For Örebro DFF, 2023 has not been a year to remember, with them slipping back to within range of the Damallsvenskan’s relegation zone after a few seasons of increasing the distance between it and them and only staving off the drop to the Elitettan by four points in the end.
However, despite their mixed form and the disappointment of being so close to the trapdoor once again, there were positive aspects to their campaign that should be pointed out. One of those was undoubtedly the emergence of 17-year-old midfielder Elsa Pelgander, who came onto the scene in 2022 but who really established herself in the Örebro ranks during the most recent campaign. The strides that she has made to improve her game have not only aided Örebro’s fight to stay in the Damallsvenskan but have attracted the interests of several major names around Europe, with Barcelona Femení previously inviting her to train with them, whilst Juventus Femminile appear keen on a January approach for her services.
This tactical analysis will take a closer look at what makes her such an interesting talent, identifying the key characteristics in her play that Juventus, who are currently coached by ex-Arsenal Women manager Joe Montemurro, will benefit from and highlighting the role that she could play in the Italian side’s tactics were she to move to the Juventus Training Centre (where the women’s team play their home matches) when the window opens next month.
Protecting the defence
Whilst she can offer something in all areas of the field, as this scout report will show, Elsa Pelgander is predominantly a defensive midfielder who is at her best when protecting those behind her, and that is where Juventus will get the best out of her if they were to attract her to Serie A Femminile in January.
What they will particularly like about her is that she reads the game well and is constantly thinking ahead of those around her, meaning that she can take up good positions before the ball enters her vicinity. This was evident on plenty of occasions last season but was especially important in the match against Uppsala, with the opposing side continually looking to switch the play from wing to wing in their attempts to create space in the middle and to use combinations in the wide channels to keep Örebro guessing.
In this latest attack, that did initially have the desired effect, with Örebro unable to prevent the ball from being played behind their back line as the trio of Charlene Nowotny, Elin Rombing, and Beatrice Gärds combined to give Uppsala a great chance to transfer the ball into the middle. However, what they had not counted on here was Pelgander, with the midfielder reading what was going on and what would happen and dropping back early to ensure that she was in the right place at the right time to intercept the ball and to end the attack.
This was not the first time that Pelgander got her team out of trouble, and it was undoubtedly one reason that they did manage to stay up, with it likely that they would have conceded more goals and dropped more points had she not been in these areas and disrupting play in this manner.
It’s not just Pelkander’s positioning that benefits from her ability to think ahead of others, though, because the other thing that she shows is an ability to close opponents down and to win balls before they have had a chance to turn and to assess their options. In this case, Anna Folkesson has passed the ball inside to Nowotny but has not realised that Pelkander is watching and is ready to close the ball down as soon as it reaches the latter Uppsala player. As a result, the Örebro player is on Nowotny’s shoulder when she controls the ball, meaning that the attacking player’s options are instantly limited and the ball is dislodged easily.
Again, Örebro have not been one of the best-performing sides in the Damallsvenskan in 2023, but they are undoubtedly indebted to moments of quality like this from their young star in the middle of the field because of her ability to win duels in this manner (she succeeded in 63.3% of her defensive battles in 2023) and to ensure that opponents are as incapable of progressing up the field as possible has been vital in making her side more robust and tougher to beat.
That is not to say that Pelkander is perfect, though, and there are certainly several areas of her game that will need improving if she is to succeed at a bigger club. Here, for example, she makes an interception following a cross from the far side of the field (something that she did 3.92 times per match on average), successfully breaking up a Rosengård attack, but heads the ball directly into the path of another Rosengård player in Mia Persson. As a result, whilst she may have given her team time to get back behind the ball, she has not brought the chance to a complete end and has instead allowed the opposing side to keep pushing up the pitch and retain their momentum.
This is where her ability to stay alert comes into play, though, because what she does deserve credit for here is not losing her focus and instead continually ensuring that she is where she needs to be to give her team the best possible opportunity of keeping the ball out of their goal. On this occasion, once the ball arrives at Persson’s feet, she realises that the danger is still there. She continues tracking back towards her goal, preparing for the expected second delivery into the middle.
That proves to be crucial here, with Pelkander making the vital interception on the edge of her goal area and clearing her lines, and that would not have happened if she had simply stopped after this initial clearance and allowed play to go on around her. Therefore, whilst her defensive qualities in the first phases have been clear to see throughout this section of the analysis, it is this ability to constantly be alive to follow-on phases and secondary attacks that will really increase the interest of those watching her progress.
Midfield control
What has also been clear to see in Elsa Pelkander’s performances, though, is that she plays with a lot of variety, in that she doesn’t only sit back and offer this defensive strength but also assists in counterattacks and when her team are higher up the pitch. Therefore, were she to move to Juventus or another major team next month, she would fit into different roles in their tactics, which would also appeal to them greatly.
When defending, for example, she doesn’t only act whenever the ball moves into her team’s third but often moves up the field to meet it early, keeping it as far away from her goal as possible. This was especially important when facing Djurgårdens DFF, with the Stockholm-based side gaining a reputation last season for being tough to break down but capable of stunning teams with counterattacks as they looked to win matches in a tight fashion.
With that in mind, the way that Pelkander has pushed up the field to meet Therese Åsland here and to halt her advance is crucial, with Åsland now forced to move across the pitch and not up it, meaning that she is unable to get into a position from which she can either set up a chance or try her own luck.
It is also important to note that Pelkander didn’t just make an initial block and then sit back here either, with her staying tight to Åsland and not decreasing the intensity of her press until she had passed the ball towards Kamilla Karlsen, which was backwards and therefore showed how she had stopped Djurgårdens from building any momentum.
