January is always an exciting month for football fans, with the winter transfer window wide open and rumours flying around as to which clubs will enter the market and who they will target. In the WSL, there has already been a fair amount of activity conducted, with many high-profile names joining the league and several clubs working hard to add what they need to meet their pre-season aims.
One side who have been especially busy is Tottenham Hotspur Women, with head coach Robert Vilahamn making the most of his connections in Scandinavia to add Sweden winger Matilda Vinberg and Australia full-back Charlotte Grant from Damallsvenskan champions Hammarby Damer and from Vittsjö respectively, whilst China forward Wang Shuang has signed from Racing Louisville and Juventus Femminile defender Amanda Nildén (another Sweden international) has joined on loan.
However, they have not only been focusing on the international market, with many news reports linking them with a move for 18-year-old Durham Women forward Poppy Pritchard, who is regarded by many as one of the most promising players in the English game. Having come through the Durham academy, she has established herself as a regular in the Women’s Championship side’s first team this season, and Tottenham are just one of several top-flight clubs reportedly monitoring her development.
With that in mind, this tactical analysis will take a closer look at Pritchard’s game, finding the reasons for the wide-ranging interest in her and showing why she is so highly rated. The analysis will highlight what she can offer potential suitors on the pitch and will point out where she would fit into their tactics were she to make a move to any of them either this month or in the future.
Attacking threat
Given that Poppy Pritchard is a forward by trade, it might be imagined that her main attacking contributions have come in front of goal, especially so since she scored 18 times and assisted three more for Durham’s U21 side during the 2022/23 season (including four in a 5-3 win against Brighton and Hove Albion Women U21 in mid-April).
However, she has only found the net on two occasions for the senior team this season. She has assisted just the once (whilst scoring nine times and assisting one in her outings for the academy team, for whom she has still featured), so there is a lot more to her game than simply being efficient in front of goal.
For a start, there is her technique when crossing the ball into the middle, which has really caught the eye and which has enabled Durham to continually access spaces behind opposing back lines, shown here against Charlton Athletic Women, who have centre-back Kiera Skeels desperately trying to track back in order to limit the territory that she has to aim for.
However, Skeels’ efforts prove to be futile in the end as she is unable to prevent Pritchard from transferring the ball into the six-yard area, and what made this possible here is the fact that the Durham attacker didn’t once hesitate whilst she had the ball at her feet.
It would have been so easy for her to stop the ball earlier and to change direction or to take one touch too many in a bid to move the ball out of her feet. Many in the same position would have done, but she had the confidence to take the cross in her stride, and the subsequent accuracy and smooth execution of the cross meant that it was always going to be tough for Skeels to cut it out.
Given the fact that she is still relatively new to the senior game, this demonstrates a level of maturity in Pritchard’s game that has allowed her to flourish in first-team football. It is the fact that she plays football beyond her years that has likely attracted envious glances from elsewhere and which will make it difficult for Durham to keep hold of her if an offer were made before the winter window shuts.
This is not to say that she is only useful when the ball is inside the final third, though, because the other thing that is abundantly clear when watching her is that she has just as much effect in other areas of the pitch, too, and it is that that has led to her not scoring as many goals and only averaging 2.31 touches inside the opposing penalty area per game to date.
In this case, her presence has been needed not at the top of the field but inside her own third, with Durham trying to stave off a Birmingham City Women attack and finding that they were quickly overcome by the numbers that Darren Carter’s side had managed to get into forward positions.
However, where Pritchard can help out is through her ability to read the play and to know when to move forward and break things up, with her intercepting a pass from playmaker Jade Pennock to full-back Jamie Finn (something that she has done an average of 4.21 times per game this season) and instantly looking to move the ball out of danger.
Again, that same composure on the ball is evident, and she once again takes her time and doesn’t take unnecessary risks. The way that she sends the ball between Pennock and former England midfielder Jade Moore and towards fellow forward Saoirse Noonan here shows again how she plays football which belies her years.
