11 Women's footballers that I've looked into during the first half of the 2024/25 season.
Here's a quick roundup of some of the players I've found especially interesting to watch this season.
Goalkeepers:
The 24 year-old shot-stopper is one of the brightest goalkeepers in the Frauen Bundesliga. She is assertive in coming off her line to narrow angles and claim 50/50's. Her cross claiming numbers are low at only 4% claimed, although at 5'9 w/ long arms I can see this number improving. She has shown that she won't be bullied on corners in recent weeks by towering above players in the box to punch crosses away. She plays an average of 40 passes a game which is important in the modern game as long passes can also get Freiburg out of jams, especially since she's so comfortable using her weaker left foot which helps clear the ball when she's on the left side of her box. In my opinion she's one of the most overlooked keepers in Europe right now and with an expiring contract at the end of the season (according to Soccerdonna), I'd hope she stays at Freiburg to continue to make a name for herself. Failing that she'd probably do fairly well for any recently sized club that needs a competent sweeper keeper that's not even in her prime yet.
Livia Peng (22): SV Werder Bremen
This is Peng's 2nd year at Bremen after moving from Häcken and has cemented her starting spot at just 22 years old. Her save % numbers aren't amazing this season (63%) and has had shaky games this season. That said I think she has very good box presence, especially when you consider that she claims 10% of crosses which puts her in the 90th percentile among top 5 league keepers. Peng also ranks very highly in sweeping metrics with over 2 actions per game outside her box on average which is apparent given that she's often outside her box when Bremen are in settled buildup play. I personally rate Borggräfe higher than her right now, but given that Peng is 2 years younger than her German counterpart, and that Bremen are a fairly comparable club to Freiburg, I can see Peng being a very solid keeper with room to continue improving.
Defenders:
Ella Morris (22): Tottenham Hotspur FC
Morris is a player I looked into previously around the time that she signed for Spurs . The 22 year-old has suffered an injury-hit first few months in lilywhite and is currently out with an MCL injury at the time of writing. Even in her limited minutes however she's had no trouble showing off her explosive pace down the right flank. This was especially prevelant in her first league start against West Ham when she was often able to carry the ball down the right flank in the first half. Against Aston Villa, her defensive instincts were on show as she was able to continually get on the end of Aston Villa crosses in the box. Going back to her Southampton days it was evident that Morris really suited playing as a right-sided wing-back as she could motor up and down the right flank for 90 minutes and this also saw her play further forward as a defensive winger in some games. She's also shown glimpses that indicate that she's comfortable enough inverting into central spaces on the ball to help create midfield overloads in possession. Although these moments have been fairly infrequent, it's definitely a tendency that I hope she continues to use as it'll be a massive help for Robert Vilahamn's spurs team going forward.
Neve Herron (21): Birmingham City FC
Herron has been part of the best defence in the Championship having only conceded 5 goals before the winter break. At points earlier this season, when I first looked into her, she really struggled defending wide left in isolation but has improved and is taking the mistakes out of her game as she continues to solidify her defensive game. Herron still has a lot of scope to improve that side of her game, e.g getting more comfortable defending using the left side of her body when on the left flank. Her sense of timing has got better and is pretty good when covering across the right flank. She takes a lot of touches per game as Birmingham tend to dominate possession, which inevitably means she's pretty involved in build-up, whether that's through long diagonal passes or shorter play with either foot to get the ball into midfield. She is one of the best ball-carrying CB's in the Championship which figures since she also played in midfield quite a bit earlier in her career and adds another element to Birmingham's build-up play as she can be press-resistant.
Jodie Hutton (23): Charlton Athletic
The 23 year-old wing-back/LW has really impressed in what's been a down first half of the season for Charlton. Her crossing is probably her best attribute (on show for assist against Sunderland) despite her accuracy being quite low at only 33%. Part of this is because she's on inswinging set-pieces on the right and she's not the fastest off the dribble in isolation. Typically her best play comes when she finds space on the lw to take down long passes from the centre-backs and either link-up with the midfielders/forwards, or play a ball in behind the defensive line/cross in from the left. Charlton can switch between a back 4 or back 5 during the game fairly fluidly meaning that she's given licence to stay higher up the pitch to give an option higher up in transition. She's had a fairly underwhelming first half of the season defensively as she gets dribbled past fairly easily, although she has recorded an impressive 5 interceptions per game so far.
Midfielders:
Ashanti Akpan (19): Birmingham City FC
The Chelsea loanee is getting her first meaningful run of games at table-topping Birmingham in the Championship. Primarily being played as a number 6 in a midfield 2, Akpan isn't needed to make a massive defensive contribution, seeing as Birmingham average 58% possession per game, which is 2nd only to London City Lionesses - who average 59%. You'll often see her winning the ball back high up the pitch when Birmingham have a lot of players in the opposition's half, allowing her to get in the way of clearances that are underhit and create high turnovers. The 19 year-old mainly gets involved in the 2nd stage of buildup and will look to get the ball further into the opposition's half and does have a decent eye to break lines with her passing on either foot.
