Dominique Janssen has expressed her disinterest in signing a new contract with Wolfsburg Women, knowing that her current contract ends in the summer of 2024. Janssen might be looking for new adventures in or outside Germany after having spent almost five seasons with the German team and won two Frauen Bundesliga titles in 2019/20 and 2021/22, in addition to winning the DFB Pokal three times and reaching the UEFA Women’s Champions League final in both 2022/23 and 2019/20 and getting eliminated in the semi-finals in the 2021/22 season.
Indeed, Janssen was not lucky enough to lift the UWCL trophy despite playing two finals with Wolfsburg. However, playing at the biggest stage each season and reaching advanced phases with Wolfsburg allowed Janssen to acquire a lot of defensive and playmaking experience, knowing that she was selected among the best defenders in numerous editions of the tournament.
This tangible experience and positive results at one of the most important competitions can only confirm Janssen’s value as an outstanding defender who can represent a significant addition to any of the “big” European teams, especially those who are in need of a powerful centre-back at the moment.
Therefore, in this tactical analysis and scout report, we will explore Janssen’s excellent defensive abilities and study her playmaking traits and their importance to Wolfsburg’s and Netherlands’ tactics. Moreover, the analysis will shed some light on her set-piece taking and suggest the most suitable next destinations for the Dutch international.
But first of all, we can introduce Janssen as a centre-back and sometimes a defensive midfielder who uses both feet and is one of the most versatile defenders in the game, given her excellent abilities in defence, playmaking and set-piece taking. This combination of traits is rare among defenders, especially at the highest level, making a player like Janssen so valuable and “wanted” by most of the top teams.
Janssen started her career at SGS Essen in 2013 and played for two seasons in the German league before making a big move to FAWSL’s Arsenal, where she was able to showcase her abilities more globally since she played with the Gunners from 2015 to 2019 and was able to lift the FAWSL trophy in 2018/19 as well as the FA WSL Cup and the FA Women’s Cup.
This experience in a powerful league like the FAWSL gave Janssen much more experience. In addition, the participation with the Netherlands national team in the UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 consolidated this experience. It paved the way for Janssen to become one of the most reliable defenders in Europe, knowing that the Netherlands were able to lift the UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 trophy by beating Denmark in the final.
Furthermore, Janssen progressively became a pillar in the national Netherlands team and was able to participate in numerous continental and international competitions like the 2015 World Cup and the 2019 World Cup, during which Janssen played in all seven of the Netherlands’ games and did not miss a minute until reaching the final. She also had a significant impact with the Netherlands during the 2023 World Cup, the 2020 Summer Olympics and Euro 2022. She is expected to give a lot more to the Netherlands national team during the upcoming games and to her next team.
Defensive abilities
Janssen’s defensive abilities are world-class since she has the tactical maturity needed to read different attacking initiatives and plans and intercept passing combinations inside the final third. She combines this tactical maturity with physical strength and ability to win defensive duels consistently and impressively. With 4.15 interceptions per game, she constantly proves that she can read passes well and moves in anticipation to intercept those passes, especially inside the box.
This example shows Janssen’s crucial defensive positioning during an action that could have led to a goal for Fraknfurt if not for Janssen’s interception of the through pass directed towards the team’s striker. Janssen was reactive enough to look at her opponent when she was about to provide the pass to guess its direction and, therefore, have more time to react and intercept the pass, knowing that she was initially marking the player behind her in the picture.
Janssen can also be extremely useful when the team plays with a high defensive bloc and opt for high pressing as she times her interceptions/anticipations very well and has a fairly reasonable decision-making in this regard. In other words, she usually takes risks when she notices that the opponent did not control the ball well or is in doubt/hesitation/lack of balance.
As you can see in the following picture, Janssen spotted the right moment to intercept the ball from Alba Redondo as soon as she noticed that the latter was not very balanced when moving towards the ball after a not-very-successful first control. The experience in this kind of situation and knowing when to risk the interception and when to avoid it is very valuable since it makes the team win more attacking situations and avoid conceding counter-attacks with a lot of space left behind.
Janssen is also good with header clearances, knowing she wins an average of 62.6% in aerial duels. She usually succeeds in intercepting crosses from both wings before they reach the opposing striker. She often moves well before the crossing action and is very attentive when the cross is being executed, which facilitates the mission of anticipating the opposing player’s movement.