It would be easy to assume that Pelkander only has an effect on games when her team are on the defensive, but that is not the case. She is just as vital to them when they have the ball, with her here helping launch a counterattack and try and catch BK Häcken Dam out before they have had a chance to get back and reset inside their own half.
The player passing towards her here is Emilia Pelgander, which is crucial as these two usually operate in the same areas of the pitch and work together to ensure that Örebro are as secure as possible when without the ball. Once they do have it, their communication is vital to ensuring that they don’t both move forward and leave that space unoccupied and the fact that Emilia is turning and passing whilst Elsa makes the run here highlights the understanding that they have with each other and how they know what each other will do at each stage of the game.
In this case, the counterattack proves to be effective, with Elsa taking the ball deep into the Häcken half and almost into the goal area, and that highlights how she plays with just as much efficiency when in possession as she does when trying to win it back from an opponent.
It is worth noting that there have been times when she has stayed higher up the pitch and has not tracked back as much, which again highlights how versatile she is and the variety of roles she can offer. Against Rosengård, she tended to spend significant periods of play inside the attacking half, acting as a focal point for her team by holding the ball up and giving the rest of them time to move up and join her.
Succeeding in this aspect of the game comes down to individual strength, with her needing to hold onto the ball often whilst outnumbered, and yet this never phased her and in situations like this, when she has managed to prevent both Persson and Sofie Bredgaard from winning the ball and has shifted it out towards the far side wing, were common in Örebro’s games. As was evident earlier in the analysis, Pelgander is not an easy player to shake off, and she did win 35.4% of her offensive duels last season, so it is clear that she is just as big a handful in these situations as she is when pressing individual opponents when they have the ball.
She did end the 2023 season with an 85.2% passing accuracy, so her quality on the ball cannot be doubted, and if Juventus do make a move to sign her in January, there are clearly several ways in which they could fit her into their system. Having that ability to slot into multiple systems will be vital given that they already have players like Italy international Arianna Caruso and Canada’s Julia Grosso, who can operate in different areas of the field, and so offer just as many tactical possibilities, and it does feel like Pelgander is another who matches that preferred profile.
Supporting attacks
As mentioned, Elsa Pelgander is predominantly a defensive player who is at her best when sitting back and disrupting play, but she can be just as effective in advanced areas of the pitch, too, so there is no reason that she can’t be used in matches where her team might play with a greater attacking impetus and not have as great a need for deeper-lying midfielders.
She influences proceedings inside the final third through her movement, often using her aforementioned ability to read the game ahead of others to create space and chances for those around her. In this case, she has run across the Häcken goal area and is now positioned on the near side of it, with her intention being to attract the attention of those defenders around her and to manipulate them into following her and leaving space open in the middle.
These off-the-ball movements are a common sight to see in football, with many teams incorporating them into their tactics, and Örebro have enjoyed some success from it. On this occasion, it did create a gap for them, but Nathalie Persson was unable to take advantage of it due to her being closed down and never being allowed to turn towards the Häcken goal, instead passing back to Finland midfielder Emma Peuhkurinen. Nevertheless, the option was there, and it would not have come about without the initial intelligence of Pelgander to create it through her run behind the defensive line.
That theme of staying away from the ball and creating space is present in other ways, too, with Pelgander here taking up a position just outside the goal area and not being drawn towards where the ball currently is. By doing so, she not only takes up the attacking midfield role that she has performed so well in for Örebro when in these areas but also helps to keep the pitch as big as possible, meaning that it is instantly a lot more difficult for Rosengård to commit all players in the vicinity to close the ball down.
That in itself can lead to problems for defending teams, and it did on this occasion, too, as the ball was able to be fed back out towards Pelgander, with her taking a shot on goal. It is a rarity for the 17-year-old to test her luck, with her only having three shots in the entirety of the 2023 Damallsvenskan campaign, but the fact that she did shows the confidence that she possesses and the danger that she poses when left in space like this.
However, her attacking play is not only about movement and positioning because she also offers a lot with the ball. The scout report has already looked at how she holds the ball up and feeds it into the path of teammates ahead of her, but she is just as capable of taking it forward on her own, too, with this graphic indicating how many carries she has made around the field and how many she has made around the opposing goal area.
She has made more in deeper areas and the midfield than in the final third, but the fact that she has penetrated the opposing goal area on four occasions in 2023 shows again how she is a player who attacks with confidence and who is versatile in the number of things that she can do. Therefore, any team that decides to move for her in January or in the future (should a winter move not come off) will be signing a player who might not appear to be that effective in attack on paper, given that she didn’t score or assist in 2023, but who will undoubtedly help to create spaces and who will give opposing defences a very difficult time of things.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this tactical analysis has looked in detail at young Swedish midfield prodigy Elsa Pelgander, highlighting different areas of her game and showing why she has been reportedly attracting interest from bigger clubs around Europe.
What has become apparent throughout the analysis is just how much she does on the field that may not immediately meet the eye, with it clear in each game that she is an effective defensive shield but that she is just as effective in attacking situations as well as in a box-to-box role, with those latter traits perhaps not as easily identified.
Given that Örebro are not one of Sweden’s strongest teams and do tend to finish regularly in the mid-to-bottom half of the top flight, it does seem inevitable that Pelgander will need to move on in order to really fulfil her potential. Her current side will be understandably keen to keep her for as long as they can, although their current financial situation will dictate if that is possible, but they can also be proud of developing such a talented player and knowing that they played a part in shaping her into the talent that she has become.
Juventus have been linked with her, Barcelona have also shown interest in the past, and there may be others looking at her situation, but fans will have to wait until January to see if any of them firm up their interest and make a concrete offer and if she does decide to move on and to take the next step in her burgeoning career.
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