Kiera Skeels overview.

Kiera Skeels is a very bright CB prospect at 22 years-old playing for Charlton in the Women's Championship.  She recently signed a 1-year contract extension with Charlton to keep her for a 4th season with the Addicks.  Skeels actually made 10 appearances for then WSL side Bristol City in 2021 on loan from Reading, where she came through the academy.

Player profile

Pros:

. Physicality/aggressive defending.

. Confident on the ball w/ both feet.

. Leadership.

Area for improvement:

. Acceleration.

Skeels is a very front-footed/proactive defender, recovering the ball 13 times a game, who will push out of the defensive line to contest aerial balls, and follow her marker when they drop deep.  This allows Charlton to win the ball back closer to the opposing goal, as they look to play down the wings at pace.  A confident header of the ball, Skeels is useful at dealing with long balls and defending set-pieces, winning 2.5 aerials per 90.  The 22 year-old is strong against opponents backing into her, doesn't get rolled easily and is capable of defending wide areas as she's got very good positional sense. 

Skeels passing stats don't initially jump off the page at only 82% overall accuracy and 47% long ball accuracy, but her technique is generally solid.  Her zipped short passes on the ground stand out along with her long, curled balls to the wings to help Charlton build-up quickly.  While her passing and carrying on her left foot doesn't look like 2nd nature to her, she is still very confident on her weaker left foot and doesn't shy away from playing the ball long on her left.  In fact, the angles opened up to her by being so confident on her left, makes me think that she'd be very suited to playing as a central CB in a back 3 - or a back 4 with an inverted full-back - at a higher level. 

The fact that Charlton have entrusted Skeels as a co-captain as a 22 year-old shows just how highly thought of she is as one of the youngest captains in the Women's Championship.  While not being one of the loudest voices on the pitch, it's noticeable that Skeels is in near constant conversation to organise her defence in and out of possession, whether that's instructing her teammates where she's looking to play the ball, or communicating with her full-back against a winger. 

The main thing that I think may hinder Skeels' progression is that because she's such a proactive defender in leaving the defensive line to defend high up the pitch, it does allow space in behind for her defensive teammates to cover for her lack of recovery speed.  She's not necessarily slow as her top speed is ok, but her acceleration could improve to really help in defensive transitions. 

In summary, Kiera Skeels looks a very solid defender who probably wouldn't look out of place in a mid-level WSL team in the future. Having another season in the Championship this year should really help her develop even more and hopefully she'll continue to get called up to England's U-23 squad. 

Ella Morris: How will she fit in at Spurs?

Ella Morris arrives at Spurs with over 100 appearances for Southampton after making the jump from their youth teams to the senior team in 2019.  The 21 year-old defender certainly fits head coach, Robert Vilahamn's, idea of being a quick, attacking player, who is confident on the ball. 

Pros:

. Plenty of senior experience (100+ games already).

. Pace (useful offensively and defensively)

. Can get past her opponent 1v1.

Looks comfortable when in central positions (really impressive ball retention)

. Decent defensive instincts.

Cons:

. Final ball still needs some work and is a spotty crosser.

. Game time might initially be difficult to come by.

Morris is an explosive runner and eats up ground on and off the ball, which is stylistically perfect for a full-back/wing-backs in the modern game.  When Southampton would turn the ball over, Morris has shown that she can quickly close down the space in behind.  Using her long strides, she can either close off the space, or nick the ball off of the opposition player. Her pace also allows her to constantly run up and down the right flank for the full 90 minutes.  This is demonstrated by her heatmap from last season. 

Sometimes, being a quick sprinter can mean that a players' footwork suffers as a result of their brain's not being able to work at the same speed as their feet.  Generally speaking, she's quite tidy on the ball when facing up her opposing full-back or carrying the ball at full speed, which adds to her threat down the right flank. 

Ella's first touch is usually quite reliable, allowing her to either push the ball out in front to sprint forward into space, or keep the ball close to pass the ball off to a teammate.  Her ability to cleanly receive the ball, coupled with her comfort in central areas, mean that she's not always hugging the touchline and allows her to create a midfield overload to help in possession.

The young full-back is already looking like a decent defensive player, as she's a good tackler who does tend to stay on her feet.  Her positioning sense allows her to block crosses and intercept balls down the line at a pretty decent frequency.

Morris did accumulate 3 goals and 4 assists last season in the women's championship, but I'd say that her crossing is something that will be worked on this season.  Her most dangerous balls in tend to be either cut-backs from near the byline on the right side of the box or low-driven crosses from just outside the box.  I'd like to see her improve the power in her whipped crosses as that would create better chances for her teammates in the box.

Initially game time might be a struggle for Morris to come by as she's going to be competing against Charli Grant and Ash Neville at the RB slot and Amanda Nildén at LB(the aforementioned Grant and Neville also deputise on the left).  She has also played as a RM in a midfield 4 so there's also potential for her to backup Celin Bizet and Jess Naz on the RW. 

Given that she's quite highly regarded from her time at Southampton, being an England u-23 international and that all 3 full-back options missed games last season with injuries, I think she may spend this season training with the first team to get used to the WSL environment. I don't think I'd mind if she was loaned out to a WSL team that would be able to give her starting minutes to help her development but I don't really anticipate that happening. 

Overall, she's a very exciting signing that has potential to eventually knock on the door of England's senior squad.