The following picture highlights a perfect example of one of Janssen’s numerous header interceptions following a cross from the left wing that was destined for South Africa’s player (having an arrow on the picture). Janssen’s movement without the ball when the cross was about to be executed made things easier for her and allowed her to be closer to the ball than the South African player who had to run in an attempt to reach the ball when it was too late.
Moreover, Janssen averages 54.2% successful sliding tackles per game, knowing that she exploits her height in a very useful way and executes her tackles in a well-timed manner most of the time.
The following sliding tackle executed to prevent the opponent from crossing highlights this ability to use tackles whenever needed yet in an intelligent way, avoiding unnecessary tackles that often lead to dangerous fouls.
Playmaking traits
Janssen is a defender with solid playmaking abilities and skills — this is something that makes her a special defender. Indeed, most defenders nowadays are asked to participate in the build-up and be good passers. However, few of them can be as clinical and valuable in terms of passing as Janssen. She equals 86.2% in terms of passing accuracy, 53.2% for long-passing accuracy, and 69.1% in terms of passes towards the final third.
These numbers were confirmed on numerous occasions as Janssen provided a lot of assists during her career and usually provides smart passes when in possession to get rid of pressing or serve an unnoticed player at the back of the opposing defensive line like she did in this example when as soon as she found a possible passing trajectory.
Another important factor that makes Janssen a special defender is the fact that she uses both feet for passing and usually in an efficient way. This ability to pass and cross with both feet without impacting accuracy helps Janssen a lot in dealing with the different complicated situations she faces when having the ball, as it facilitates crossing and passing when being on the right or the left side. This means Janssen can always be used as a right centre-back or right-back when needed, even though she is usually used as a left centre-back.
This picture shows one of Janssen’s excellent assists from distance and the fluidity with which she executes her crosses. As soon as she saw PSG’s Lieke Martens asking for the ball, she instantly crossed it with great mastery, allowing Martens to lob the ball over the goalkeeper and score a beautiful goal.
In addition to the numerous long passes she can execute from defence, Janssen can also be dangerous when advancing to the final third, either to finish actions with headers or by advancing on the left wing and aiming for crosses. She can definitely be used in that position as well, guaranteeing more defensive resistance and attacking addition.
This example highlights her ability to advance on the left wing and still have the needed coordination to cross accurately towards the box, providing an assist to her teammate and being an active player in her team’s attacks, which is an aspect that can eventually be exploited further at her next team.
Set-piece taking and possible next destination
Another rare skill to find in defenders is set-piece taking. However, Things are quite different with Janssen since she can be considered a very dangerous set-piece specialist who has already confirmed her abilities in this regard on more than one occasion.
It is fair to say that there are no more than three to five defenders in the world who can be as clinical in terms of set-pieces at the moment, which makes Janssen even more wanted by everyone. She succeeded in scoring direct free-kicks from different distances, mainly those close to the penalty box. It is enough to say that she is the set-piece specialist at Wolfsburg, where there are plenty of technical players to understand how clinical she can be in these situations.
This is an example of many scored free-kicks by Janssen, knowing that this one dates back to the Olympics game against Brazil, during which Janssen was able to equalise for her team thanks to a very well-executed free-kick.
Following an experience at Arsenal and two experiences in Germany, it would be better for Janssen to opt for a new challenge in a different country in order to stimulate new motives and try a new and perhaps a more difficult experience.
The most expected options can be Olympique Lyonnais or PSG if she would like to try the French Division Féminine. At the same time, avoiding teams like Barcelona, who already have reliable left centre-backs like Mapi León, would be a wise decision since this would more likely make Janssen a backup player. Therefore, she would get less playing time. Real Madrid, however, remains an excellent/challenging option for Janssen since they are doing their best to challenge Barcelona and are playing regularly in the UWCL as well.
Another very interesting destination would be Italy, where Serie A Women is actively developing and where there are teams in need of world-class defenders such as Inter Milan, Milan and Juventus. Roma can also represent a very impressive destination since they are playing the UWCL regularly at the moment, especially if they present an offer for Janssen.
Conclusion
Dominique Janssen is one of the best defenders at the moment. Planning her next move in a wise way will be crucial to determining her form in the coming years. She will undoubtedly receive numerous offers from many big teams. However, looking for the option that suits her ambitions and that does not imply getting less playing time will be the most crucial aspect to consider when making the choice, in addition to comparing salary offers, of course.
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