order to evade pressure - though there is a slight issue with his balance, if there's someone in his back and he's being rushed there can be a lack of coordination leading to Cham stumbling about and becoming unbalanced, thus meaning he is unable to make the most of his natural burst to escape with the ball. It sometimes feels that he is too quick for his own good and needs to slow everything down in order to become more controlled.
Regarding his physical strength, Cham can hold his own despite his frame, but I wouldn't say that he is particularly strong. Larger opposition players getting tight to him shoulder-to-shoulder can often move him with minimal resistance and he often can only win a physical duel if the opposition player is of a similar build or if he has the leverage advantage. That being said, it is not something to be massively concerned over; you do not expect your slight, technical attackers to be dominant in a physical sense.
Cham's in possession and ball carrying metrics - fbref.com
As a player who often takes up wide positions on the pitch where you are given many 1-on-1 opportunities, dribbling ability is vital. These metrics certainly look promising at first glance but upon closer inspection there is a glaring flaw, particularly regarding Cham's low number of attempted 'take-ons'. When sifting through the games this is something that I was near constantly noting, Cham struggles heavily in 1-on-1 situations against fullbacks and nearly all his dribbles come in central areas in transition. Many technical and mental deficiencies are at play leading to this, some minor, some major - the most important of which I believe to be predictability; Cham cannot and will not go onto his right foot when carrying, he exclusively cuts inside onto his left, and opposition defenders know this.
This moment here is a key example of Cham's predictable behaviour when on the ball. While I can understand the thought process of why he decided to cut inside here (outnumbered inside the box, looking to pass to the runners arriving at the edge of the box), but he had already made the decision to cut back before he is ever aware of the runners, and more importantly the Rennes defenders were entirely prepared for him to cut back.
Look at the situation Cham receives the ball in: he can take the ball in stride, against a Rennes defender who is not in a great position to defend against a run to the byline, and play a ball in to his striker who is waiting to make a run across the Rennes centre back's face towards the near post. Instead, his first touch comes back inside, squaring him up to the defender and allowing another defender to arrive to double team him, squandering this chance to reach the byline. Here in lies another issue, Cham simply doesn't have the required footwork and skillful touch to consistently beat his man 1-on-1 when they are squared up like this, and this results in him looking unsure on the ball, aimlessly punting it at the defender to his left in an attempt to reach the runners coming from deep. There is about three hesitations before he releases the ball and not one attempt to drive at his man, he looks like a midfielder who has found himself out wide, not a natural forward.
This moment is far more egregious than the last as Cham actually looks to play a ball in with his right, only to cut inside right into a defender for reasons I personally cannot fathom. The awkward stutter step he does before faking the ball in with his right is a clear sign of discomfort on his weaker foot but the cross has to be played here, worst case scenario the Marseilles defender blocks the cross, giving you a corner and an opportunity to put a ball in on your stronger foot uncontested.
The Marseilles defender is squatting down on the left side of Cham's body, showing him towards the byline where he knows he will not go. Even if you're uncomfortable going both ways as a dribbler you still must threaten to go inside him here at the very least, try and square him up a bit more before coming back on to your left - cutting inside when the defender is positioned like this will never work they are in a perfect position to defend that. Some wingers can get away with predictability like this, the most drastic example being Arjen Robben who spent almost two decades solely cutting on to his left and retired as one of the greatest wingers in the sports history; but Cham is not Robben, very far from it, he doesn't have the necessary footwork or trickery to beat his man even if they know what's coming - he's not even dropping his shoulder before he makes his move inside.
The issues do not start and end with predictability either, because Cham often shows an indecisiveness when running at his man down the middle or off the left wing. While him cutting inside no matter what when playing down the right leads to these wasted opportunities, there is still some decisiveness to his movements as he knows before he receives the ball that he is cutting inside and looking for a ball in. On the opposite wing it's a different story, as cutting inside would require using his weaker foot which he does not want, continuing down the wing would negate this issue but then he doesn't like driving towards the byline either - this leads to very slow and often poor decision making on the ball.
