Very much a young player looking to find his feet in senior football, it has been 10 games of ups and downs for Brooke Norton-Cuffy. At his best, Norton-Cuffy’s ability to beat defenders with the ball and get the team up the pitch provides an outlet out wide that Coventry City haven’t really had for much of the season. At his worst, Norton-Cuffy’s defensive struggles are an area for opponents to exploit, particularly when combined with naïve play with the ball in his own half. While Norton-Cuffy hasn’t been the instant upgrade at right wing-back that had been hoped for in January, there may still be time left this season for him to come into his own.
It is Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s dribbling ability that is very much his stand-out attribute. There is something slightly unorthodox about his dribbling style, where it often feels that he doesn’t quite have the ball fully under control which can somehow suck defenders towards him as he then nips past them. When Coventry City can get Norton-Cuffy up the pitch and with space to build a head of steam against opponents, he can be a useful outlet for the team. However, Norton-Cuffy’s naivety in his own half, specifically, his positional play and lack of awareness as to how to use the ball under pressure, has made it difficult for the youngster to fully make use of his dribbling talent in the areas that hurt opponents.
There are the raw ingredients there for Brooke Norton-Cuffy to become a good attacking right wing-back, but he isn’t quite there yet. As someone who had been brought in to raise the bar in his position, Norton-Cuffy hasn’t quite been able to do that on a consistent basis. However, there have been a handful of promising moments and performances to suggest that he is worth being patient with. Brooke Norton-Cuffy has, largely, been getting better with each appearance for the club and may soon be in a place to be that consistent threat on the right that had been hoped for when he signed.
Sideways Sammy 