Exploring Deanne Rose's hot start with Reading FC and what the CanWNT/CanXNT can take away from it
CanWNT/CanXNT gold medallist, Deanne Rose, has gotten off to a strong start to her professional career with Reading FC. In this, I see what Canada (and Reading) should take away from that hot start.
After a summer to remember, she’s continued that good form into the new season.
And now, she’s become one of the brightest lights to shine during the 2021-2022 FAWSL season so far, even despite it being just her first professional campaign, continuing a 2021 to remember.
That, of course, is Canada’s own Deanne Rose, the 22-year-old forward who played an important role in the CanWNT/CanXNT’s historic gold medal triumph at the Olympics this past summer, and has since continued that strong form into club football.
There, despite being fresh out of college, and in just her 1st season as a professional, she’s become a star for Reading FC in England’s top flight, scoring 3 goals and adding 2 assists through her first 8 league games for her new club, which is an excellent return for the forward.
But for those who have been following Rose’s progress, that’s not all that surprising. There’s a reason why she made her Canadian debut 6 years ago at just 16 years of age, and has since then already made 61 appearances for her country, including at 2 Olympics and 1 World Cup, scoring 11 goals and winning an Olympic bronze and gold medal along the way.
After a standout college career for Florida, one where she scored 19 goals and added 9 assists in 53 games across 4 years, she’s been on an upwards trajectory for a while now, and her play at Reading this year has just been the latest example of that.
And because of that, it’s increased her profile in the National Team, where it feels like she’s on the precipice of a breakthrough, one where she’ll carve out an even bigger role for her country. That feels strange to suggest of someone who once scored in an Olympic bronze medal game for Canada at just 17 years of age (become the youngest female player at the Olympics to do so at the time), but that just shows what kind of path Rose is heading down now.
Just a look at Canada’s recent games suggest as much. After playing every game at the Olympics, but just once as a starter, Rose has now started 3 of Canada’s 4 games since then, and still featured in the other match.
So expect to see a lot more of her in the red and white going forward now. Still very young, Rose’s best days are very much ahead of her, making her a name to watch for Canada as they gear up to try and make some noise at the 2023 World Cup and then defend their crown at the 2024 Olympics.
Based on what she’s shown for Reading, Canada has a new key piece to rely on in attack, and that’s only adding to their intrigue as they continue their journey to prove that what they accomplished this summer was indeed no fluke.
Reading between the lines:
And speaking of Reading, now that Rose and her club have reached a winter break of sorts, which is just shy of the halfway mark of the campaign, this is as good as a time as any to dive into what Rose has shown in her first season as a professional.
That might not be much of a large sample size, as she’s played just 8 games in the league (along with a further 2 in the cup), but given that she’s played almost 600 minutes in FAWSL action, we can still derive plenty from that.
First, starting at surface level, there are the obvious counting stats, of course, such as goals and assists, which look pretty good for Rose, whose 3 goals and 2 assists put her tied for 10th in the league in each of those respective statistical categories.
That’s pretty impressive on its own, but especially in context, because it’s worth noting that while Rose is not only a first-year professional, she has had to spend a bit of time at full back this year, before being moved forward to a more natural winger/forward position, where she’s cemented her spot in the lineup as of late.
And when you consider that, and that she needed a few games to adjust to the pro game, her numbers look a lot more impressive, especially when you realize that all of her 3 goals and 2 assists have come in her last 5 league games, showing how red-hot her form was before this mini-break.
Thanks to that, she’s helped Reading go on a tear, going on a 5 game undefeated run over those 5 games, of which they won 4, including a statement defining 1-0 win over 20/21 league winners, Chelsea, in which Rose scored the winning goal.
As a result, that run has pushed Reading up from the bottom of the table to 8th with 13 points, sitting just 5 off of the top 4, and just 7 off the top 3 (and the Champions League qualification that comes with it).
But while Rose is certainly producing right now, the question has to be asked - is this run sustainable, or just a bit of luck?
And the nice thing about the English league is that we can dive deeper into the data to find out, as they’ve got a lot of publicly available statistical data thanks to Football Reference (FBref).
