James McAtee is very much a man in-form after scoring what turned out to be the winning goal against Blackpool.
The Manchester City academy product picked the ball up inside his own half following a flicked pass by Ndiaye, and he never looked back, as he carried the ball 50 yards to inside the Blackpool penalty area before passing it inside the near post.
Since coming out of the World Cup break, the 20 year-old has put in some instrumental performances, and he now has two goals in two games.
McAtee has started every game since the return of Championship football. In those games he has recorded 9 successful dribbles out of 14 attempts. He has also registered 6 key passes. He is shooting more frequently too, seeing 9 shots taken since coming out of the international break.
The City loanee described his latest goal during a Sky Sports interview:
“Iliman just slipped me in and I just carried on running,” McAtee, forming a dangerous partnership with Senegal youngster Iliman Ndiaye, told Sky. “I did actually look up to cross the ball but no-one was really coming to me. In training, I almost always go near post, so I’m glad it finally paid off.”
My Verdict
Evidently he has improved and grown into Championship football during the four-week international break. His dribbling output, and his quality of decision making and final ball has improved.
I wrote back in November that McAtee will use the World Cup break to improve, and that we’d see “the real” McAtee as we head into the second half of the season. That’s exactly what’s happened. His confidence is sky high, and talented off-the-cuff players like him are at their best when that’s the case.