On this occasion, the pass doesn’t lead to anything, as Noonan ends up losing the ball after being closed down by Neve Herron. Still, the fact that Pritchard has registered a 66.9% passing accuracy so far this season shows how moving the ball around the pitch, either in areas like this or during transitions, is another of her key strengths. There are plenty of sides who would benefit from having a player like her in their ranks.
It is not only about what Pritchard can do with the ball, though, because there is also a lot to like about what she does without it. In this situation, she has once again looked around and realised that the London City Lionesses are playing with a high backline and that her team are trying to be direct in order to take advantage of that, so she makes a run into the open territory ahead of her to provide a target for the aerial pass to aim for.
On this occasion, her run didn’t lead to anything as London City, who were taken over at the end of 2023 by American businesswoman Michele Kang (who also owns Washington Spirit and who is the majority owner of Lyon Féminin), managed to get back in time and made amends for gifting Pritchard the opportunity to test them, with New Zealand full-back Grace Neville working especially hard. However, the point still stands that Pritchard is a player with excellent spatial awareness — that is another reason for Durham coming to rely on her to be a crucial part of their tactics this season.
Duelling ability
Whilst the first section of the analysis identified a range of aspects of Poppy Pritchard’s game that have helped her to become one of England’s brightest prospects, there is one thing that has stood out more than most in her performances, and that is her ability to take players on in 1-v-1 duels.
This is something that has really benefitted Durham in that it has allowed them to use her as a way of holding up the ball and giving others time to make runs into the spaces ahead of her, just as is the case here against Birmingham.
What helps Pritchard to be so strong in this instance is the fact that she has made sure to keep her body between the ball and full-back Martha Harris, with the latter getting tight to the Durham player here but unable to force a turnover of possession as a result.
At that point, Pritchard’s focus switches towards moving the ball around Harris using her quick feet and sending it up the field, and that shows again the clarity with which she plays and the composure that she shows on the ball.
On this occasion, Birmingham do manage to win the ball back quickly through Ivana Fuso, who drifts across to assist her former Manchester United Women teammate; the fact that the Durham player was able to retain the ball here and needed two players to combine to remove the ball from her possession shows how difficult it is to win battles against her, with Birmingham not the first team to have found her to be a formidable opponent to contain.
This ability to win duels has been just as prominent in more open areas, too, with Pritchard once again moving up the field here. Finn being the one in her way, and what needs to be focused on here is the former’s two-footedness, as it is that that makes her an unpredictable opponent and gives Durham a stronger chance of retaining the ball for longer periods of time.
In this case, Pritchard opted to go around the outside of Finn and to try her luck with a cross into the goal area, and even though she saw her attempted cross be cut out by the Republic of Ireland international, the fact that she had already set up a goal by running towards the middle of the field in a similar situation shows how threatening she is when in these positions.
As with the previous section, this ability to take players on and to win duels is not only seen when she has been in possession but has been just as prominent when Durham have been on the defensive, too. In this case, Southampton Women are in the process of progressing the ball up the pitch and are looking to take advantage of the spaces that Durham have left open, with right-back Ella Morris making a typical attacking run up the far side of the field and midfielder Lucia Kendall passing the ball into her path.
In so many situations, this would have led to Morris controlling the ball and sending it forward for a teammate to get on the end of, but that would not take into account the presence of Pritchard and the speed with which she once again spots the danger and gets back to nullify the attack, with her getting ahead of Morris and preventing her from passing the ball any further up the pitch. As a result of the pressure from Pritchard, the Southampton defender ends up making a mistake and allowing Durham to clear it further up the field.
Again, without Pritchard getting back here and demonstrating that she can transfer her skills from attacking to defensive scenarios, this would have almost certainly led to a shot and potentially even a goal for Southampton. The fact that she has won 65.1% of her defensive duels so far this season shows how important she has been in bringing opposing attacks to a halt.
Potential new clubs
So far, this scout report has provided a picture of what Poppy Pritchard can offer her team around the field, both with and without the ball, and what qualities she currently offers Durham and would offer any team that wants to firm up their reported interest in her. However, the question now becomes which of those teams would be the best fit for her and which she would be best joining, which is what this section of the analysis will look to answer.
