Louise Fleury has been an impactful player for Paris FC Women this season, helping them start their Division 1 Féminine season in the best of ways, having the same number of points as Olympique Lyonnais at the top of the standings, with 15 points and five wins each.
Paris FC have not dropped points at all during this initial part of the season and have been very consistent in terms of results, which is impressive for a team that usually has to settle for ‘best of the rest’ behind Olympique Lyonnais and PSG.
One player who has been making a significant impact on Paris FC’s results and performances so far is definitely Fleury, whether by scoring crucial goals or by providing assists and helping with her critical penetrations from the left wing.
For this reason, exploring Fleury’s performances, strengths, and possible improvements would be worthwhile, given her importance to Paris FC and her ability to consistently play a crucial role in the attacking phase, in particular.
This tactical analysis and scout report will, therefore, shed light on what makes Fleury a special player for Paris FC. The analysis will explore her roles within Paris FC’s tactics and identify the areas of improvement that could make her undeniable for a national team opportunity in the future.
Positions and mastered roles
Fleury is a 26-year-old French player who started her footballing journey at EA Guingamp in 2013, where she played until 2022, the year she moved to Paris FC.
This move allowed Fleury not only to play for a more competitive team but also to attract more attention to herself as a dangerous winger, especially given the fact that Paris FC participates in the UWCL more often than Guingamp and has already participated in the competition six times so far as opposed to Guingamp who never had the chance to participate in it.
Moreover, since her move to Paris FC, Fleury has already participated in the UWCL for two consecutive seasons, including the actual one in which the team have already qualified for the group stage in a group having Chelsea, Real Madrid, and Häcken. It should also be noted that Paris FC have already knocked out teams like Wolfsburg and Arsenal in the qualifying phases.
According to her experience as a player so far, Fleury has played most of the time as a winger, more precisely, as a left-winger. This position fits her skills and abilities while allowing her to support her team both in the defensive and offensive phases. Indeed, Fleury has also played as a striker a few times and as a left midfielder on a few other occasions. Yet, her primary position remains the left-winger one.
Fleury’s roles are varied and include defending and retreating to support the left-back when out of possession and applying high pressing on opposing right-backs whenever needed and sometimes on centre-backs.
In terms of playmaking, Fleury represents a fundamental part of her team’s process, as she usually needs to move well without the ball in order to free herself to receive the ball in suitable situations and be able to provide key passes from her position.
This requires two things: moving quickly and intelligently to avoid and get away from tight marking, plus scanning the pitch continuously in order to save time when receiving the ball. We must know that she often has to make decisions very quickly and automatically after receiving the ball due to marking and tight spaces in that area of the pitch.
At the same time, Fleury is also required to run with the ball on the wing and avoid disturbance before crossing or providing through passes to strikers. This requires acceleration abilities and physical strength simultaneously to resist physical disturbance from direct markers. Currently, Fleury wins 42.5% of duels, a good average that can be improved even more soon.
Accelerations on that left wing usually need dribbling especially when Fleury faces defences that try to apply numerical superiority to limit the danger of some players. As a result, dribbling is essential in these situations, and one of Fleury’s roles is also to dribble past opponents and find a way to pass the defensive resistance. With an average of 49.3% successful dribbles per game, Fleury can be considered one of the best dribblers in the league.
Moreover, assist-making and goalscoring can also be considered as Fleury’s roles, and she tries to execute such roles whenever possible, especially when she finds herself in suitable situations. These situations are mainly counterattacks, which allow Fleury to find the necessary space to use her pace and dribbling skills before shooting or providing an assist.
Goalscoring potential
Regarding goalscoring abilities, Fleury equals an average of 55.1% shots on target, which is already a positive average. She can score goals from different situations and with various techniques, but not only from the left wing. In fact, what makes Fleury a remarkable player, especially as a winger, is the fact that she moves a lot without the ball and in an intelligent way. This means that she times her movements well and always tries to achieve something dangerous with movements without the ball.
In particular, her off-the-ball penetrations towards the box can always create a lot of problems for opposing defences since these winger penetrations confuse their marking plans and disorganise their defensive lines.
