Hayden Matthews is a 20-year-old Australian centre-back who plays for Sydney F.C. in the A-League. Matthews first began making A-League appearances in the 23/24 season and has nailed down a regular starting spot this season. Matthews has been called up to Australia’s U23 team but has not played as of yet.
Matthews is a tall and aggressive centre-back. He stands about 6’4 with a slight build. He is an effective duel winner, with his size and the length of his legs, in particular, allowing him to win the ball fairly consistently from opponents. He struggles with the tactical and mental side of defending. Matthews’ defensive positioning is all over the place. He struggles to track runners or deal with strikers that have effective off-the-ball movement. He is also extremely aggressive, not in terms of flying into dangerous tackles but in terms of how far he roams from his position to try and win the ball. His duel winning means this can be effective but he’s not very selective with the moments he chooses to do this. He’s also weirdly shaky on defensive headers. He doesn’t seem to be a very good jumper, possibly his height meant he never had to before now. This leads to a lot of less-than-convincing clearances. He is reasonably quick to recover if out of position but it takes him so long to get his big lanky body turned around that the opponent often has a significant head start.
Matthews is an adequate passer. He mostly keeps things simple but can play a progressive pass when not under pressure. He is not very press-resistant, pressure usually leads to a hurried clearance or loss of possession. His first touch is mostly fine, though it takes a little too long for him to have the ball under full control. That doesn’t really hurt him at the level he currently plays at but probably would become a problem at significantly higher levels. His height makes him a threat from set pieces (though obviously he’d be more of a threat with better jumping) and he is quite good at popping up in dangerous areas.
Matthews is extremely rough around the edges. But he’s very young, playing a lot of minutes in a competitive professional league, and has a strong physical profile. These things are probably going to open doors for him. His limited technical ability will hold him back from the very top level but with some tactical growth he could eventually find his way to a mid-table team the next level down from the top-5 leagues.
Target Scouting 