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| Abbie Larkin celebrating after scoring against Birmingham City as she points to the Palace bench. |
Irish attacking-midfielder/forward Abbie Larkin has taken the leap into a starting role for Crystal Palace this season after struggling to break into the first team last season in the WSL. Since then, in Jo Potter's first season as manager, the 20 year-old Larkin has played as a number 10 or as a 2nd striker behind/next to a number 9. Her role as a 10 isn't to be a creator however. At the time of writing, she's the joint top scorer in the WSL 2 on 7 goals which have shown off her excellent ball-striking and her excellent movement in the box to finish off crosses.
Palace are a really well balanced side this season and can create chances from the sides or through the centre and can combine fairly intricate build-up play with longer, more direct balls into feet, which allows Larkin to be a part of moving the ball from the middle 3rd into the final 3rd as one of their key ball carriers. Her dribble success rate currently sits at 78% on a high volume where she completes 4.0 carries per 90.
It's especially noticeable that when she plays next to Kirsty Howat as 10's behind a number 9, that when one of them shows for the ball, the other will stay higher to either stretch the defensive line by either making a run in behind for balls over the top or to make decoy runs when Palace move the ball quickly through the centre.
In a more conventional part of her role as a number 10 she is keen to offer a passing angle for her teammate on the ball, allowing her to pick the ball up in between the lines with her back to goal and then turn to face goal with space ahead of her. Her ability to take the ball with her back to goal is a massive part of her game as she can then burst into space laterally and give runners the chance to get ahead of her. She often makes use of Palace's central defenders' & midfield pivots ability to play line-breaking passes into central areas to give them an out-ball up the field to allow her teammates to create angles around her, almost like what a traditional target forward would do. She's an intelligent player that can open up play with her link-up when she's near the goal by drawing her defender in towards her before flicking the ball beyond them to a teammate.
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| This the sort of area where Larkin plays her best football/tends to operate with her back to goal. |
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| Aimee Everett launches the ball up to Abbie Larkin against Southampton. |
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| Abbie Larkin takes the ball with her back to goal with space behind her and infield. |
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| Larkin spots the run of Annabel Blanchard into space inside and lays the ball off. Nothing comes from the play but she managed to help progress the ball near Southampton's box with her hold-up play. |
Larkin really suits Palace when they look to play quickly and in transition moments where she can make good use of her ball carrying and pace to break into space in central and inside right channels ahead of her. She is also often keen to make herself available to her teammates as she can either drop in or tuck in to provide a short passing option when the ball is near the inside channels in the opposition half. Her spatial awareness is a big part of her being able to find space for herself and does mean that she can ghost into pockets of space left by defenders when they retreat back to deal with the ball being progressed in deep areas of the pitch.
Her defensive work rate when pressing from the front as well as being willing to track back in transitional moments show good signs that she can be an effective front-foot presser that can not allow opposing defenders time on the ball in their own half. She's also very effective when scanning off the ball in defensive situations in her own half to cut off passing angles and not allow gaps to appear behind her when Palace are in a settled defensive shape.
She does play a fairly one-footed style that's fairly reliant on her being able to get past her opponent with her right foot when either going inside or down the line. It's not that she can't use her left foot at all as she can pass out with it and control the ball, it's just that she rarely uses it to shoot, while rarely using it whe she has an opposition player near her. Her pace is notable but she's not explosive and does take a bit of time to get up to her top speed. While she is able to score excellent goals from outside the box, she really needs to clean up her shot map as she can be prone to shooting from range too often when she has other options near her.
Palace still have 6 games to go until the end of the season and look poised to either play in the relegation/promotion play-off game against the bottom team of the WSL. They also have a very real chance to gain one of those automatic promotion spots and Abbie Larkin's goals, as well as her general presence in attacking midfield have given her a real platform this season to make a name for herself this season.
