Lina Hurtig at Juventus Women and Sweden 2021/2022
Lina Hurtig has been one of Sweden’s best attacking players during the last two seasons based on her performances both at Juventus Ladies and on the Swedish national team. Before Hurtig came to Juventus 2020, Hurtig played for a number of Swedish teams since the age of 15. Her first experience started with Gustaf’s GoIF where she scored 14 goals and made four assists in 20 games. Such achievements gave her a move to a bigger team like Umeå IK where she stayed for a little more than four seasons and scored 24 goals in 88 matches.
After the team was relegated from Damallsvenskan, Hurtig went to one of the most successful Swedish clubs, Linköping, a team where Hurtig further improved his skills and showed his talent in the best way, which aroused interest from many European teams like Juventus after winning. the Damallsvenska title 2017 and set up some excellent achievements from 2017 to 2020.
Hurtig started to get playing time in an uneven way at Juventus under Rita Guarino during the initial period in the Serie A club, but then she started to convince everyone with her skills and the addition she gives in the attacking phase. Therefore, she almost got a starting place in the team’s lineup and even when she did not start matches, she was always suspended during the second half to give a little extra attacking depth. She lifted the 2021s Serie A Ladies title with Juventus and now she is looking forward to reaching an advanced stage with her team in the UEFA Women’s Champions League under the leadership of Joe Montemurro.
Hurtig’s contribution to her national team has already been excellent, considering that her international journey began with the Swedish U17 team in 2011, before she lifted the UEFA Women’s Under-19 Championship 2012 with the Swedish U19 team. Later in 2014, she was called to represent the Swedish senior team for women with which she participated in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup and took the bronze medal before finishing second at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
In this article on tactical analysis, we will highlight Hurtig’s main skills, strengths and attacking abilities that allow her to shine both in Juventus and with the Swedish national team. The scout report will also include an analysis of the player’s goal-scoring style and her various attacking roles.
Positions and roles
Hurtig can play different attacking roles because she became experienced in starting games with different positions and therefore also distinct roles. For example, she is actually Sweden’s striker, a position that fits her physical characteristics perfectly because she has a good height of 1.80 meters. Playing as a striker means that Hurtig can be more central and engage in duels with center-backs, either to win the ball for himself or to provide passes to the players who come from behind and therefore function as a “station”.
In addition, such a close position to the goal Quick gives the ability to use her finishing skills perfectly because she often gets opportunities to shoot from inside the box when she is a striker. In addition, most posts are played towards the center where the striker is always waiting for the ball, and therefore her height is used when she receives posts and tries to nod towards the goal. Quick statistics in this respect are generally good, with 54% of the air duels won, 45.3% won the duels and 38% won offensive duels. With that said, Hurtig can improve her cuts further if she wants to become a more clinical player in the penalty area.
At Juventus, Hurtig was tried as a striker during some matches but then she was hired as a left-hander by Guarino. This position was further confirmed during Joe Montemurro who has constantly used Hurtig as a left rider, a position that is not strange for the player who used to play according to this plan even during her game in Linköping.
Unlike the striker position, playing as a left-hander means more running and more defensive tasks compared to strikers. Therefore, Hurtig is obliged to defend more and withdraw more, as you can see in this heat map.
At the same time, the Swedish national team player often tries to advance on the edge and cross for her teammate when she is a left rider because she is not necessarily asked to score goals but rather give support to one of the playing strikers, Cristiana Girelli or Andrea Stašková. Both of these players have an advantage on Hurtig for the attacking spot and that is why Montemurro chose to use Hurtig on the left wing to use her physical and technical strengths, knowing that the player can be of great help in the attack for his Juventus.
And so far, his tactical plans have proved successful as Juventus are actually at the top of Serie A as they have qualified for the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-finals with Bayern Munich, Paris Saint Germain, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Lyon and Wolfsburg.
Score
In terms of goals, Hurtig has been one of Serie A’s best attacking players this season. She had 49.2% shots on goal with an xG of 0.36. It is true that this figure can be improved, but we must keep in mind that she does not actually play as a striker and that she does not get 90 minutes per game regularly. Still, this 2021/2022 could be one of Hurtig’s best seasons in terms of number of goals and assists if she continues her good form and avoids injuries until the end of the season.
As you can see above, Hurtig is already on track to reach its previous season’s figures even though we are still in the first half of 2021/2022. This would mean that Hurtig can double her numbers this season if she continues to get regular playing time at Juventus and Sweden. More importantly, Juventus qualifying for an advanced stage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League knockout phase will be fundamental to Quick in terms of matches played and goals scored. And let’s not forget that this summer will also include UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, a competition where Sweden and Hurtig will surely be present.
Speed can be extremely important in air duels because she knows how to get rid of markings and directs her nods with great precision to the desired angle. She has already scored many goals in this way and perhaps one of the most recent and excellent goals is what was scored against the United States in the 2020 Olympics.
In addition, Hurtig knows how to make the best use of intersections by asking for the ball and running immediately to meet the ball in the right place while getting rid of the marking. In this regard, a player who constantly asks for the ball should know how to handle the different situations when he receives the ball under pressure from defenders. Hurtig is very good at making her final decision and at choosing how to shoot and at what angle. The speed of such decisions and the intelligence to make a decision when he runs to meet the ball is what makes Hurtig a fantastic goal scorer.
For example, in the above action, Hurtig chose a volley because she was heavily marked even though she asked for the ball in a forward position. Taking the vault while still not reaching that location enabled her to coordinate her body properly to shoot with force and conviction as soon as she reached the desired location.
Hurtig can also escape from the marking by placing herself on the far post on purpose to act as if she does not intend to take part in the action. This can sometimes leave her without a defender close to her, especially when these players do not expect a long cross from Hurtig’s teammates. But when such crosses reach Hurtig, the latter often uses such opportunities with great determination to score goals. In the following example, she was waiting for her teammate’s cross and when she saw it coming towards her in the far post, she prepared for a volley in the final seconds and executed it excellently, scoring Juventus’ first goal of that match.
Playmaking
Although it is not her main role, Hurtig has been excellent lately when it comes to playmaking, especially when she was hired as a left winger. She has 76.4% in terms of passing precision and she provided four assists this season. It is also expected that the Swedish player would contribute even more in terms of assists.
Hurtig’s ability to cross and give precise passes with her weaker foot helped her a lot when she played on the left wing because her markers often do not expect her to do so. She gave many consistent passes with her left foot as in this example where she could cross the ball when she was in a complicated position. Still, she managed to give a correct cross to her teammate who was inside the box and who scored the goal.
Quick provided many other key passes and assists from the left wing, mainly with the help of his left foot and not only in Juventus but also with his national team, as you can see below.
Her assist also includes another type of passing that is primarily related to her striker and “station” role. Utilizing her very good length can also be done through assists and mainly nods. That’s why we saw her play very well with her back to goal to give players coming from behind with excellent passes, so they can shoot without even controlling the ball, as in this example.
Conclusion
Hurtig is already one of Sweden’s best attacking players and she can improve further in terms of goals, game creation and being more clinical overall. She will have the opportunity to shine further during UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 in England and perhaps with excellent performances she will have the chance to move to an even bigger European club.
