Joe Rothwell
Rangers · Midfielder · England · 322 min
Ballity Verdict
What makes this player special?
Joe Rothwell is the kind of midfielder coaches build possession around. At Rangers, his real value is not goals or highlight assists — it is how cleanly he moves the team from safe zones into dangerous ones, almost never giving the ball away cheaply. Ballity's clearest read is deep-lying playmaker: he controls games more than he decides them.
He is not trying to be everything. The profile is concentrated: do deep-lying playmaker at a high level, and let secondary tasks stay secondary.
On the pitch he has actually been used as CM (#8) / AM (#10). That matters: skill-set breadth is one thing; demonstrated deployment is another. Rothwell's authenticity claim starts from those minutes, not from a role board alone.
Sample size still limits how hard you can push the conclusions. The football idea is clear; the confidence should stay honest until a fuller season of minutes confirms it.
Why Ballity says this
- Clearest current facet: deep-lying playmaker (good)
- Shown minutes: CM (#8) / AM (#10)
- No major weakness flags in the current profile
Receipts
- · Player Profile
- · Role Breadth
- · Deployment authenticity
- · Sample · limited
Position
Midfielder
Appearances
5
Great+ roles
0
Age
31
Preferred foot
—
Height
185 cm
Ballity insights
Peer context vs midfielders — how often they get the ball and what they do with it. Separate from role tiers above.
Usage rate
Share of team touches (non-GK) among midfielders with match data.
20.7% team touches
Peer band · Elite
Pool percentile
93.3%
Also 60.9 touches/90 (season aggregate).
Efficiency
Output quality per action for midfielders.
69 score
Peer band · Elite
Pool percentile
91.9%
Balance & structural weaknesses
How complete this player is on the position's job board — strengths and holes.
How we define this
Two-way = Great+ on ≥2 complementary axes. One-way = every other route Limited/closed. Weak routes = Average holes on complementary axes.
No Elite/Great axis on this position's job board, so no weakness flag.
Stat profile
Within position peers — percentile shape (not role scores).
Versatility Index
Precise 0–100 score — cross-group breadth (67%) plus within-group depth (33%), quality-scaled by tier. Distinct from the shape card below.
Index
19.6
Breadth 13.4 · Depth 6.2
- ·Fullbacks: Playmaking FB (Good)
- ·Midfielders: Carrier (Good), Deep-Lying Playmaker (Good)
Versatility shape
Coarse directional pattern (Specialist / Dual-threat / Generalist) — not the 0–100 Index above.
Unclassified
UnclassifiedDistinct Great+
0 Great+ roles total
Where he plays
Positions with deployment evidence — not statistical guesses.
Natural
Role translations
Where the profile could fit. Tap a position — then see which role style suits it.
Select a position on the pitch to see the best role, alternatives, and evidence.
Role-by-role detail
How each role is scored. Expand a row for a radar of role-shaped stats.
Similar players
Shape match across midfielder roles — cosine similarity of role scores (domestic leagues only). Slot 1 is the best same-league match; the rest are the next closest from the full pool.
Gianluca Gaetano
Cagliari · Serie A
Closest roles
CarrierΔ8
Deep-Lying PlaymakerΔ8
Box-to-BoxΔ9
Rafael Luis
RC Strasbourg · Ligue 1
Closest roles
- Deep-Lying PlaymakerΔ1
- CarrierΔ5
- Box-to-BoxΔ4
Exequiel Palacios
Bayer 04 Leverkusen · Bundesliga 24/25
Closest roles
- Deep-Lying PlaymakerΔ5
- CarrierΔ7
- Box-to-BoxΔ26