Ahead of the 2024/25 Women’s Championship campaign getting underway back in September, pre-season predictions were thrown around with regards to who might secure the top spot and a place in the 2025/26 WSL season.

The teams that most people favoured were London City Lionesses, now part of the family of clubs owned by American businesswoman Michele Kang (alongside Lyon Féminin and Washington Spirit), and Newcastle United Women, who, like their male counterparts, have benefitted significantly from the club’s Saudi ownership.

One team that didn’t receive as much backing was Durham Women, which is understandable given that they ended last season in ninth place and lost exactly half of their 22 league fixtures.

However, they are never a team to underestimate and have historically been one of the second tier’s stronger sides.

Between 2017 and 2021, they secured four consecutive top-four placings and missed out on promotion by eight points in the last of those, with Leicester City Women edging them to the top spot.

Whilst their displays since then have been somewhat inconsistent, the quality of their squad has never been in doubt, with them always having players capable of injecting energy whenever it has been required.

One player who particularly embodies that is Mollie Lambert.

A midfielder known for her attacking traits, Lambert has contributed significantly to Durham's being among the early title contenders this time around.

With that in mind, this tactical analysis will examine her performances more closely to show why she is so highly valued by her team.

The scout report will identify the different ways in which she contributes to their tactics and indicate why keeping her fit is vital if Durham is to stay within touching distance of current leaders Birmingham City Women, who are ahead of them on goal difference alone.

Mollie Lambert's Midfield Control

Despite Mollie Lambert’s primary position being central midfield, it is more common to see her drift into the final third and act as an additional forward for much of her time on the field, and Durham certainly bases a lot of its game plan around this.

As this section of the analysis will indicate, this season has been no different in that regard.

Mollie Lambert has developed a strong partnership with new Durham Women striker Carly Johns.

To allow her to make those advanced runs from the central third, though, Durham needs to ensure balance by having a striker who can drop back and prevent a sizeable gulf from emerging between the forwards and those behind them.

The addition of Carly Johns from relegated Watford Women certainly fitted that requirement.

Last season, she not only showed that she can score goals at this level (netting eight) but also that she can work within a structure to give her team balance.

Her tendency to get on the ball in deeper areas allowed Watford to position Arsenal Women loanee Michelle Agyemang higher up the pitch and fully use her natural speed.

During her first appearances for Durham, it is evident that new head coach Adam Furness is keen to use her in a similar fashion. Johns drops back to get on the ball during a transitional phase, allowing Lambert to push ahead of her to stretch the pitch out as much as possible.

Newcastle's playing with a high back line has aided them, leaving former Liverpool Women and Bristol City Women midfielder Rachel Furness isolated at the back.

However, the way that Johns and Lambert have worked together here and seem to have developed a telepathic understanding of each other’s intentions shows why she has so far proven to be a solid replacement for now-Newcastle striker Amy Andrews.

The return pass from Lambert on this occasion might not have had the necessary accuracy, resulting in the attack breaking down before Johns could try her luck in front of the goal, but there is no doubting the benefit of having a striker and midfielder who can unite in this manner will bring to Durham’s attacking play as the season goes on.

Mollie Lambert can control the flow of the game through her passing quality.

There is more to Lambert’s midfield play though that perhaps isn’t as regularly noticed though, with one aspect being her connection play and intelligence when it comes to retaining possession for her side.

The latter of those is particularly highlighted here, with Lambert winning the ball and instantly coming under pressure from Portsmouth Women’s Nicole Barrett.

She has an option ahead of her in the shape of Lily Crosthwaite, which would put Durham in a good position to progress the ball further up the field.

However, Lambert felt that making such a pass on this occasion would entail too much risk and so opted instead to roll the ball back towards Lauren Briggs, who then recycled it back into the Durham goal area.

It might appear like she was being too safe, and there is perhaps some weight to that argument, but it shows that Lambert understands the need to keep possession.