It is important to note for this specific situation that the circumstances are not ideal given he gets zero help from his left wingback who you'd hope would be on the overlap, but that being said this aimless, slow dribble at the Toulouse fullback cannot be excused. The Toulouse defender does do a good job flipping his hips over and angling Cham towards the byline but this is an engagement I would expect him to win anyways - he has enough burst to get vertical separation and put a ball in. It doesn't make any sense to me why he would just drift towards the box until he is surrounded by four defenders and loses the ball, it's just poor decision making, the reaction from his teammates in the box says it all. At a certain point he has to take initiative and take on his man with pace and intent. This is not someone that crops up rarely either, in fact only three minutes later in the same exact game he shows the same indecisiveness.
Clermont are on the counter, 2-on-2, a near ideal situation for any forward. His teammate does a great job making a run, stretching the Toulouse defenders apart from each other giving Cham an opportunity to charge at the defender, who is most likely not going to engage given the consequence of giving Clermont a 2-on-1 situation if he misses his tackle - if you're not going to carry at pace and try to beat your man here, when will you ever? Quite frankly this is ridiculous decision making, slowing down almost completely with small, choppy steps for zero reason, deciding only to loft a ball to his teammate once the chance is basically dead in the water. I don't think I've ever seen a winger so afraid to take on his man before.
Going back to the metrics, Cham takes a lot of touches and garners a lot of yards carrying the ball compared to other wingers and attacking midfielders, but his take on numbers are average to poor - these are numbers more aligned with a box-to-box midfielder and, with the deficiencies looked at here regarding dribbling in attacking moments, it would seem that Cham is more suited to playing slightly deeper, being used more as a ball progressor.
These two clips here, where Cham is looking to recycle possession rather than run at his man 1-on-1, there is a noticeable change in his sharpness of movement and decision making - he isn't taking these hesitant stutter steps, his movement is far more fluid and his is more decisive with his passing even if he's just passing backwards to an open man. The comfort is visible. Against Monaco he even is able to use his natural burst to drift past a challenge, something he seemingly cannot do on the wing attacking a full back. He is better going backwards rather than forwards at this moment in time, and while I don't want to paint that as a good thing as it obviously not what you want from an attacker, it does show that he should be more involved with these midfield linkup moments as opposed to being isolated 1-on-1 on the wing.
Cham's passing metrics - fbref.com
Compared to other forwards across Europe, Cham is greatly involved in build up and accumulates a very high volume of passes per 90. He has a natural inclination for dropping deep and collecting the ball from his centre backs and spread it out wide, shown by his elite volume and efficiency in medium range passing. When passing in this range, he shows top quality weight and accuracy, something that completely disappears when he attempts to go longer.
Notice the suddenness and confidence he acts with here, dropping the shoulder and immediately finding a lofted pass to escape danger and kick-start a counter, something that is completely unseen further up the pitch where he has to beat his man. This pass in particular is obviously not perfect, you never want to force your teammate to have to chest the ball down if it can be avoided, but it is clear that he naturally has an eye for a pass. Where this begins to break down is, surprisingly, in the short range, where a deft touch is a necessity and where you really need to play the ball along the ground.
Despite being someone who often comes short and looks to receive the ball with pressure on his back, Cham lacks spacial awareness/press resistance and just doesn't naturally have a great first touch, resulting in him losing possession often when receiving.
Two unnecessary heavy touches, concedes possession chasing them.
Makes an incorrect decision, turning into pressure instead of away from it, spacial awareness lacking.
As a result of this common theme in his game, Cham often attempts to play first time passes in order to avoid the pressure, and therefore a heavy touch, completely. Unfortunately, his erratic and heavy ball control shows up in these passes, resulting in inaccuracies and ugly, bobbling balls that are difficult for his teammates to control - an important part of quick linkup play in midfield is playing well weighted passes that allow for your teammates to play a first time pass off the back of, thus making the passing sequence flow, this is not yet something he can do consistently. This inaccuracies still crop up even when there is little to no pressure on him, it seems he is constantly on edge and tensed up, thinking about the possibility of someone pressuring from behind, stiffening up his technique.
