View: Martha Thomas shines in absence of Tottenham Women captain Beth England
It is never easy to fill the boots of a striker as good as Beth England, yet that is exactly what Tottenham Women ace Martha Thomas has been doing this season.
Brand-new Tottenham Women head coach Robert Vilahamn has been a breath of fresh air since his arrival, making an impressive start to life at the club, both in terms of performances and results.
After a poor season last time out, throughout which they flirted with relegation before eventually finishing ninth, Vilaham has led the north London side to fourth place in the WSL after six games, having lost just once.
As impressive as this is, it is safe to say that the Swede wouldn’t have been able to make the start to life in England that he has without Scottish striker Thomas, who was signed from Manchester United on deadline day.
When it was revealed just before the season got underway that Beth England was set for a long spell on the sidelines, many would have feared the worst. However, Thomas quickly eased those fears.
While her debut goal at Stamford Bridge during Spurs’ 2-1 defeat to last season’s champions Chelsea was nothing more than a consolation at the time, in the long run, it proved to be the start of an impressive vein of form for the Scotland international.
Thomas would go on to score in each of her first six games for the club, which leaves her top of the WSL scoring charts with six goals at the time of writing. While those surface-level numbers make for impressive reading, it is the underlying stats which will impress supporters even more.
As per fbref, the 27-year-old is among the top eight per cent of her positional peers in the WSL so far for the number of goals she has scored (1.00 per 90), the number of shots she has taken (4.35 per 90), the number of those shots which have been on target (2.34 per 90), and finally the number of goals she has scored per shot on target she has had (0.43 per 90).
While those numbers are to be expected for a striker who is on a good run of form, Thomas’ output elsewhere is equally as impressive. She also finds herself in the top eight per cent of WSL forwards so far this season for her pass completion rate over a short distance (83.3 per cent per 90) and the number of key passes she has made (1.34 per 90).
She is no slouch on the ball either, ranking in the top eight per cent for the number of take-ons she has attempted so far this season (3.18 per 90), while also making herself a constant nuisance in the opposition half, ranking in the top eight per cent for the number of touches she has made in the attacking penalty area (6.36 per 90) and the number of progressive passes she has received (8.36 per 90).
Her goalscoring run did come to an end recently, which coincided with the goals drying up for Spurs. She has drawn blanks in her previous two games, during 1-1 draws with Everton Women and Liverpool Women, although it is not for a lack of trying.
As per Sofascore, in her most recent outing against the Reds, she saw two shots blocked while shooting wide on another occasion, while against Everton she had four shots on target and missed one big chance, as she found herself up against an inspired Courtney Brosnan who made ten saves and earned a 9.5 match rating for her heroics.
Six consecutive games is an impressive goalscoring run and it was always going to be hard for Thomas to keep that up, but the positive for Vilahamn is that she is still generating opportunities and the goals will inevitably return as long as the chances keep coming.
After such an impressive start to the season, many might now be wondering how England gets back into this team, a thought which would have seemed ridiculous at the start of the season.
In other Tottenham news, Fabrizio Romano has provided an update on the club’s January plans.