This is especially important against teams that can catch opponents off-guard, as Portsmouth has at times as they have battled for promotion from the third tier.

This intelligence, along with her 68.1% passing accuracy and rare failure to find her teammates in these situations, are other reasons that she has become such an intrinsic part of the team over the last four years.

Mollie Lambert’s Ball Progression Map For Women's Championship 2024/25

Mollie Lambert’s ball progression map for Durham Women during the 2024/25 Women’s Championship season.

Despite all of that, though, it is actually not that common to see Lambert passing the ball.

Instead, her primary instinct is always to carry it forward on her own or to make runs off the ball to access areas where she can be of use before it arrives at her feet.

This graphic highlights that, making it clear how many progressive runs she has made so far and the number of times that she has taken the ball up the pitch without looking for a pass.

Many current midfielders do not have this in their arsenal, with modern tactics prioritising passing, moving, and building momentum through sharp transitions.

With that in mind, Lambert’s profile is becoming increasingly rare, and Durham will benefit from this as they attempt to keep their opponents guessing.

Mollie Lambert's Attacking Threat

While the scout report has examined Mollie Lambert’s ability to rotate with Johns inside the final third, more needs to be explored in her attacking play.

Three key themes are present in everything that she does.

These are her anticipation of what will happen around her, her positional versatility when finding spaces, and her unpredictability when testing opposing defensive lines.

Each of these will now be looked at in greater detail.

Mollie Lambert reads the play well and reacts to different situations before opponents do.

Her anticipation is shown by her ability to read what is occurring around her and to react accordingly, ensuring that Durham always has the advantage.

In this case, during their most recent league outing against London City, she watched Crosthwaite steal possession from Georgia Brougham.

She instantly scans for spaces as she looks to help convert the regain into a goalscoring opportunity.

Her speed of thought really stands out here.

She reacts quicker than former Arsenal and Reading Women defender Emma Mukandi and makes a run before the latter can drop back to occupy the space behind her.

That, combined with a precise pass from Crosthwaite into her path, allows her to test her luck at goal.

It might not have come off for her on this occasion, with the ball taking a deflection off Arsenal loanee Teyah Goldie shortly after leaving her boot, but it fell nicely for Johns to slide home and to ensure that London City were punished for their error.

These runs have been commonplace whenever Lambert has been on the field.

Still, the fact that she is already averaging more touches inside the penalty area this time around than in the previous campaign (2.69 compared to 1.62) suggests that Furness is relying on them even more than Durham did before.

Her ability to anticipate play this way will become increasingly important as the games go on.

Mollie Lambert can adapt her positioning when there is a need to do so.

Assessing her surroundings also facilitates her positional versatility, which is based on finding spaces and using them to her team’s advantage.

In this case, she has drifted out towards the nearside wing, reacting to London City becoming narrower as Maddi Wilde attempts to help guard against the threat provided by New Zealand international Michaela Foster.

Once in this area, it is simply a case of seeing if the ball will fall for her and then timing everything to perfection, which she does hereby running onto Foster’s deflected shot to turn the ball home from a tight angle.

This gives Durham layers in offensive situations.

It also shows how Lambert backs herself every time she has a chance to shoot at goal and never gives off any signs of hesitation.

Whilst only 57.1% of her efforts have been on target in the current campaign, she has already matched her tally of four goals from last season.

That self-confidence is another reason that she is such a dangerous player to leave in space like this.

Mollie Lambert has proven to be unpredictable when she gets into wider areas.

When she is in those wider channels, she is at her most unpredictable, and that match was not the only one in which she operated.

Another was the trip to Blackburn Rovers Women, with Furness asking Lambert to stay wider in order to utilise the space afforded to Durham by their hosts’ wing-backs continually pushing up the field.

The key word whenever she gets into these areas is options, with her opening up her body and giving herself a chance to either shoot at goal or set up a teammate.

