Owen Otasowie made it consecutive Premier League appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday, impressing in his first start for the club.
After making his senior league debut for the club last week, the 19-year-old midfielder started at Burnley on Monday, playing 60 minutes in a 2-1 loss to the Clarets. Wolves scored a late penalty kick through fellow youngster Fabio Silva, but unfortunately suffered its third defeat out of the past five matches.
Otasowie has mainly featured for Wolves U-23 team during his time with the club, but since has found himself garnering more opportunities at senior level for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.
“Owen did well,” Santo said post match. “He’s a good player. He’s strong, he’s physical and he’s very young, but he’s growing, he’s improving a lot of aspects of his game that he still has to learn, but he’s got a lot of talent.”
“He had a tough game today, but he handled himself well, and he’s going to be back in the future.”
Otasowie completed 87% of his passes in the match, while also holding his own a physical Burnley squad. He also completed four of his seven aerial battles in the match, made six recoveries, and earned two fouls.
The U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder has not only seen his stock rise at club level, but also internationally in Gregg Berhalter’s side. Otasowie made his senior debut for the USMNT in November which has since seen him make his first two league appearances for Wolves.
11th place Wolves next host Tottenham on December 27th before visiting Manchester United on the 29th, two major opportunities for Otasowie before the new year begins.
He was a bit timid with headers after he banged heads. There were only two times that he dribbled into double coverage and tried to get a foul call. Not going to get it when you are that big. I thought he did better in his debut than this game. Frankly, I was surprised he started.
Coach Santo had him in attacking mid, today. Otasowie’s debut he played a defensive midfield spot. Easy to understand why GB played him in midfield then @ CB. Owen is bigger than most center backs! One could mistake him for one, lol. If he plays CB for the U20s, he will be one of the most versatile players in the US player pool. There are plenty of examples of US CB transitioning to a 6 (G. Cameron, EPB, Long, Sands), but CB to 10 is rare!
I doubt he will be released for the U20 tournament when he is already playing 1st team in the EPL.
He did okay. Drew some fouls but also gave the ball away too easily a couple times. Also dribbled into the box vs multiple defenders when he might have been better off passing. Beaten on a header that led to a goal. I’d give him a 5 out of 10.
I don’t think it’s fair to say he was beaten on that set piece header. There were two Burnley players vs. him and the one Otasowie was marking blocked him from reaching the ball giving the second player a clean jump at it. Not sure anyone could have done better in that situation.
That said, he did over-dribble at times and his sense for when to pass is still raw. He’s super physical and athletic and was successful competing for balls in the air. He won some useful free kicks and showed good composure and touch to get out of trouble on more than one occasion. For his first start in the EPL, and for his age, I’d say it was a 8/10 debut: room to improve but lots of potential.