Scout Report: Mathilde Bourdieu
With these scout reports I aim to provide a clear picture of a player who has caught my eye, using straightforward language to offer an honest assessment of their strengths and weaknesses at the time of writing. Today, I will focus on Mathilde Bourdieu.
Background
Born: 15/04/99 (23 years) / Position: Striker / Height: 5ft 4in / Foot: Right
Mathilde Bourdieu is a 23-year-old striker playing for Paris FC in the French top division. This 2021/22 season has been a breakout campaign. She has appeared in 17 league games, starting 13, scoring a career-best six goals and assisting two to help Paris qualify for the Champions League. Outside of Lyon and PSG, only three players have scored more: Clara Mateo, Katja Snoeijs and Lena Petermann.
What makes this more impressive is that Bourdieu has come back from serious injury. She ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during a friendly in summer 2020. Between that and the pandemic, she didn’t play for 18 months. She began this season with strapping around her left knee and was gradually eased back with substitute appearances. Now she is spearheading the Paris attack, and her form was rewarded in February with a call-up to the France Under-23s for friendlies against England.
Bourdieu has been used on the wing in the past, but her best role is striker. This is where she plays every week for Paris, and where her future lies. I will review her game with that in mind, breaking the report into three sections: Build-up (hold-up and link play); Creating (passing, dribbling, runs); and Scoring (shooting, movement in the box, finishing chances).
Overview
Build-up play
Bourdieu is an effective target for direct balls. Her first touch is good and she is able to hold the ball well under pressure. She is stronger than her physical appearance suggests and is excellent at shielding the ball, backing into defenders and using her arms to pin them before laying off to teammates, or rolling the defender.
All in all, her hold-up play is brilliant. Top centre-backs like Kadeisha Buchanan and Paulina Dudek have endured difficult afternoons trying to manage her in physical tussles. Despite lacking the height to win aerially, Bourdieu’s physicality, tenacity and control means the ball sticks if it is played at her body or along the ground. She is the 10th-most fouled player in the French top flight (Wyscout), and that’s mostly through these back-to-goal situations, where so many defenders fail to handle her.
Her style is geared more towards running behind or holding onto the direct ball. She rarely moves between the lines. Every now and then she comes short, sometimes through a double movement (threatening to run the channel before peeling off). But the truth is that she thrives on physical contact, where she knows where the defender is. She is not so comfortable in space between the lines, often waiting for the ball to arrive at her feet and making it easy for defenders to intercept her.
Bourdieu is adept at bringing teammates into play. She can lay off with accuracy to either side, using the inside or outside of her right boot, or her left foot. A selfless striker, she plays well with teammates close by, combining in tight spaces with quick one-touch play, and is developing a good relationship with the Paris №10 Gaetane Thiney.
Creating
Bourdieu rarely looks for the ball between the lines and tends to keep things simple, laying off to teammates close by. She can chip the ball over the top, but she hasn’t shown the incision to play tight through passes, nor the range to spread play to the far side and bring in an overlapping full-back or winger. However, once in behind she does cross well from the by-line, and is always looking to cut back to teammates in better positions.
She is blessed not only with speed, but a good change of pace. In counter-attacks, when there is space or she is out wide, she will push and run. Defenders find it tricky to challenge her, because she can knock it past them and accelerate. A direct runner, she doesn’t do so well in tighter spaces, with multiple defenders nearby. She lacks trickery and her close control can falter after three or four small touches.
Bourdieu’s best attributes are her runs in behind. Her movement on the last line is very clever. She plays off the shoulder, gets blind side of defenders, and does a good job of timing her runs or bending them to beat the offside trap. With a non-stop work ethic, she always offers an option in the channel, and she has a burst of pace which helps her beat defenders to the ball.
It’s worth noting that a lot of teams in the French top flight play with a back three. Montpellier use it rigidly, while teams like Bordeaux, Fleury and Issy have also been known to use it. There isn’t much space to run through these back lines, but Bourdieu is nonetheless a consistent threat thanks to her speed, anticipation, timing, and endeavour. It’s possible that in other leagues with more back fours, her runs could prove even more fruitful.
Scoring
Bourdieu doesn’t need to be asked twice to shoot. She is quick when opportunities present themselves, getting shots away from half-chances, and is able to generate decent power with her right foot, though not so much her left. Her accuracy is good from the edge of the penalty box, though she does need to improve her decision-making. Sometimes she tries speculative shots when a better idea would be to pass, build the attack up a bit more and get herself into the box.
Inside the penalty area, her speed off the mark helps her to get ahead of defenders. She can hold back before accelerating to beat defenders to the cross. However, her movement in the box is something she can improve. Her runs are too straight — there isn’t enough deception to lose her marker — and she often hits her spot early, before the ball is played in, which makes it easier for the defender to see her coming and stop her getting a shot away. Also, generally she just isn’t sharp enough to hit scoring positions.
Paris don’t play a lot of crosses, but even when they do Bourdieu is too often away from the goal. She could be more alert and single-minded, to give herself a chance of attacking the cross. Right now she is a threat in transitions or when there is space behind for her to exploit, but finds packed penalty boxes are more difficult to navigate.
Bourdieu is a decent finisher and can score with either foot, though she is not a threat in the air and can struggle with time to think. One-on-one she has missed opportunities because her finish has been straight at the goalkeeper, or at a good height to save. She doesn’t always possess the composure to pick out the bottom corner, particularly running through on the left. It is possible that she is still regaining her confidence in front of goal after a long spell out with injury.
It’s noteworthy that, of her six goals this season, half have been right-footed thunderbolts from difficult angles, near the edge of the box and often with defenders obscuring her view of goal. She has a knack for scoring out of nothing, but must become more clinical with the easier chances.
Summary, comparison, and predictions
Bourdieu is an old-fashioned Number 9 with excellent hold-up play, speed and clever runs behind the defence. She offers a good direct outlet, and is dangerous on the counter-attack. A selfless player, she is effective when working in combination with nearby teammates and is aware to set up others. She also has a good work ethic defensively, closing down from the front.
She has the qualities to do a good job in different systems, but I think she plays best as the lone striker in a 4–3–3. I imagine that Bourdieu would really come to life in teams who build the attack through the middle, with one or two attacking midfielders running off her, or supplying her with through balls. She can play for France, and has elements of the striker profile that national team manager Corinne Diacre tends to like (strong, hard-working, can hold the ball up).
Comparison: Beth England (Chelsea). Physicality, speed, work rate, strength with back to goal, clever runs. But to reach England’s level, the highest level, Bourdieu must focus on her movement inside the penalty area to get herself into more scoring positions and become a true ‘fox in the box’.
Games watched: Bordeaux (H), substitute 40 minutes. Montpellier (A), started 60 minutes. Lyon (H), started 63 minutes. Issy (H), started 80 minutes. Guingamp (A), started 74 minutes. Fleury (H), started 95 minutes. PSG (H), started 86 minutes. Montpellier (H), started 72 minutes.
Thank you for reading! If you want to get in touch with me, please do so at blairn22@googlemail.com or on Twitter @thesecondball.