In this case, that is very evident, with Lambert receiving the ball from New Zealand forward Hannah Blake and having the ability to either test her own luck or to set up one of Johns, Beth Hepple or Grace Ayre, who are all positioned inside her.

Given what has been seen in the analysis so far, it perhaps comes as no surprise that she went for the former here, keeping the ball on her outside foot before bending it towards the far post.

It might not have come off on this occasion, but the key point is that she kept Blackburn guessing about her intentions.

That is another reason she is so tricky to manage at the best times.

Mollie Lambert's Defensive Contributions

The scout report so far has focused heavily on what Mollie Lambert offers when her team is in possession and moving up the pitch, but this is not to say that she ceases to be useful as soon as the ball is lost.

Instead, the defensive side of things has proven just as effective, and it is another reason that Durham has come to rely on her so much.

Mollie Lambert can press from the front to limit opponents' time on the ball.

Given her attack-minded instincts, it is perhaps no revelation to learn that Lambert will defend on the front foot whenever she can, with her attempting to limit opponents' time to move the ball onward.

This is shown clearly here, with Southampton Women attempting to play out from the back in a controlled fashion but seeing Tara Bourne closed down at speed by Lambert and forced to halt her progress up the field.

This press is so important to highlight because Durham was quite open higher up the pitch at this stage, and so Southampton would have had a good chance of breaking them down if they had been allowed to pass forwards here.

Lambert’s anticipation was, therefore, timely and ensured that her teammates had an additional few seconds to set themselves up to repel the attack once it did come.

Mollie Lambert patrols the midfield to break up opposing attacks.

This is not the only way that Lambert looks to defend, though.

It is also common to see her patrolling the central third and waiting for an attempted break to be made.

In this case, Birmingham’s Northern Ireland right-back Rebecca McKenna has done just that, with Canadian summer signing Kaila Novak unable to halt her progress.

At first glance, it looks as though Amy Merricks’ side will be able to gain significant territory as they attempt to break their promotion rivals down.

However, concluding that would be to discount Lambert's presence and effort, who can be seen here drifting over and making a tackle in time to assist Novak in ending the attack.

With her already averaging 2.98 interceptions per game this season and having won 73.2% of her defensive duels, this is yet another area of the game in which Lambert has been particularly strong.

It is another reason why she is so key to Durham’s bid to reach the promised land of the WSL.

Mollie Lambert can drop back and help her teammates out further back if needed too.

She can even drop further back if required.

There have been a few occasions when she has needed to act as an auxiliary defender to make her team more secure inside their own third.

Charlton Athletic Women are one of the teams that some have backed to challenge for promotion this season, and they are capable of making life difficult for their opponents, especially now that former Brighton and Tottenham Hotspur Women forward Ellie Brazil is in their ranks.

She has proven to be one of the league’s most dangerous players so far, and it is for that reason that Lambert has recognised the need to track back here and assist Briggs in closing her down.

She initially forced Brazil back towards the corner flag before then running inside her teammate and ending up deflecting the attempted cross out of play for a corner.

Again, this shows that Lambert offers a lot more around the pitch than some might realise, without the ball as well as with it, and that is what makes her such a key cog in the Durham machine.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this tactical analysis has taken a closer look at Durham Women midfielder Mollie Lambert, highlighting the different ways that she influences their performances and the reasons that she has been and will continue to be so important for them, both now and, if she stays with them, in the future.

As the scout report has progressed, it has become apparent how many things Lambert brings to Durham's table.

Her attacking threat is clear to see, but the other aspects of her play pointed out in the analysis are less obvious.

She is certainly someone that any coach would be thankful to have on their squad.

She is the type of player that teams can build their game plans around, as Durham has.

With her ability to inflict damage on opponents or shore up her side as soon as they lose the ball, the main thing to take from this analysis is that she inspires those around her.

Time and again, when the odds have been against Durham, she has been the one to inject quality and get them back on track, and that will come in handy over the coming months as they attempt to build on their strong start and finish at the top of the Championship tree.