Analysis of WSL champions Chelsea’s win over Manchester City in the FA Women’s Cup Final. City’s narrow pressing City pressed Chelsea’s buildup with quite a narrow focus in the front line thanks to the indenting of the wingers in their 4-3-3. Chelsea built up with a back three of Bright, Nouwen and Eriksson when they […]
Analysing Spain v Japan from the first matchday of this year’s SheBelieves Cup. Spain’s possession game Spain dominated the game from the early proceedings with their strong possession game against the 4-4-2 mid-block of Japan. In particular, the impressive distribution of centre-back Andrea Pereira helped Spain to break through the midfield pressing of Japan on […]
Lyon won a fifth consecutive Champions League title, making it seven in total, as they defeated Frauen-Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg in San Sebastian. Lyon’s right side dynamics Lyon had the better of proceedings in the first half, being more effective in possession than Wolfsburg and creating most of the breakthroughs. As a result they went in […]
Guardiola once again looked to utilise an asymmetric buildup scheme in attempting to break down the 5-3-2 defensive shape of Leicester. Mendy provided the width on the left side with his overlapping runs, while Walker at right back played very much as an inverted fullback in the right halfspace as Mahrez held the width on […]
Man City and Chelsea met for a WSL title clash which evolved into an entertaining and chaotic affair as well as featuring some interesting tactical aspects. Chelsea’s asymmetric roles in buildup Perhaps the most interesting of these aspects was in Chelsea’s buildup play, as they broke from their initial 4-4-2 shape to form some interesting […]
“If you are active from the centre, it can breathe life into the whole game. Because you are the link between defence and attack. I enjoy playing there. I think you’ve seen that against Dusseldorf” – Julian Brandt Brandt’s role in central midfield in Dortmund’s 3-4-3 (or 3-4-3-0?) was a key part of their possession […]
A review of England’s performance against the Netherlands and Switzerland as they went on to finish third in the inaugural UEFA Nations League finals. Netherlands 3-1 England (AET) England build-up disrupted by Netherlands man-oriented pressing England under Southgate remain committed to trying to establish game control with a clean build-up game from the back, moving […]
Wolves, while slightly fortunate to get the draw against Manchester City, gave a good account of themselves with a less passive defensive plan than other teams have attempted to use against City. The newly promoted side in their 5-4-1 defensive shape attempted to defend in a mid-block rather than be forced back into their own […]