Why Louise Fleury has been one of the key ingredients behind Paris FC Féminines’ 2023/24 hot streak – scout report

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.