Daniela Galic is a seventeen-year-old Australian winger of Croatian descent. Having only signed her first professional contract in October 2022 and only played one full season of senior football she has been one of the standout performers for Melbourne City throughout the 2023/24 campaign, as they look to win their first title since 2020.
Having produced WSL stars like Mary Fowler, Sam Kerr, and Caitlin Foord, the Women’s A-League is always a hotbed of young players. Having already been capped by Australia’s U20 side competing at the 2022 U20 World Cup, she looks to be the next one to push on with a promising future ahead of her.
In this tactical analysis, we outline some key tactics and statistics that make Galic such an interesting prospect for creating a more thorough scout report on the youngster.
Data Overview
One of the reasons we think Galic is such an interesting prospect is how she appeared in several key statistical data areas. What impressed us most about her was the fact that she is already performing amongst the leaders in the division despite still being so young and this being only her second season as a professional.
The first area that she was identified in was her xA per 90, where she was placed joint fifth with teammate Rhianna Pollicina on 0.23 expected assists per 90. To carry out this investigation, we only included players who had played at least half of their club’s minutes this season (495 minutes.)
A second area that Galic cropped up as a player of note was in key passes per 90. Again, we eliminated players who had not played at least half of their club’s minutes this season. This left us with the following players leading the way. Galic leads the division in this category most impressively with 1.35 key passes per 90, 0.17 higher than the next best, Sharna Freier from Brisbane.
You can see from the graphs above why Galic piqued our interest so much, but now we are going to take a more in-depth look at her on-field qualities that help explain her significant statistical output.
Chance Creation
The first aspect we are going to look at is chance creation, as this is one of Galic’s greatest assets. Her ability to create and cross with both feet makes her a difficult opponent to defend against, even enabling her to be a threat down both wings. The statistics that support this are the fact that she has created a total xA of 2.18 with three assists in the 11 games she has played so far this season.
In terms of types of chance creation, she has a wide repertoire in her arsenal, with the ability to play penetrating through balls, averaging 0.73 through passes per 90. She also has the ability to create through crosses with 2.19 per 90 at an accuracy rate of 28.57%.
As the diagram above shows, most of Galic’s shot assists come from horizontal balls across the box, ie, what we would typically regard as crosses. Also note the origin of these chances being created are from wide areas, typically winger positions, so you can see how she is well suited to this role.
This is a really nice example of the quality that Galic possesses, with her finding herself with the ball at her feet down the right flank. Following a corner, what she is able to do is play an accurate looping right-footed cross, which hits centre forward Hollie McNamara’s head in stride following a sharp near-post run. This ball results in an important goal in the game, with Melbourne City a goal down inside the last fifteen minutes, with this being the equaliser.
In this example, Galic demonstrates the ambidexterity we mentioned previously, with this time her receiving the ball out wide on the left flank. This time, she plays a low whipped ball behind the Adelaide backline, which falls to Kaitlin Torpey on the back post for a tap-in.
This is a slightly different example as this shows Galic’s ability to create in different ways. With her playing a sharp one-two with winger Bryleeh Henry, this isolates the midfielder who was putting pressure on Galic, enabling Galic to attack the huge disconnect in the midfield. However, the opposition midfielder does well to track the run. So, what Galic does is switch the ball to her outside left foot in order to create a barrier between the opponent and the ball, giving Galic more time and space on the ball. This allows her teammate to attack the centre back-fullback gap and for Galic to play a penetrating left-footed ball into the box and create a goalscoring situation.
Ball Progression
The next aspect we are going to look at is Galic’s ability to progress the ball. Galic can progress both with her passing and the ball at her feet. With her being strong, powerful and fast with the ball at her feet, she is a real asset, driving the side forward from deep.
In this diagram, we are looking specifically at Galic’s ball progression through dribbling. What stands out is that there are several times when she receives the ball in her own half and is able to progress the ball 20+ metres, which can completely change the dynamic of an attack. Throughout the season to date, she has been completing 5.1 dribbles per 90 at a success rate of 55.1%.
The example above details the significant impact that Galic can have on the progress of the ball for her side. With Melbourne City winning the ball back deep in their own half, Galic receives the ball in the middle of her own half. Then Galic has the dynamism to drive forward on the ball and get beyond the midfield, taking the three Sydney midfielders out of the game and leaving her against the backline. This skill would be particularly dangerous in transitions as it would not only allow her to progress the ball up the field for her side but also force players to respect her threat and engage with her, opening up space elsewhere for teammates.
