#037 - Three observations from the WSL
Ob-xavi-ng early trends in the WSL
Hey everyone, I know it’s been a while, hope you’re all keeping well. A lot has happened since you last heard from me, some good and some bad.
With the mental health day past us in October, I wanted to reignite my insights with numbers on WoSo with this newsletter and help keep my best friend, Om Arvind’s, dream and vision alive.
If you can, please donate to this gofundme to honour his legacy in WoSo. Miss you my friend!
The 2024-25 season is well and truly underway. We are a few games deep and have begun to see some semblance of patterns across different teams. Teams are starting to morph (or not) into their managerial vision for the season and new singings have hit the ground running (or not).
Some teams are trying to find the right balance, some teams are adapting to their new manager and one team has already parted ways with their manager. It’s all happening.
Here are three early observations from the WSL season thus far
The end of Eide-ball & the problem of width
Arsenal made a lot of noise this summer, for their outgoings more than their incomings. WSL’s all time top goalscorer, Vivianne Miedema, announced her departure from the club after seven years, joining direct rivals Man City.
The Gunners tried to replace her in aggregate by signing Mariona Caldentey and Rosa Kafaji, but failed to account for one thing: the lack of true wide players in the squad. Arsenal’s squad, while talented, has a dearth of actual wide players in attack.
Among the trio of Beth Mead, Mariona Caldentey and Caitlin Foord, only one is a true winger while the other two have a tendency to drift inside. The other wide option in the squad could be that of Katie McCabe, but that’s about it.
This problem was evident in their 0-0 draw against Everton at home. Arsenal drew the game 0-0 and their attack looked toothless, creating just 0.7 xG from 21(!) shots in the entire game, highlighting the poor quality of chances they created. The reason is apparent in their passing network above.
Everton had their job cutout with Caldentey and Maanum both narrow on the left hand side and Mead operating centrally. This meant that the onus of providing width fell exclusively on the fullbacks while the forwards were all narrow, denying good quality overlaps and underlaps for creation. Emily Fox had to put a two way shift on the right flank to compensate for this and was often the only player holding width down that side.
Multiple players, despite being excellent technicians on the ball, hogging the same space denies progression opportunities as well, funneling the ball on the flanks or into the half-spaces with no outlet beyond it. All of this hurt Arsenal’s chances of getting a result in this game despit dominating possession and keeping the ball in the final third.
This problem was slightly alleviated in Arsenal’s next league game against Chelsea. The solution was to start Foord on one of the flanks. With the Australian holding widht on the left and Fox on the right, it’s wasn’t as much of an issue if Mead and Caldentey operated narrow in the game.
With Foord they now had an easy vertical outlet up front and her direct nature was another added advantage as the Gunners now had someone to run at the opposition fullback (this is how Arsenal scored in this game too). With Foord’s starting position, they could stretch Chelsea’s backline, adding inherent value to the narrow positioning of their other attackers. The former Portland Thorns winger put in an excellent defensive shift and limit Chelsea’s advances in attack too.
Arsenal created their second best xG in a single game this season against the Blues, while limiting Sonia Bompastor’s side to their joint lowest such tally in a game this season. The Gunners probably should have come away with a point here.
Arsenal have hit the reset button on Eidevall, a manager who orchaestrated some good displays, especially against the big sides domestically and across Europe.
But these two passing networks also perfectly sum up the frustrations with the Swede.
His nuanced approach often helped the Gunners put their best foot forward against the best in the world while struggling to establish a fall back mechanism for games against the lower half of the league. A pragmatic approach shines in the big games but sometimes you’ve to let your talented squad go kamikaze against sides that are practicing truce on the field.
It’s Hasegawa’s world
Missing out on a league title on goal difference is tough. Ask Gareth Taylor and Man City.
But what do you do when that happens? Well according to Man City, you sign the the highest ever goalscorer in WSL history, along with a young starlet from Japan, just to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
While goals might not be a problem for City anymore, how do you strike a balance between going gungho and being defensively astute?
Well Taylor’s answer to this conundrum is one player. Yui Hasegawa.
The Japanese midfielder is one of just two players to have played started every game for Man City this season along with Alex Greenwood. In fact, she has played the most minutes for them in the 2024-25 season.
The reason is simple. There is simply nobody like Hasegawa.
