The serious business is about to start. We’re now completely and entirely in the final third, directly in the forward line. There are a ton of ways wingers and forwards can impact games, but their primary duty is to help produce as many goals as they can. This is the fun stuff, and what I’ve (hopefully, we’ve) been waiting for.

If you’re new, this is a series that looks at the top-5 players at every position from the 2023 NWSL season. We’ve done goalkeepers, center backs, right backs, left backs, defensive midfielders, center midfielders and central attacking midfielders.

Now we’re onto some of the trickiest and most fun players to watch: left wingers.

5) sofia jakobsson: .26 OBV/90

Pass .14 | Dribble & Carry .13 | Defensive Action -.00 | Shot -.01

I’m a known Non-Enjoyer of Casey Stoney’s preferred approach. That doesn’t mean it’s not effective, it most certainly is, and in her relatively short coaching career she’s proved it across two continents and in two tough leagues.

It’s just that when she has elite attacking players – Christen Press & Tobin Heath at Manchester United, now Jaedyn Shaw – their potential is rarely fully unlocked. But when she has a forward that tailor made to her system, stuff like this can happen.

Stoney rarely allows her teams to attack with numbers so final third decision making is crucial. In 2023, Jakobsson’s passing was a perfect example. She only had 15 key passes, but they registered a ridiculously high .15xG per shot for a combined 2.25xG.

Unfortunately she only got one assist out of it, which was probably annoying and tremendously unlucky. One was a .23xG chance to Doniak whose strike upgraded it even further to .36 post shot xG (PSxG), but was saved by Jane Campbell, who had an otherworldly year. It wasn’t all goalkeeper heroics though, Alex Morgan (.23 & .20xG), Rachel Hill (.38xG) and Jaedyn Shaw (.18xG) squandered some quality chances.

Jakobsson’s Dribble & Carry OBV was only a smidge behind her Pass, but shows she was careful and effective at bringing the ball forward. Only 52 of her 268 carries were unsuccessful, an 80.6% success rate.

4) morgan weaver: .26 OBV/90

Pass .04 | Dribble & Carry .20 | Defensive Action .01 | Shot .01

Lol not a whole lot of mystery here. Weaver carried the ball 593 times, lost possession only 99 times, posting an 83.3% success rate.

There ya go, that’s what that looked like. Of all wingers who played a minimum of 1,000 minutes, Weaver ranked fourth in average carry length, with 7.68m (8.4 yards).

The rest is a bit disappointing. There’s no doubting that Weaver is excellent at moving the ball into and around the final third, but low numbers everywhere else (6 key passes/.39xG/.07xG per shot) suggests a need to improve final third decision making.

3) alyssa thompson: .33 OBV/90

Pass .06 | Dribble & Carry .28 | Defensive Action .03 | Shot -.04

Yung (and also eldest) Thompson was a dribbling menace her rookie season. We all know about her track star speed, but it takes a lot more skill to run this effectively with the ball at your feet.

Thompson was third in average carry length among wingers (min. 1,000 minutes), with 8.47m (9.26 yards). Basically once she got going, she’d eat up ground. The lengths of some of these carries are awesome. Being able to move extremely quickly with the ball is good imo.

Thompson’s Pass OBV is just a couple notches above Weaver’s, which was confusing to me when looking at her key passes. She hit 16 key passes, for a total of 2.66xG and .17xG per shot. Those blow Weaver’s contributions out of the water, but the answer comes in looking at her overall pass map. Thompson completed just 67.2% of her passes, suggesting she was a very high risk/high reward passer.

I also love the silliness of her shot map. There are a lot of centrally taken blocked shots and a bunch of low xG chances from wide, tight angles, all of which contributed to her negative Shot OBV.

Yet she scored four goals from 1.96xG, which is awesome, but also probably not easily replicated. Better shot selection might help her climb out of the negative numbers, and find easier finishes than the .01, .03 & .07xG chances she ended up scoring.

2) jun endo: .35 OBV/90

Pass .16 | Dribble & Carry .16 | Defensive Action -.01 | Shot .04

Brb might cry.

The soccer gods take so much from us, and by soccer gods I mean the lack of consistent injury prevention programs (IPPs) from club to country, overloaded scheduling, boots designed for male athletes made smaller and passed off as “women’s” footwear, and the overall sexism of it all.

But I’m not gonna get into all that right now, instead let’s just bask in the glory that is Jun Endo on a football pitch, doing Jun Endo things.

She carried the ball a total of 363 times and only lost possession 41 times, an 88.7% success rate. And out of all wingers with at least 1,000 minutes, Endo was third overall with 1.3 successful dribbles per 90. The combination made her an extremely difficult 1v1 matchup for pretty much any defender, and made her one of the most exciting players to watch.

Won’t lie, the number that I am confused by is her Pass OBV. It’s equal to her Dribble & Carry, but not for reasons as obvious. Her overall pass completion percentage was 71.7%, which is not a ton higher than Thompson’s 67.2. Also, Thompson had five fewer key passes (Endo, 21) but totaled a much higher xG (2.66 vs. 1.44) and xG per shot (.17 vs. .07).

It took some digging but it’s actually pretty simple. Endo’s 1.38 passes into the box per 90 was way above Thompson’s .76. So while sometimes the final passes weren’t as directly effective, Endo was constantly putting defenses under pressure by completing passes into the opposition’s box.

Although that still doesn’t tell the full story, because while 1.38 is quite good, it’s sixth among all wingers with 1,000 minutes played. The difference comes in Endo pulling it off with the lowest number of set pieces into the box than all of the top six (and in most cases, by a lot).

1) adriana: .43 OBV/90

Pass .11 | Dribble & Carry .26 | Defensive Action .01 | Shot .04

Adriana not being on the shortlist for MVP in 2023 was silly. Outrageous. Foolishness. Argue with your grandpappy, I need to speak to the manager.

Anyway, yeah, with the ball at her feet she was unstoppable.

This is 595 carries, from all over the dang pitch, at an 81.5% success rate. Also, Adriana led every single winger with over 1,000 minutes in average length of her carries, with 9.19m (10 yards). That’s a first down every time she touched the rock. That’s dope.

But y’all. Lmao. Y’ALL. Adriana was absurd at setting teammates up to shoot directly at goal.

That’s right, that 42 key passes, for 4.33xG at .10 per shot. That is simply creating approximately six-million tons of havoc, and those forty-two key passes are far and away the most from anyone on this list.

But I see you with your magnifying glass, furled brow and bowler hat, twirling the ends of your mustache and pointing out the number of corners, and how pinpoint delivery from corners is excellent but can inflate numbers. Good thing I’m onto you. Here are her key passes without corners.

Thirty-one key passes, 3.2xG, and still .10xG per shot.

But there you are again, now puffing on your corn cob pipe. Corners, you say with all the smarminess of someone wearing too much tweed, aren’t the only set pieces to factor in. Surely, you squawk, her open play numbers must reveal that your skepticism has been earned.

Lol no. From open play Adriana racked up 29 key passes, 2.77xG, and yet and still .10 xG per shot.

Your corn cob pipe explodes, steam streams from your ears and your bowler hat levitates and spins a foot above your head. Eventually you lift from the ground, then deflate and dart about in the air like a balloon expelling air. You whirl uncontrollably toward the sun until you can no longer be seen.

It is too late but at least on your departure from this plane you will have learned your final lesson: 2023 Adriana was unfuckwithable.

(bonus: her shot map is hilarious and very dear to my heart)

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