There, things look pretty good for Rose, because while she might be significantly overperforming her Expected Assist (xA) rate, putting up her 2 assists despite only generating 0.2 xA, her Expected Goals (xG) rate is a lot more reasonable, with her 3 goals coming off of 1.9 xG.
Plus, with xA typically being a more flawed stat than xG, as it depends a lot on what the player who receives the pass does with the ball, that also shows that while Rose *might* be getting lucky with the assists that she provided, more research has to be done to actually confirm if that’s the case.
So overall, there’s a lot to like with what we’ve seen from Rose in her debut campaign so far with Reading. She’s producing, and doing so at a relatively sustainable rate, which for a player just 8 league games into her pro career, is everything that you can ask for, and a bit more, from a player supposed to be dipping her toes into the water at this level.
Deanne Rose celebrates a goal with her Reading teammates (Reading FC)
Winger or Forward?
But continuing on that path, there’s a lot more still to be explored about her strong start from her statistical performance so far with Reading.
For example, I only took a quick look just at her counting numbers, as well as some of the more basic advanced stats such as xG and xA.
That can tell us plenty about a player, of course, but for those who know FBref, you might know that their site has so much more intriguing data to parse through, and that data barely scratches the tip of the metaphorical iceberg.
One feature, as an example, is their scouting report tool, which takes all players who have played over 450 minutes in a certain player pool and compares them to all other players in that pool at that position, looking at where a player stands compared to their positional peers on a per-90 basis.
But when doing so with Rose, that opens up an interesting discussion.
Due to her playing a multitude of roles with Reading, which has included full back, winger and forward, she’s got both a forward and a winger/attacking midfielder template, which means that you can see how her total numbers fare to all of the players in the FAWSL at each position.
And that’s interesting, because while it’s theoretically intriguing to look at that data with any player, for example seeing how someone like an out-and-out #9 might compare to most full backs, this is especially intriguing for Rose, who doesn’t really have a defined position for Canada, nor with Reading.
Because of that, we can use this data to see if there’s anything that she’s doing particularly excellent (or not so good) to determine if there’s a position that might be working better for her, helping give an idea of where she should be deployed to get the most out of her.
So to do that, we’ll take a look at both of her FBref scouting charts, and see if anything stands out.
And for reference, here’s her forward chart:
As well as her winger/attacking midfielder chart:
And looking at that, first, there are the offensive stats, which look good for Rose at both positions. For example, her 0.46 goals/90 and 0.29 xG/90 put her in the 86th and 72nd percentile as a forward, and 90th percentile+80th percentile as a winger, respectively, both of which show that she’s been among the best goalscorers in the league at both positions.
The same can be said for her shot-generating abilities, with her 2.32 shots/90 putting her in the 70th percentile as a forward, and 76th percentile as a winger, as well as her 0.31 assists/90, which puts her 84th percentile as a forward, and 85th percentile as a winger, which are both elite numbers.
Her xA/90 of 0.03 does let her down a fair bit, putting her in the bottom 25 percent at both positions, but she makes up for it with her 0.34 non-penalty xG+xA/90, which has her in the 61st percentile for forwards, and 66th percentile for wingers, as well as her 1.86 shot-creating actions/90, which has her in the 51st percentile for forwards, and 51st percentile for wingers, both solid numbers.
So when looking at that, you can see that she’s a very solid chance generator, one that does a good job of creating chances for herself, which certainly gives an edge to her being better as a forward than a winger.
But then, there’s the next section, which is the passing and ball progression stats, which if you dive deeper into, can give us an idea if her lower xA numbers are just bad luck, or more down to her playing style.
And there, we see some interesting data.
First, there’s the fact that she’s not completing all that many passes, sitting in the bottom 15% for both passes completed and pass completion percentage at both positions, but interestingly her 1.24 progressive passes/90 has her in the 41st percentile as a forward, versus 14th percentile as a winger, which shows that she’s not really progressing the ball via passes compared to most wingers, but doing so at a decent rate for a forward.
That doesn’t mean she isn’t progressing the ball, though, as her 4.18 progressive carries/90 and 2.47 dribbles/90 has her in 84th percentile and 93rd percentile as a forward, and 60th percentile+93rd percentile as a winger, respectively, which shows that she’s still doing a good job at getting the ball up the pitch in other ways.
