Le Tissier's season in numbers as boss earmarks her as future captain

Friday 31 May 2024

Maya Le Tissier can be a future captain of Manchester United, boss Marc Skinner has said.

Skinner was speaking to the club’s media channel as he reflected on a season in which United won the Women’s FA Cup.

???? "She defends with her heart and soul." ????❤️

The boss has plenty of praise for our rock solid defender, @MayaLeTissier in his end of season review ????#MUWomen

— Manchester United Women (@ManUtdWomen) May 30, 2024

Le Tissier has been an ever present for the side and was named joint players' player of the season.

Last week she was elevated into the full England side for their next Euro qualifiers against France.

"She's an incredibly gifted footballer," said Skinner.

"Great mentality, great personality, wants to win everything she does, so competitive. She has the potential to be a future captain for Manchester United, I have no doubt about that, and is someone that will take on responsibility.

"From my perspective, to have her in the team, for the array of passes she has, she's like a quarterback. She can build from deep, she can find inventive passes, creative passes, she can feed the forwards, but she defends with her heart and soul."

Those crossfield pings ????

???? @MayaLeTissier #MUWomen || @WhoScored pic.twitter.com/CtCbwQn4Gu

— Manchester United Women (@ManUtdWomen) May 22, 2024

Le Tissier led the league in accurate long passes this season when she played a total of 1,980 minutes for the side.

"The reason Maya plays every minute is she deserves to play every minute.

"If she dips a tiny percent in her performance, she wants to get better and better and better. "Every day at training she stays out and does extras. That's the type of person that develops a culture. So I'm pleased as a manager that we identified her and brought her to the club because I think she will be a huge part of the club for many years."

The 22-year-old has signed a contract extension.

Le Tissier's Season in Numbers

Passing is one of Le Tissier big strengths, according to the season statistics, and she consistently ranks among the best in the WSL in different aspects of this area when compared to other defenders.

Le Tissier led the league in the number of accurate long balls she played this season with 155.

Although that is also a reflection of the amount of game time she had, she also topped the charts on a per 90 minute basis.

She has more touches than 90% of players in her position of centre back, which is also reflected in the number of fouls she wins which also ranks her in the top echelons of defenders, and creates more chances than 76% of them.

Her discipline is shown by the fact she only picked up one yellow card all season.

Le Tissier's defensive statistics do not rank as highly among her peers as passing, although generally she outperforms 60% of players in her position.

Over the season, her ability to recover the ball outperforms 90% with 131, and winning 25 aerial duels is better than 72.3%.

Unsurprisingly given where she plays, you are very unlikely to find her trying to beat opponents by dribbling past them. She made only three successful dribbles all season.

Data from Fotmob.com.

Goals: 2
Shots: 19
Shots on target 3
Assists: 1
Minutes played: 1,980
Matches: 22
Started: 22
Yellow cards: 1
Red cards: 0

Passing

Successful passes: 1,351
Accuracy: 83.3%
Accurate long balls: 155
Long ball accuracy: 48.6%
Chances created: 9
Successful crosses: 5
Cross accuracy 50%

Defending

Tackles won: 17
Tackles % success: 70.8
Duels won: 63
Duels % success: 51.2
Aerial duels won: 25
Aerial duels % success: 46.3
Interceptions: 18
Blocked: 1
Fouls committed: 11
Recoveries: 131
Possession won final third: 3
Dribbled past: 13

Possession

Successful dribbles: 3
Dribble success: 60%
Touches: 1,857
Touches in opposition box: 16
Dispossessed: 5
Fouls won: 12

Pictured top: Manchester United Women's X account welcomed news of Maya La Tissier being promoted to the England squad.