With the theme of 'controlling central areas' Game Insights Analyst Katie Sorenson delves into some examples from the 2023/24 WSL season to explore how different teams are overloading central areas, and the key capabilities players might need in order to do it successfully. This might look different for each team, based on their game model; their strategy to attack and their strategy to defend. In this article, we will explore Leicester City, Liverpool FC and Manchester City Women. All 3 teams dominate central areas, but interestingly how and why they do it, are all very different!
(The graphic above depicts what we mean when we talk about the ‘central zone’. It is a square shape within the midfield 3rd of the pitch, across lanes 2, 3 and 4)
This season many brilliant young English talents broke into consistent first team football; from Aggie Beever-Jones to Grace Clinton, Khiara Keating to Jess Park. Watching the female game continue to grow in England is fantastic, as players become physically stronger, with increased technical ability on the ball and better tactical understanding. This season we have observed an exciting new tactical trend: dominating possession in central areas through overloading the central zone. Our insights show that the better teams, the teams that score more goals and win more games, are able to attempt more passes, have more touches, and receive more passes in this area of the pitch. Check out our previous blog on how Spain used central areas on their journey to World Cup success.
Leicester City Women
At the start of the 2023/24 season, Leicester City brought in the experienced Janice Cayman, who joined after 4-years at current French champions Lyon. At 35 she brought with her years of experience playing at the top level for the game including over 130 appearances for Belgium. Nicknamed ‘the Belgian knife’ due to her ability to play in multiple positions, Cayman cemented herself as a left back in Leicester’s starting 11, having previously played as a 10 or a winger for them earlier on in the season.
“My preferred position is offensive right or left as it is my training position, but I can play in defence on the right too. I think that it is important to play several positions because we learn how a striker and a defender think and what they will try to do.”
Janice Caymen - Leicester City Women
Cayman’s ability to play in many positions, made her influential in how Leicester wanted to build out from the back this season. Watching Leicester, you will see they naturally set up in a 1-4-3-3 formation, with 1 pivot, most commonly Saori Takarada this season. Cayman’s role in possession was to invert, and join Takarada in central midfield, creating a 1-3-4-3 shape, with Cayman and Takarada forming a double CDM base – this allowed Leicester’s wide players to isolate their full backs 1v1, and Leicester’s two number 10’s to get into more advanced positions in the half spaces. This made it very hard for their opponents to defend against! Cayman’s tactical understanding of where to be to help her team progress the ball up the pitch, matched with her excellent ability to pass and receive, and even move with the ball at speed up the pitch, has cemented her as an integral player in the Leicester squad. Check out the video below – can you recognise Cayman’s importance in the build phase and on transition to defend?
Liverpool Women
Gemma Bonner returned to Liverpool for a second spell at the club at the end of 2022. A familiar name to the England set up in previous years, Bonner has become a mainstay of WSL backlines previously at Chelsea and Manchester City, before a season in America with Racing Louisville. Her experience playing in a back 4 and back 3, have given her the capabilities to get on the ball with confidence, in order to help her team build play and create higher up the pitch. Under Matt Beard this season, Liverpool have preferred playing in a 1-3-5-2 formation. With attacking full backs such as Taylor Hinds and Emma Koivisto, Liverpool had a lot of success as they finished in 4th place in the league. What is intriguing to watch, is how important Bonner was to Liverpool’s style of play. The clips below highlight Bonner’s ability to get on the ball at the heart of the defence, to then be able to transition and move into a midfield role, displaying great bravery to receive under pressure with her back to goal, with an instinctive 360 awareness, which looks very different to how she receives as a central defender where she can usually see the whole pitch in front of her. Her movement into midfield sees Liverpool go from a 1-3-5-2 shape into a 1-4-4-2 shape. Bonner continues to exude calmness in receiving in midfield areas, and a great understanding of how her role might change when Liverpool lose possession of the ball. Do you have players in your team who are able to be a brilliant influence out of possession as well as in possession?
Manchester City Women
Manchester City have been known for inverting their full backs for years in the men’s game. This was commonly noticed with Oleksandr Zinchenko at left back and more recently this season, Rico Lewis at right back. Developing players who have an ability to move freely into midfield areas and recognise the right times to do it is key. Prior to managing the women’s team, Gareth Taylor was head coach of the men’s U18’s team, where he will have supported players within the youth pathway in understanding their role in and out of possession when inverting. This season, he had a plethora of full backs that were able to execute this; Layla Ouahabi, Esme Morgan, Demi Stokes, Kerstin Casparij and Laia Aleixandri.
Manchester City are well known for being comfortable in possession. In fact, they had on average 61% possession this season, and attempted the most passes per 90 (580), the highest passes and possession in the league. In order to be able to do this well, it was important to have players that were able to get on the ball all over the pitch, capable of receiving the ball in different areas and an ability to then progress the ball forwards when on to do so.
“The Club has a very similar philosophy to the way I like to play, which will help me to play to my full potential, and hopefully I can help the team. I’d say tactically I’m very intelligent and I like to play out with the ball at my feet.”
Laia Alexandri - Manchester City
Laia Aleixandri excelled this season, whether she was playing at centre back or at full back. Her ability to play multiple positions, ensured that was she comfortable getting on the ball in both wide and central areas of the pitch. On paper, Manchester City set up in a 1-4-3-3 formation, and have done so throughout the season. What is recognisable though, is the role of the full back inverting, to create a central overload and encourage build up centrally. This then allows wide players, the likes of Chloe Kelly and Lauren Hemp, to isolate their opposition full back 1v1 – any defenders’ nightmare! On some occasions, and as evidenced below, City are able to build the play through inverting both full backs at the same time. This means that City might look like they are playing in a 1-2-3-5 formation. In the clip below, we can see Alanna Kennedy and Alex Greenwood as the two defenders, with Ouahabi (LB) and Aleixandri (RB) joining Hasegawa (CDM) in midfield, allowing the 5 attacking minded players of Kelly-Angeldahl-Shaw-Park-Hemp to have some freedom in the attacking third, overloading this area against Tottenham sitting in a low-mid block. When watching the video below, can you recognise how it looks slightly different when City invert one full back, compared to when they invert both full backs at the same time?
Want to know more about how you can support your player’s confidence and ability to get on the ball in central areas, as well as improve their recognition of how to find a spare teammate? Then check out the 3 videos below:
Watch Ryan Davies’ session on encouraging players to combine and create an overload - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnTr4QOkbAE&t=20s
Watch Amy Price’s session on supporting players with finding the advantage when in an overloaded practice - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U04j7aBtuFs&t=42s
Watch our webinar on creating the attack and key skills for players to execute it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8biPN71Fn4I