Nashville SC defeated the Colorado Rapids 2-1 in League’s Cup action. Nashville’s 4-1-2-1-2 frustrated Colorado for much of the game by jamming up passing lanes and hitting the Rapids on the counter. Colorado struggled to create dangerous chances despite controlling most of the possession, until a late flurry of chances. But by then the game was already gone.
Ratings:
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be a strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, rewatch
- D – Below average in this match
Jacob Shaffelburg
- Nationality: Canadian
- Age: 23
- Date of birth: 26/11/1999
- Current Club: Nashville SC
- Career: Toronto F.C
- Position: Winger
- Secondary position: Striker
- Preferred foot: Left
Jacob Shaffelburg played as a striker in this match, though in practice he was often drifting into wide areas. Shaffelburg’s game is very simple. He runs really hard and stretches opposing defences. In possession, Shaffelburg’s job is to sit on the opponent’s defensive line and look to get on balls in behind or to spring into wide areas. Shaffelburg is extremely quick and his off-the-ball movement is strong so he is extremely effective at this. When the ball is played into wide areas he has fairly strong dribbling and can beat isolated players 1v1. He is also quite a good crosser of the ball. Shaffelburg has great vision from wide areas, and is excellent at picking out targets and selecting what type of delivery is best. Shaffelburg becomes even more of a danger in transition thanks to his decision-making. He makes excellent choices about when to pass, what runs to make, and when to shoot. However, he’s not really capable of unlocking a set defence. He is purely a space attacker. That said, he does have some good off-the-ball movement in the box and as such can be a threat to receive the ball in high-danger scoring areas against a more set defence. Shaffelburg works extremely hard in defence. He does not necessarily win the ball back very often but he does put opposing players in difficult situations. Nashville does not press very much so Shaffelburg’s work is mostly a lot of running from side to side, tracking back, and working to clog up passing lanes. Shaffelburg is 5 ’11, above average height, but he isn’t really an aerial threat of any kind and doesn’t really have the physical profile to be a holdup player. As such he probably couldn’t be a lone striker.
Rating: B1
Shaffelburg is right on the borderline between a B1 and an A1. He has the skillset of a support player but he is probably one of the best support players in MLS. So it’s plausible he could make a small step up but probably no more than that. He has a fairly low salary at 195,000 USD PA so his wages could be affordable for a decently sized European club outside the top-5 leagues. But he wouldn’t be well suited to being the main driving force of a team. He is a ceiling raiser, not a floor raiser.