Rachel Daly: Five left-back alternatives to the Aston Villa striker for England – scout report

When Sarina Wiegman led England to Euro 2022 success at the end of last summer, many Lionesses fans felt that it was the beginning of a trophy-laden period for the team, with the Dutch coach having found the right balance in her squad selections and having assembled a side capable of taking on anyone who stood in their path.

However, whilst it is true to say that the team now has a settled look to it, there is one player that many fans would like to see alter their role, with Rachel Daly’s goalscoring form for both former club Houston Dash and current side Aston Villa Women leading to calls for her to be deployed as a centre forward and not as a full-back. Daly is a striker by trade and does currently sit joint-top of the English top flight’s scoring charts, alongside Manchester City Women’s Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, with nine goals to her name, so there is plenty of justification for those demands.

The problem with changing her role though would be how to replace her in the back line, with it likely that a new face would be favourable due to Manchester City’s Demi Stokes not being a first-choice and club teammate Alex Greenwood now playing predominantly at centre-back. With that in mind, this tactical analysis will identify five potential candidates, focusing specifically on the left-back position, given that that was where Daly played during Euro 2022. The scout report will look at why each player would fit the requirements of the position and how their addition could benefit the rest of the England team.

However, before delving into each of the players’ qualities, it is important to first gain a better picture of Daly’s on-field strengths, as that will provide a better understanding of the profile that any replacement will need to match.

What is important to point out first about this radar is that it shows Daly’s statistics as a striker and not as a full-back. However, her qualities do help her to thrive in both roles, with passing accuracy, positioning, shots per game and goal contributions important qualities to have regardless of which position she is playing in, and the fact that she ranks highly in percentile terms for all of those areas of the game means that any player who comes into the left-back role for England will need to be just as good at moving the ball around, linking up with teammates and both creating and scoring goals in the final third.

Positionally, during Euro 2022, Daly tended to move up and down the wing as needed, helping to both protect the goal area and support attacks, and this heatmap indicates how much territory she covered during each of England’s matches at the tournament. She also didn’t stay too tight to the sideline and often moved infield to get into the half-spaces, allowing her to again work with teammates to pose as big a threat as possible.

In short