Why are France losing one of the best deep-lying playmakers in Europe in Amandine Henry – scout report

Amandine Henry is a French international player who has been in the world of football since 2004. She is a veteran player who is 33 years old at the moment and who has been very useful for the teams she played at and especially at Olympique Lyonnais where she put on the best of her performances and was at her peak.

She started her career at Hénin-Beaumont for one season before moving to CNFE Clairefontaine and then to Lyon for a long spell from 2007 until 2016, the year in which she moved to the NWSL and the Portland Thorns. Henry came back from her American dream after a year, joining PSG on loan for one season prior to getting back to her home, Lyon, from 2018 until the present. She is more likely to finish her career at Lyon since she has already been one of their legends, having won almost everything with them, including 13 Division 1 Féminine titles, seven Coupe de France feminine, and more importantly, seven UEFA Womens Champions League titles.

Henry’s achievements and performances were overlooked at the French national team mainly by Corinne Diacre who apparently had an issue with Henry and excluded her from participating with the team starting from Euro 2022 during which Henry was not included in the list. Therefore, the question that we will try to answer in this article is: Will France lose Henry in the upcoming tournaments?

This tactical analysis scout report will try to answer this question by assessing Henry’s footballing abilities, her skills as a midfielder and what differentiates her from other midfielders, without forgetting to explore her roles and position at Lyon and how she fits their tactics.

Position and roles

Henry’s main and natural position is defensive midfield. She usually plays as the team’s defensive midfielder just in front of the defence according to the 4-3-3 formation. And at times she also plays as a right or a left defensive midfielder, making a midfield duo with Lindsey Horan in a 4-2-3-1 formation. This position suits Henry’s characteristics very well since she has the physical abilities needed to absorb the opposing high pressing and contribute heavily in the build-up phase.

Moreover, her excellent passing skills and accuracy allow her to play the role of a deep-lying playmaker perfectly, providing key passes regularly and contributing in the attacking phase so often, either with progressive and key passes or with shots from distance as well. The following pizza map highlights Henry’s unique passing abilities and confirms what we have just mentioned regarding her role as a creative midfielder who pulls the strings while not advancing too often and playing in front of the defence.

At the same time, Henry can be physical enough and win in duels and especially in aerial duels. It is true that in the map Henry’s goal contribution stats do not match her expected goal contribution, yet that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t provide key passes regularly. In addition to these abilities, what characterises Henry and differentiates her from other defensive midfielders is her outstanding shooting abilities, and perhaps what showcased this shooting efficiency to the world of women’s football is her historic goal from distance against Barcelona during the 2021/2022 UEFA Women’s Champions League final.

Playmaking

In terms of playmaking, Henry can be considered one of the best in Europe in this regard since she is an excellent passer. Her passing accuracy equals 84% and 71.4% in terms of passes towards the final third, which is an excellent statistic. She is experienced enough to avoid pressing and deal with it without getting confused in midfield. She often plays in a simple way and doesn’t overcomplicate things because she knows that she plays in a delicate area in which errors cost too much. That’s why we see her playing with one or two touches when she is under pressure but without giving wrong passes.

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