Katharina Piljic (21): Bayer Leverkusen 04
Piljic plays as part of a double pivot in a midfield 4 for Leverkusen where she's typically the midfielder that stays further back and can be quite a big part of Leverkusen's build-up. The game against Frankfurt in particular showed off, when given the licence to be the main player to build out from goal kicks, how she could play a big part in carrying the ball into midfield and starting attacks. Her proficiency on both feet is a big plus (as with quite a few others on this list) as it opens up a lot of angles when passing or carrying, and also plays a big part of why she's attempting 2 take-ons per 90 and winning 50% of those take-ons. Piljic's 2.9 tackles per 90 - with 1.8 of those coming in the middle 3rd and placing her in the 91st percentile among top 5 league midfielders in that category - is impressive for her age at 21, and given that she tends to be on the left of the pivot, she can double up on wide players with her wing-back and narrow angles for opposition wingers.
Leverkusen are a solid team in possession which makes her relative lack of touches as a midfielder (50 per 90 minutes which is very low for a number 8) an aspect she'll need to look to increase for the foreseeable future by being more demanding when off the ball in build-up. She's a competent scanner offensively and defensively which will continue to be a big plus in her career and will also help improve her awareness and decision making as she continues to gel with her Leverkusen teammates.
Jemima Dahou (19): Blackburn Rovers FC
On dual-registration from Man City for a 2nd season. Getting starting minutes at this point of her career is important and she has started most games this season as a right-sided number 8. Dahou is fairly tidy on the ball in the midfield and has a good passing range in order to play Blackburn's strikers in behind with long through balls. She's crafty enough to be press resistant in tight spaces by using drag backs and doesn't mind using her left foot to open up angles to either pass into teammates or carry the ball into. A similar theme throughout the other players on here that I want to see her get more involved in the game and register quite a lot more touches, especially as a midfiedler. The next big thing for her to improve is her defensive contribution as she often gets left behind play as one of the 8's, when tracking back more could make a difference and isn't strong in the tackle at all yet.
Lucia Kendall (20) Southampton FC
Lucia Kendall is probably my favourite player that I watch (and I've been very high on since I started watching her)that doesn't play for Spurs. Kendall has been given licence to move from a double pivot number 6, earlier in the season and for a big part of her career, to an advanced number 8/number 10 role where she's able to press as part of a front 2. The biggest attribute of hers - that's been able to influence the game more now that she's been given more freedom further up the pitch - is her use of space in the middle and final thirds.
You'll often see Kendall pull away from the ball carrier to give her teammates good angles to pass into her when bringing the ball up the field. This space creation allows her and her teammates more chances to break midfield and defensive lines with runs in behind. Now that she has been given a more offensive role, you would hope that her goal and assist numbers would start to increase as 0 goals and 3 assists seems underwhelming on the surface. Taking those numbers purely at face value does a disservice to her offensive threat as she has gotten shots off in high xG areas this season, but she just hasn't been able to put the ball in the back of the net.
Forwards:
Shana Chossenotte (19): Leicester City FC
Typically playing as the rw in a 4231, Chossenotte offers Leicester a way to go down the line or she can cut inside on her left foot. Leicester don't tend to hold onto the ball for that long - mostly due to all of their recognised number 9's being out with injuries in the first half of the season - and only average a measly 38% possession. Consequently the French winger ends up spending a lot of time in her own half defending as almost an extra rwb, which she does fairly well by the standards of wide players, averaging about 2 tackles per 90 in the league. She's managed 1 goal and 1 assist in 9 appearances in all competitions which is an okay return given Leicester's current situation.
Her attacking stats really don't jump off the page at the moment but as soon as she's able to continue to string together more starts and minutes - seeing as she's missed the last 2 league games due to a recurring injury that's being managed - you'd hope that also having a number 9 presence would help give her a reliable pass target when she's in the box. She's still a very raw talent evidenced by how often she turns the ball over in isolation situations against full backs, but I'm fairly confident that her decision making and footwork will continue to improve with more minutes.
Maria Farrugia (23): Sheffield United FC
In a summer window where Sheffield United lost a lot of key players, Maria Farrugia has emerged as the Blades' new talisman. In all honesty I'd been meaning to look into another forward seeing as the rest of this is very midfield heavy and after seeing her recent purple patch, I became curious. Farrugia is a 23 year-old LW/number 10 who represents Malta internationally. Her goal catalogue this season has been nothing short of phenomenal, with her left-footed rocket shot against Bristol City winning October's goal of the month in the Championship. Her right foot is her dominant foot but, as referenced before, she's very capable of scoring - as well as dribbling and carrying - and crossing on her left foot, which gives her an advantage on defenders who would try to force her down the line. A very common action when Sheffield build-up from goal kicks is for Farrugia to drop deep to offer the centre-backs an option in the inside left channel, where she can either turn into space and carry up the field, or she can lay the ball off sideways to a teammate to take her marker out of the play.
Farrugia is good enough on the ball to beat her full-back in isolation off the dribble but struggles to actually get her cross into the box as she doesn't have explosive pace. She's fairly average defensively comparatively to other wingers as it's not especially difficult for her opponents to dribble past her, but she fairly frequently nips in from behind to steal the ball from behind when play has slowed down.
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