Cham makes a meal of what should be a very simple first time ball, opening his body up to pass to his right back but the technique is sloppy, perhaps a ball that should've been hit with his right foot. Throughout this game, Marseilles made sure that whenever Cham moved deeper to collect the ball a centre back would be right there with him. Here, the Marseilles centre back is certainly following Cham but he is not getting tight to him; nonetheless Cham is expecting pressure from behind him that had be ever-present in the first half of this game and thinks this ball has to be played as soon as possible. When you feel rushed and uncomfortable your technique will get sloppy, he needs to be calmer and more controlled here, and he needs to better gauge just how much pressure he is under before receiving the ball.
Again another example of Cham rushing his pass when there is no pressure and another example of him failing to hit the target when opening up his body and playing a side footed ball, a common trend. I understand that this is a quick move and thus you want to play 1-touch here, but you can sense just how much he is rushing to play this ball - there is no real attempt to control the pass, he just lets it bounce off his foot somewhere relatively near where his teammate is running. Obviously it easy for me to say that he should calm down and take a touch or carry the ball upfield or just pass it to the guy five yards in front of him, etc. from the comfort of my home with a view of the entire pitch, but the reality is it's true; he needs to better process his surroundings and become calmer in these tight spaces.
Not a first time pass and not in midfield, but something I wanted to quickly note regarding his passing technique - Cham often sort of pokes the ball towards teammates when passing for little reason. Just another slight technical deficiency that results in inaccuracies, a simple, controlled, side-footed pass will suffice nine times out of ten. The strength and hold-up here is very good though, showing he is absolutely capable of holding his own against pressure from behind.
Regarding passing in the final third, Cham leans on whipped crosses from the right halfspace as his main form of chance creation; he does also look for through balls often but they are no where near as threatening as his crossing ability. When it comes to in-swinging balls, Cham is near elite, it is easily his best trait at this moment in time. His ball striking is at its best when whipping the ball across his body with his instep - there can be some mishits as there is with most footballers and he does tend to loop the ball towards the back post more than deliver a flatter ball, but nonetheless Cham's delivery is top.
From a relatively difficult angle and body position, Cham scoops a perfectly timed and placed cross straight onto the head of his teammate, who really should score. The only real flaw with this ball, and even then it's a finicky criticism, is that a flatter, pacier ball would be easier to direct into the goal - but this is certainly not an issue with his other crosses, and he likely chose this loopier technique to ensure the ball arrived on time and in sync with the runner. Cannot really ask for more from Cham here, this is top chance creation, splitting the defence open.
He often prefers to aim for the back post with these balls as opposed to picking someone in particular out and aiming for their head, which can result in these crosses completely bypassing everyone in the box and harmlessly going out of play. This is not something to be concerned with in my eyes, as far as I'm concerned there should always be a runner at the back post in these obvious crossing situations. In a side with better attacking instincts and better runners I would predict that his creative numbers would heavily increase off the back of these crosses alone.
This ball in particular looks fairly harmless, but only because there is not a single attacker in the box making a run towards the back post and attempting to contest the keeper. Maybe you can argue that you can't play a ball that bypasses the entire middle of the box by putting too much on it here but for my money this is another dangerous-enough cross that was not capitalised on.
Cham has shown flashes of variety in his crossing techniques as well that could suggest that he can develop into a feared and unpredictable creator from deep, as it stands right now he too often leans on the curved balls to the back post. By adding more driven and flatter crosses, or angling like he's about to cross only to play a disguised through ball towards the near post, which he has proven he can pull off, his overall creativity will skyrocket.
By no means is this an easy pass for the striker to bring down (perhaps aiming for the winger instead), but the technique on display here is fantastic. The ball is delivered on a rope with real pace making it impossible to any defender to jump on it and clear it while it's in the air, really impressive ball striking on display, near-perfect body mechanics. As soon as he cuts into that space he signals for his stagnant teammates to make runs towards goal - in these areas, a fair distance from goal, the only thing on his mind is putting the ball into the box, showing and urgency and decisiveness that is not visible in other areas of his game, partly why this is my favourite aspect of his game.