In the WSL so far, Hasegawa has been deployed alongside a combination of Vivianne Miedema, Jess Park, Jill Roord and Laura Blindkindle, thus often being the lone midfielder in a power packed attack.
This pass network from their game against Brighton, hits home this fact. The distances between Hasegawa and her midfield partners is stark. The reason is simple, it’s because her partners are often makeshift midfielders. Miedema and Park, her two most frequent partners, are attackers first (although they put in an insane shift in the midfield against Barcelona in the UWCL).
This often leaves Hasegawa to hold fort in the middle of the park and she does so with elegance. Since battling it out in midfield against Aitana and Patri at the U17 WWC in 2014, Hasegawa has been one of the most technically proficient players around. Despite her slender frame, she is excellent at shielding the ball under pressure and gliding past opposition players.
In her reinvention as the deepest midfielder, the Japanese international has excelled providing value both on and off the ball.
Her performaces against Brighton and West Ham underline all her qualities aptly. She is an all rounder in every aspect. Being the first ball out in buildup, showcasing excellent distrubution, creating chances, covering territory (lots of it) and being absolutely flawless in her challenges defensively to disrupt opposition and recover possession. This video on her performance against Brighton sums her up really well.
It’s not a stretch to say Hasegawa is one of the most complete midfielders in the world right now and arguably City’s most important player. While they have options in every other position on the field, there is nobody in the squad (and select few across WoSo) who can actually replicate what Hasegawa has been doing on the pitch for the Cityzens.
Because for City it’s all Hasegawa, it always has been! (in essence).
The She-gulls soaring high
The season is still in its nascent stages but one of the sides that have started the season on the front foot are Brighton & Hove Albion. They have 10 points from their first five games so far, more than half of what they managed in the entire league season last year.
Brighton had one of the most interesting transfer windows this summer. With their 10 transfers, they’ve added a healthy mix of youth along with experience. WSL legend Fran Kirby is plying trade next to youngsters like Bruna Vilamala and Michele Agyemang.
Under the helm of Dario Vidošić, they’ve scored in four of their five games so far and created over 1 xG against all opponents except Man City. The underlyings look alright and the results are positive too, so are the Shegulls legit?
Well it’s difficult to say but the early signs point towards them improving over their 2023-24 season despite losing the talis-woman-ic presence upfront of Elisabeth Terland, who was responsible for 50% of Brighton’s goals last term. Under Vidošić, Brighton have put forward a seemingly fluid and aggressive 3-4-3 formation, pushing their wide players forward and sometimes morphing into a back five off the ball. The idea seems to try to force opposition into mistakes high up the pitch while having numbers in defence.
Kiko Seike’s hattrick took all the limelight in the opening matchday, Fran Kirby has been creating waves popping up with goals and Nikita Parris is proving to be influential in creation again. The young duo of Vilamala and Agyemang have also proven to be quality both bagging a goal each so far. The former particularly has impressed with her two way performances.
The Spanish youngster scored a goal from a giveaway at the back against Crystal Palance but has been a bright spark in attack, while also helping out defensively. Starting on the out wide in their front three, Vilamala has shown her shooting skills, her ability to be an outlet and her proficiency on the ball while being an aggressive front foot presser for Vidošić’s side.
The mixture of youth and experience is evident when you look at the top performing players for the club this season. One such integral veteran this season has been Vicky Losada. The dynamism in midfield becomes vital in a back three and Losada is capable of providing just that.
In the same game against Crystal Palace, the 33-year-old midfielder showcased her dynamism in that role. The balance and the link between the defence and attack hinges a lot on the performance from the midfielder in a back 3. Losada has been impressive almost every time in the execution of it.
The midfielder has the range in her passing, is astute defensively with her positioning plugging holes on the field and serves as an excellent option for progressing play. While injuries have never been kindto her, a fit Losada looks vital in steering how Brighton want to fly this season.
Brighton’s performances in the month of October earned Vidošić the manager of the month award. Despite a positive start, I remain cautiously optimistic of Brighton partly because I feel the squad might need some more reinforcements to fullfill the managerial vision.
But for now the Shegulls are soaring high!
Let’s make nutmegs great again!
Ainoa Gomez, that’s nasty!
Until next time with an overview on WoSo teams across Europe!