The following example shows in a clear way how Fleury came from the left wing to penetrate Le Havre’s defensive line while asking for the ball at the back of the defensive line. This might look like a simple move and action, yet it requires a lot of chemistry and understanding between both players, as Fleury’s movement and the timing of the pass need to be spot on. Otherwise, the action cannot be finished successfully.
Moreover, Fleury has an outstanding balance, especially when running with the ball, which allows her to have an advantage over her opponents and penetrate quickly and effectively. Doing so on the left wing is the norm, but succeeding in dribbling past defenders and accelerating while moving in the middle towards the box is not simple, and not all wingers are capable of succeeding at. Fleury’s dynamism, exceptional pace and penetration skills make her unstoppable in such cases, such as in the following action when she received a pass while running, controlled it, and quickly escaped from three defenders surrounding her to find herself in front of goal and score.
Fleury uses her left foot a lot and does not hesitate shooting with it since she has confidence in her ability to remain accurate with both feet, representing an advantage for her and a problem for her markers and goalkeepers. In fact, Fleury uses both feet in goalscoring and does not really find problems when using the right or the left foot.
Confusing goalkeepers with surprising and unexpected shots using the left foot at times and right foot at other times is usually a trick that works, especially when such shots are executed with a first-time touch while not lacking power. And that’s precisely what Fleury did in the following example when she received a through pass into space and had the time to opt for a shooting solution. She went for a first-time shot using her left foot to surprise the goalkeeper while adding the right amount of power to it to make things more complicated for her.
In addition, Fleury uses her pace and dribbling abilities in front of goal as well since she often tries to dribble past goalkeepers instead of shooting. This is essentially one of the strikers’ traits, especially experienced ones who have confidence in their finishing abilities.
However, since Fleury does so with conviction, confidence, and excellent execution, this means that using her as a striker at times wouldn’t be a wrong decision mainly because she does not hesitate or lack ideas in front of goal.
At the same time, her finishing is good enough for the role. But of course, working on movements without the ball and on the other roles the striker needs to execute will be necessary when opting for Fleury as a striker on some occasions.
This goal action simply highlights Fleury’s ability to dribble past goalkeepers while not fearing to finish the action from the left angle, and she executed both the dribbling part and the finishing part well, neither with hesitation nor a lack of balance.
Playmaking and assists
In terms of passing accuracy, Fleury averages 65.2% accurate passes per game as she passes with 47.6% accuracy to the final third and 37.9% towards the box. These numbers are good enough for the Division 1 Féminine level and might be improved to reach the UWCL standards. But overall, Fleury can be considered a terrific passer with excellent vision and the ability to time her passes well without losing accuracy.
Again, her ability to use both feet, even in terms of through passes, crosses, and assists, is remarkable and deserves a lot of credit. There are plenty of examples showing Fleury providing key passes with her right foot and others showing her executing assists with her left foot. The following one highlights her crossing ability with her left foot without losing accuracy or balance when executing the cross.
At the same time, she has proved whenever she played on the right wing that she can be dangerous on that side, as well as using crosses with the right foot to create dangerous opportunities and sometimes goals. This excellent cross highlights Fleury’s ability to remain impactful even when used as a right-winger, even though she is not used in that position so often.
This ability to quickly adapt to different situations makes Fleury a versatile player who can offer new ideas to the coaching staff, who can use her in various ways but mainly in attacking positions.
Changing her position during games is also a good trick that would allow the team to confuse their opponent by playing Fleury as an additional striker at times, as a left-winger at other times, and perhaps even as a right-winger during the exact same match while making the necessary changes.
Crossing from distance while keeping the same accuracy does not represent a problem for Fleury either since she proved her ability to execute crosses towards the needed destinations while putting an adequate amount of power and precision.
Her ability to create goals even when near the touchline proves how impactful Fleury can be in the attacking phase for Paris FC and explains how she can help lead Paris FC to further success very soon.
Conclusion
Louise Fleury is one of the most impactful players in Paris FC’s attack. If she keeps performing consistently impressive performances for her team this season, she will deserve a call-up to the French national team squad. To do so, remaining consistent in terms of effective attacking movements, especially the ones towards the box, and succeeding in goalscoring and providing assists regularly would certainly help Fleury attract more interest not only from the national team but also from other big clubs.
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