Some managers would consider Jake Robinson to be a square peg they would struggle to fit into a round hole but Brighton & Hove Albion have struck upon a system in which he can flourish. Sometimes a team plays a formation which makes a player look worse than he actually is but the 4-3-3 Albion have adopted is ideal for Robinson.
He is neither an out-and-out centre-forward nor a natural-born winger, so he doesn't fit comfortably into a conventional 4-4-2. He falls somewhere in between as an attacker playing alongside the big, burly Alex Revell, who acts as a pivot for a trident forward line. I used to hate playing in a front three but it suits the slippery Robinson down to the ground and brings out the best in him.
You can break the 20-year-old's game down into the qualities he has and those he lacks, assets which define him as neither striker nor flank man. His running at players is exceptional, as his low centre of gravity - he is officially 5ft 7in, but he looks far smaller in the flesh - and his pace mark him out as a threat whenever he's on the ball. When you are that size you have to rely upon your strengths, and he boasts pace in abundance.
His strong thighs mean he possesses a fierce shot and needs very little backlift, which is most evident when he switches the play, sometimes hitting the ball 60 yards with minimal effort. He's good at reading flicks when he ventures into the middle and boasts a cultured right foot, offering good quality when he flings crosses into the box from wide positions. Yet his desire to seek one-twos in decent areas might actually mask an underlying reluctance to work harder to create space for himself. At present he is making himself easy to mark for full-backs, whereas a natural winger would move his marker away to exploit the space left behind.
So, if he is not a winger, is he a striker? Certainly, the hat-trick he scored in the FA Cup first-round tie against Northwich Victoria at the Withdean recently, following a similar haul at Huddersfield in a league game a fortnight earlier, would suggest on paper that he is a player who could feature alongside a big man in a front two. But Robinson is far from being an instinctive finisher.
Against Tranmere on Saturday he found himself in a great position late on but he snatched at the opportunity and put it wide. A natural finisher would have tucked it away. The hat-trick against Northwich comprised two blasted goals and a finish at the end of a flowing team move. Neither was a classic centre- forward's goal, but came from Robinson simply being that little bit better than his non-League opponents.
He isn't a player who can hold the ball up as his first touch needs work, although the areas in which he received the ball against Tranmere were not always central so his options were, at times, limited. He can drift in and out of games, like many wingers, and he sometimes finds himself out wide when he should be in the box, preoccupied with making runs as a decoy to open the play up for his fellow forwards which, admittedly, is something you need to do in a 4-3-3.
Yet if he is raw, he also shows promise. Against Northwich he was sensational in a side which was dominant. Tranmere are a far better side and highlighted the fact that despite having registered his first goal at 16 - making him the youngest player ever to score for Brighton - he has only played a handful of games and is a work in progress. He has already shown he can be a real threat against weaker sides. His talent, however, needs to be nurtured further before he is ready to make the progression to a higher level.
Age 20
Born Brighton
Position Striker
Height 5ft 7in
Weight 10st 10lb
From Trainee
Awareness 8/10
Heading 6/10
Control 7/10
Shooting 9/10
Pace 9/10
Responsibility towards team 7/10
Valuation £300,000-400,000