Jodie Taylor is hoping that France will underestimate England in their Women’s Euro quarter-final clash on Sunday.

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Jodie Taylor profiled – ‘Like Giroud but with pace and a great goalscoring record’

by Sylvain Jamet

Jodie Taylor recently hit a brace for England, so we thought it was about time we took a better look at her.

Arsenal’s 31-year-old forward, Jodie Taylor, is a strong and powerful striker with the same qualities as Olivier Giroud but with extra pace and a great goal scoring record.

She signed for the Gunners back in March 2016 but made her debut late in the season due to a recurring injury problem. She is a proven goal-scorer and had quite a nomadic career taking her across three different continents.

Her strengths and weaknesses are well known. Her main weakness is she unfortunately tends to pick up lengthy injuries that take time to heal and you do wonder if she properly recovered from her last one as she rarely completes 90 minutes for Arsenal Ladies or England.

When fully fit, she is the complete centre forward.

She can lead the line as a lone striker, holding the ball to bring other players in. She can win headers for midfield runner, like Jordan Nobbs, who arrive for the second ball. She can also play on the shoulder of the last defender due to her pace, and run behind any defence and outpace them.

Taylor can adapt to any team tactical configuration. If the team dominates possession and play high up the pitch, she will be roaming in the penalty area to poach a goal and finish chances.

If the team plays a counter-attacking game with a lot of space in front of her, she will be able to run at defenders.

Taylor’s club career is interesting because she does not seem to settle for a long period at any club. Most of her stints at clubs seem to last no more than two years. In that time, her record is between one-in-two to and one-in-three goals-per-game, a strike rate that any striker would be proud of.

At international level, Taylor spent many years outside the international scene despite her form as Hope Powell did not seem to be interested in accommodating her. Since Mark Sampson took over the job, Taylor has become a regular for England, playing and scoring at the World Cup 2015.

Next Nobbs curler & Taylor brace as England beat Switzerland [with goals]

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