When he is deep in the left halfspace he is technically and mentally aligned, he knows exactly what he wants to do and has the crossing ability to pull it off - this, I feel, breaks down in other areas of the pitch, particularly closer to goal or on the counter, and he no longer has this killer instinct. The most notable problem is the weight of his passing collapses when he has to play the ball on the ground between defenders, often putting far too much on it, leading to the passes being completely misplaces, either leading his teammates too far wide or just simply going out of play. It seems he is acting automatically when he's crossing from the left halfspace, but when he has to actually think about timing a through ball, how to weight it, and where to place it issues start to crop up - gets caught up in his own head and stops acting with decisiveness, thus leading to his technique breaking down.
Overthinking or feeling doubt is something that shows up in your play on the pitch, it makes everything you do a tick slower and takes you out of the 'flow state', resulting in technical deficiencies that wouldn't show up in a confident and decisive player. Cham, in this particular scenario, is overthinking the ball to this striker so much that not only does he play the ball far too late when the striker had began to halt his run, the ball itself is just that slight bit too heavy, allowing the Toulouse defender to step in and clear the ball. It seems to me that he feels that this ball has to be perfect as it's a 2-on-2 and a good opportunity to score that he is no longer acting on instinct, the complete opposite to when he's crossing from deep, where the pressure is not so high and he plays free from fear of making a mistake. When he can sense an opportunity coming everything slows down, the same was seen in his dribbling.
It's not just a case of playing him deeper to keep him out of this situations where he tends to overthink, he is susceptible to these same issues when he has an opportunity to play a through ball from deep too.
Quite the opposite to the scenario vs Toulouse, here Cham sees the through ball come open to his wingback and so urgently wants to play that pass before the window closes that his technique breaks down and the ball is completely inaccurate. He is completely off balance as he plays this ball, stumbling to his right causing the ball to be dragged to the right, into the path of the Lens defender. There is an apparent lack of composure when trying to break the lines - the ideas are mostly right, he just needs to be more assured in his decision making as he is when crossing, and keep his technique tight and correct as opposed to rushing through the pass. Once he develops here I see him becoming far more creative than he currently is, his xA per 90 is too poor for a player with his natural affinity for putting balls in the box.
Cham's shooting metrics - fbref.com
As a goal threat, the metrics are not as kind as they are towards his passing, but I feel there is real potential here. Cham will never be particularly effective in the box, his movement and instincts just aren't there, but someone with his ball striking will always carry threat from distance and, although no player is going to consistently produce when taking distance shots, I think it can become a key factor of his game much like his crossing from deep. There isn't much in the way of varied shooting techniques but, as we know by now, his ball striking with his instep is fantastic and those curling, pacey balls will always cause keepers trouble.
You can't ask for him to catch the ball better than this - the keeper is beaten even though the shot isn't heading towards the top corner, his technique is balanced, compact, and controlled with no excessive motion leading to ball leaving his foot with real venom. Although this technique will lead to some shots from distance being whipped too far wide of the post on occasion (particularly with his freekicks from the right hand side of the pitch where he's aiming for the near post), no keeper feels comfortable facing shots like this.
Cham having a lack of comfort on his right foot does hurt him in some shooting situations, especially in the box where there's no time to shift onto his stronger foot. Often in these scenarios he'll tend to still attempt to use his left foot despite the ball sitting up to be hit with his right, resulting in poor balance and technique, sending shots harmlessly wide or straight towards the keeper. This, I suspect, is what is leading to an under-performance of his xG - although making a player more comfortable shooting on their weaker foot is very hard as body mechanics and comfort take years to develop properly, if this were to happen there's a chance Cham can become even more productive in front of goal.
Aside from mechanics, the biggest issue with Cham and his potential as a goal threat is the lack of instincts inside the box. While he is good finding pockets of space and showing himself for the ball in the first and second phases, when he's in the box he tends to ball watch, almost as if he's excepting his teammates to be the ones to score and so he shouldn't bother making runs or trying to lose his marker.
After a turnover in midfield a massive goal scoring opportunity presents itself. Any true forward would make a darting run behind the defender, as shown by the poorly drawn Microsoft Paint arrow, giving his teammate an option to play the ball across the face of goal to, resulting in an easy finish. It is a move you will in pretty much every league across the globe on any given weekend.