Amongst those keeping an eye on her progress is current WSL leaders Chelsea Women, and that is not surprising given that they have always been known for signing promising young players that they can develop into stars of the future, with the likes of Aggie Beever-Jones, Brooke Aspin, Lexi Potter, Wieke Kaptein and Lucy Watson among their current contingent of young stars who are either emerging into the first team or who are hoping to in future campaigns.
If Pritchard were to join that list, then it would make sense to play her in the forward line, given that that is where she plays for Durham and so it would be a good way of helping her to build up her confidence quickly. Were she to do so, she would likely play a similar role to the one that the aforementioned Beever-Jones is playing now. A comparison of the two players’ heatmaps shows how similar their profiles are when it comes to the territory that they occupy and the fact that both like to drop back to aid their teams when they are without the ball.
There are some differences, such as the fact that Beever-Jones has tended to drift into more central areas than Pritchard has, but that could be coached into her and would only add variety to Chelsea’s play, so is not a reason for them to turn down a move for her. Therefore, when considering all of this, it is clear to see why Chelsea feel that she would be a good fit for their current model.
Another of the clubs reportedly watching her is top-flight strugglers Brighton and Hove Albion Women, who have yet to find any consistency so far when it comes to performances and results.
However, that is unlikely to be why they might want to sign the Durham forward. Instead, their interest could be due to continued speculation over the future of England forward Katie Robinson, with her reputation continuing to grow and moving away from Melissa Phillips’ side constantly being mooted.
For that reason, Pritchard may be seen as a long-term replacement for Robinson due to her possessing the same pace and threat in wide areas, but what could also endear her to Phillips is that she would also be able to cut inside and give them a creative presence in central attacking areas too. This is something that Brighton have been looking for since the start of the summer as they try to provide star Norway striker Elisabeth Terland (who is the WSL’s third top scorer at this moment in time with nine goals) with more consistent goalscoring opportunities.
It did appear that they had filled that position with the signing of Sydney Women star Mackenzie Hawkesby in the summer, but she barely featured, and the fact that the Australian playmaker rejoined her former club earlier in the window suggests that something wasn’t right. Therefore, they are once again looking for someone to fit that profile, and this graphic suggests that Pritchard could be the type of player they are looking for.
The final club for whom she would be a good fit is Tottenham, who, as mentioned at the beginning of the analysis, have been busy in the market this month but will always be looking out for those players who fit former BK Häcken Dam head coach Vilahamn’s tactics.
One of the fundamental principles in his game plan has been a desire to push up the pitch and to win the ball as early as possible, which is a footballing value that he shares with men’s team equivalent Ange Postecoglou (and the two have spoken openly about their desire to work together in order to establish a whole-club style). The signing of Vinberg was made with that at least partly in mind, with this graphic indicating how many high regains she made for former club Hammarby last season as they secured a first Damallsvenskan title in 38 years.
Pritchard’s ability to win duels has already been highlighted, but the fact that Durham have the same vision when it comes to winning the ball high up the field (as shown in the graphic) has allowed her to demonstrate the high pressing mentality that Vilahamn appreciates. It is that and her ability to play a vital role in transitions that would make her a good fit for the Tottenham style of play if they did decide to make her and Durham an offer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this tactical analysis has taken a closer look at Durham Women forward Poppy Pritchard, one of the second tier’s standout players during the first half of the season, who has established herself as a future star of the English women’s game.
It is not hard to see when breaking down her qualities just why there has been so much reported interest in signing her, with Chelsea, Brighton and Tottenham the teams highlighted as perhaps the best fits for her, but Manchester United, Leicester City Women and Bristol City Women are also rumoured to be keeping an eye on her.
Whilst a move to any of those latter three is not impossible, it does seem more unlikely, given that Manchester United already have an abundance of forward line options; Leicester signed Japanese duo Saori Takarada and Yuka Momiki this month to boost their midfield and attacking ranks and Bristol will likely be searching for players with more top-flight experience as they look to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.
Wherever Pritchard ends up and whenever a transfer for her does come about, there is little doubt that she will be a success. The future of the English women’s game is safe if players like her keep emerging from the younger age groups and continue to make a name for themselves as ones to watch.
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