In addition to her ability to progress the ball with her ability to drive forwards on the ball, she has the intelligence and game understanding to play effective balls out wide to progress the ball with her passing.
As you can see by the above diagram, Galic is able to consistently progress the ball, averaging 6.04 progressive passes per 90. What you will notice from the diagram is how these pretty much all originate down the flank. It’s also interesting to note they are vertical balls down the line, potentially suggesting the ability to play to overlapping teammates, showing off a good understanding of the team dynamics.
This is an example of Galic has ability to progress the ball with her passing. She consistently understands her teammates’ movements; this allows her to recognise passes early and make good, sharp, and accurate decisions. Here, fullback Julia Grosso has driven down the left flank. Meanwhile, Galic is operating in the half spaces on Grosso’s inside. Galic makes herself available to receive the ball from her teammate. She plays an effective one-two, isolating the Adelaide fullback and putting Grosso into a dangerous position down the left flank.
Goals
The next aspect we are going to look at is Galic’s ability to score and be in goalscoring positions herself. Her ability to time and execute her runs effectively to be in high-quality goalscoring positions regularly stands out.
The diagram above illustrates nicely how Galic is able to get into high-quality goalscoring positions in the box consistently. This translates into goals, with her exceeding xG by 2.31 and averaging 0.17 xG per shot in her 16 shots so far this season.
What you notice is that her goals are generally from the left post in typical endpoints for back-post runs for a left winger.
What is interesting is although this is an area where Galic is currently achieving good production, she could be doing even better, as this graph demonstrates. This graph highlights the top 11 players regarding goal rate per 90. The notable point is that although she is able to compete and actually place as the seventh-highest goalscoring rate, she has the lowest number of shots per 90, averaging only 1.67 shots per game. This suggests that she has a high goalscoring production value and is also very efficient with it, with a conversion rate of 31.25%.
Here is an example of Galic’s ability to make intelligent off-the-ball movement. In this case, the Adelaide fullback is drawn into the ball, thus leaving a gap behind her, which Galic duly attacks—enabling her to get in behind the opposition’s backline. Then she has the composure to cut in against the fullback, who has been forced to overcommit due to having to work to get back to try and get Galic. She can cut back onto her right foot and finishes off the goal nicely for the opening goal of the game.
Here is her second goal from the same game as before, but this time, she demonstrates a different style of goal, with Melbourne playing a long ball towards Torpey. Galic identifies this early and is already on the move, staying in line with that offside line as she looks to attack the back post at pace, timing her run expertly to meet the ball in stride and tap it in following a squared pass by Torpey.
This is an interesting goal that is important to highlight to demonstrate the quality Galic does possess. Coming from last season, the ball is set back from Emina Ekic. Galic approaches on the edge of the box and hits a first-time left-footed shot into the top corner of the net. This just goes to show the quality that she possesses when put in quality positions.
Defensive output
One area that Galic could improve is her effectiveness in the defensive game. She averages 6.25 defensive challenges per 90 at a success rate of 55%, which is actually one of the better rates in the division in terms of attacking players. This is particularly impressive given how Melbourne City looks to dominate the ball, averaging 63.5% possession per game and completing the lowest number of challenges as a team per 90 at 67.79 defensive duels per 90. However, some defensive positioning ideas could be adjusted and take her game to another level.
This diagram demonstrates nicely how she gets involved in the pressing game with nine ball recoveries that ended in a result, seven of which we would regard as high regains in the opposition third.
All that is well and good, but here is just an example of how Galic could develop further. With Adelaide trying to play out from the back Melbourne’s centre forward Hannah Wilkinson has forced the centre back down the right channel. However, Galic finds herself in no man’s land and leaves the Adelaide fullback in space out wide, which results in Adelaide getting behind the Melbourne midfield and progressing the ball up the field.
In this situation, what should happen is that this option is cut off. As the defender is forced wide, ideally, Melbourne could compress this wide right channel and eliminate any passing options by marking her opponent tightly or blocking the player’s passing lane.
Although not necessarily an obvious weakness in her game, the defensive side of things could be developed into something that makes her a genuinely elite player for many years to come.
Conclusion
As you can see from our analysis, Galic is an exciting young prospect currently playing in Australia with lots of positive attributes for a winger to have, along with the dynamism to make a real impact on the game. What impressed me most was her maturity in terms of her offensive understanding and ability to time and consistently identify runs. She also understood her teammates well and developed effective combinations to create chances and develop attacks.
At such a young age, she plays a significant role for the current A-League leaders in Melbourne City. Her future is exciting to watch at the top level for many years to come.
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