Plus, she’s driving into the box at a high rate, with her 4.95 touches in the box/90 sitting in the 74th percentile for forwards and 73rd percentile for wingers, despite only receiving 5.57 progressive passes/90, which is in the 34th percentile for forwards, and 47th percentile for wingers.
What all of that shows is that she’s doing a good job of driving the ball into the box, often coming from deep, bursting runs, where she’s often generating chances of her own, which as we saw in the prior section, she’s doing at a very good rate.
Lastly, though, there are the defensive stats, and interestingly, despite having a bit of a reputation as a defensively strong winger over her time with Canada, Rose sits in the bottom 25% in all of the stats (pressures, tackles, interceptions, blocks and clearances) for wingers, and in the bottom 50% for forwards, once again pushing her towards the forward category.
So overall, when diving into all of that, what it suggests is that if you take into account all of this data, Rose’s best position at Reading has probably been as a … inside forward, at least when you put all of the pieces together.
Overall, her statistical profile looks most intriguing as a forward, as she’s proven to be a very good shot and chance generator, but what makes her a good inside forward option is that her ball progression numbers are very good, at least in terms of her ability to drive the ball up the field herself.
Because of that, it would make the most sense to put her in a role where she might not have to do the defensive or passing of a traditional winger, but still receive the ball in those deeper positions, allowing her to use those goalscoring skills.
And the good news is that Reading is recognizing that, often playing her as one of two strikers in most of their games as of late, including playing her as the inside forward in a 4-3-2-1, likely her best position based on this data, in that recent win over Chelsea.
If they keep doing that, you have to imagine that gets the most out of Rose, and based on their recent form, seeing that an in-form Rose has gotten them some good results, that makes sense.
Plus, with her still being young, she has time to work on the passing and defensive side of her game, which are usually skills that improve with time. What you can’t often teach, though, is goalscoring instincts, and considering that Rose has them in spades, it makes sense for Reading to focus on those, and then go from there.
Where to play for Canada?
And seeing that, that also gives an idea of where she can fit in for Canada, who almost conveniently, is looking for more ways to score goals.
Plus, interestingly, Canadian head coach, Bev Priestman, is realizing that, as she’s played Rose as a forward in a front two in all 3 of those starts that she’s given her since the Olympics, showing that she recognizes that is a position in which she can do damage in.
So going forward, it’ll be interesting to see if Rose keeps getting reps in that position, and if Canada even considers switching to a sort of 4-3-2-1, especially considering that the likes of Jessie Fleming, Nichelle Prince, Janine Beckie and Christine Sinclair have shown to have the chops to also play in that sort of inside forward role (although Canada would need to find an out-and-out #9, preferably one of Jordyn Huitema or Evelyne Viens).
It’d be bold, no doubt, but for a Canadian team looking to consistently score more goals, more ideas is never a bad thing, so you have to imagine that they’ll be keeping it on the table.
But either way, though, one thing is for sure, and that is that Rose needs more of an offensive role for Canada going forward.
Before, she often got her reps in as a traditional winger, mostly tasked with significant defensive responsibility, but as seen here, the keys to unlocking her talents might be to give her more of a free role.
Reading quickly learned that, and Canada is certainly starting to do so, although they certainly have more to do to get Rose on the pitch in what would look to be her ideal position.
Deanne Rose looks on during Canada’s Celebration tour this fall (Martin Bayzl/Canada Soccer)
Looking Forward:
But either way, as seen throughout her time for both Canada and Reading, no matter where Rose ends up, she’ll play a big role for her team, which is why her coaches have often trusted her with big roles.
There’s a reason why despite her young age, she’s got such a big role for Canada and Reading, and as she continues to progress, you have to imagine that her responsibility for each team will continue to grow and grow.
Hopefully, though, that can happen in her best position, especially for Canada, because as seen here, Reading has started to strike gold by doing that, so there’s no reason why Priestman’s side can’t start doing the same.
On a team filled with young up-and-coming talents, Rose’s star is shining as one of the brightest right now, and based on what we’ve seen from her first season as a professional (so far), there’s a lot to be excited about what’s still to come from her, both for club and country.