Neve Herron and Lucia Kendall profiles

The Women's Championship has now been back for three weeks as of writing. Here are two of the many players that have stood out to me so far in the early weeks of the season.

Neve Herron 

Neve Herron (21) joined Birmingham in 2022 from hometown club Sunderland and has been played as a left-sided CB this season. In the 23/24 season she was voted as Birmingham's young player and player's player of the season.

Defensively, Herron is very proactive in pushing out of the defensive line to intercept passes into the player she's marking. She's also got solid positional sense, which sees her track across horizontally when Birmingham are defending transitions. She's made some really important blocks already this season such as this one against Bristol City . Aerially, Herron is pretty solid although I wouldn't necessarily call it a strength of hers as her positioning helps when dealing with off-target passes to head the ball on, and she has got good timing, but her standing leap isn't especially noteworthy. 

She possess a real comfort on the ball and is often the first pass that goalkeeper, Lucy Thomas, looks for when building up from the back. She's very capable of carrying the ball out from the back and uses her very proficient, non-dominant, left foot where necessary, which is a big plus for helping her avoid opposition players pressing her.

One of her best/most used actions is when she carries the ball near the left touchline to play the ball down the line for Tegan McGowan (or another forward running down the left channel) to run onto while catching out the opposition's defence, which has seen her complete 4.0 accurate long balls per 90 at a completion percentage of 40%, meaning that there's still definitely room for growth in this area. 

Herron has also previously played as a central midfielder when she was at Sunderland and it really shows by her confidence on the ball. I think being a left-sided CB is a good fit for her right now in her career. 

Lucia Kendall

Lucia Kendall (20) came through Southampton's academy and has been a regular starter since 2022. The young midfielder has also captained the side on multiple occasions and has also appeared twice for England's u-23 squad. 

Typically playing as a number 8 in a double pivot, Kendall has a keen sense for recovering loose balls in midfield by moving into the passing lanes in front of her marker. This keen defensive sense has seen her put up 7.0 interceptions and 12.7 ball recoveries per 90 in the first 3 games of the season. 

Playing alongside former Leicester City player, Aimee Palmer, in Southampton's midfield this season, the 20 year-old's role in the midfield is to push higher up the pitch than her midfield partner in build-up. She's got a very keen sense for moving into space off the ball to create better angles for the ball carrier, and is technically secure enough to play the ball of with one touch to either bounce it to a third player or complete the 1-2 and carry on her run into another space. When she is the ball carrier she can quickly switch direction and which foot she's using to protect the ball. She possess decent strength to hold off opponents and will play with her back to goal in deep build-up.

While her final third presence hasn't been too threatening this season, I wanted to highlight this sequence against Blackburn. In this clip she's able to play a big part in Southampton getting the ball into a dangerous position out wide with a perfectly weighted through ball on her weaker left foot to Aston Villa loanee, Freya Gregory. Even in the first few seconds you can see how aware she is of her surroundings by her scanning five times before receiving the ball for the second time. 

Kendall's off-ball movement, ball progression and defensive nous could probably see her do a good job of being a lone number 6 if a team ever needed her to play that role. I can definitely see Kendall ending up in the WSL or another top league in the not too distant future.