Cham, however, just keeps watching his teammate run with the ball instead of attacking the massive space once again displayed by some Microsoft Paint artistry, with his teammate just having to blindly put a ball in to no one. There is no excuse for him to not make a run to the back post here and it's why I severely doubt his attacking instincts. He could add so many more goals to his game if he just stops ball watching in transitional moments like this - in fact, his play in transition is evidently his worst trait, somewhat strange given Ligue 1 is a particularly transitional league. You'd hope this is something that develops soon, otherwise he is only holding his production back.
Cham's defensive and aerial metrics - fbref.com
Cham is not particularly active defensively even when compared against true 10s and wingers, but I am hesitant to claim that he is defensively weak. Although there are times where there can be a lack of engagement with the defensive work and it appears that he's stropping, for the most part I think he does more than enough to avoid being a liability defensively. He is the right winger in Clermont's 5-4-1 low/mid block and he and the wingback on his side are in constant communication and understanding - Cham passes off runners well and has the athleticism to close down underlapping runs well. Though he does well here, I think he's better suited to being upfront in a 4-4-2 block, as I see a lot of potential as a front line presser. There are moments in games where Cham will hound down opposition players on the ball, which is very admirable but can leave Clermont's right hand side exploited as he has left his position to press out of structure; if he was upfront this would be less of an issue and would therefore free him up to press more aggressively more often, jumping on loose balls and touches.
Out of possession is where his athleticism shows up the most for my money, his quick burst and acceleration allows for him to jump on the slightest of loose touches and tackle the ball away and, although he is not particularly strong in the tackle and he lacks the aggression needed to make up for the subpar tackling technique, the surprise factor alone will result in him winning the ball.
This clip demonstrates two things I find to be very important. Firstly, the springiness and athleticism to jump a loose touch like this is very impressive. He can cover a lot of ground in just one step and that means opposition players have to be very careful with their touch around him, else they might lose possession in a dangerous situation. Secondly, when engaging in a tackle head on, as opposed to nicking the ball from behind, he lacks the foot strength and technique to consistently win the ball against bigger and stronger players, which you often find in Ligue 1 midfields. This stops him from being super effective in the challenge and is something that should be refined if possible - unlikely that he can just become stronger than the opposition but maybe more conviction in the challenge can be achieved. Despite him not winning the ball on this occasion, I think it shows that Cham has the right traits to be a decent-enough ball winner from the front.
Again showing off how quickly he can cover ground out of possession, as well as the tenacity and desire to lead a press - it seems the Monaco left back is caught off guard by Cham here, he wasn't expecting someone to be up in his face when receiving a pass in very settled possession. In a more coordinated pressing side I could see Cham becoming a real asset out of possession, he has the tools to disrupt the opposition effectively.
To conclude, Cham is most definitely a flawed and unrefined footballer, but one with some desirable and impressive traits that leads me to believe that there is a lot of potential for growth here - this past year was only his first in one of the 'top 5' leagues. There is a lack of conviction in the final third that is worrying and very frustrating to watch at times, especially when it comes to 1-on-1 dribbling and his decision making in transition, but I am led to believe that this is due to mental blocks as opposed to an inherent lack of technique or ability to read a game of football. Most certainly he does not look comfortable isolated with a full back out on the wing, or leading the charge in transition, or even making runs in the final third to carve out scoring opportunities - but he is not truly a winger, or a second striker, and should be evaluated more as an interior. He is at his best when he can come deep and link play, despite being somewhat skittish under pressure - this will be fixed with more time to develop that composure playing up against better competition. Cham is a different player when operating in the left halfspace (and it seems Clermont have noticed this comparing his heatmap from last year to this year), everything he does when operating here is far more natural and effective. His ball striking and crossing ability is something that truly should be feared, he can unlock defences from very deep and is developing more crossing techniques as time passes. Currently, I would say it's too far to project him as an '8' and should be kept in his current inside forward role with the freedom to roam, but as time progresses and he becomes more secure defensively I would argue he would be much better in midfield than he is out wide - he does not have the natural 1-on-1 ability you need to survive on the wing in the modern game. This is a raw footballer, but one with a lot of desirable traits that can help him grow into a frightening and exciting footballer.