When the NWSL announced that one of the two expansion sides entering the league in 2024 would be Utah Royals, there was a significant outpouring of joy among the fanbase at the return of a franchise that had last graced the division in 2020. There was also a strong sense of wonder at what Utah could look like on the field from a tactical point of view, with some questioning if they would be able to provide the success that the last iteration of the club had seemed capable of delivering had it been allowed to continue.
Whilst there may well be moments for them to celebrate in the years ahead, Utah’s first campaign back in action has not gone to plan so far as they have incurred 10 defeats from their opening 12 matches and currently prop up the rest of the table. There is an understanding that the club is building from scratch and so will need time to get back into the rhythm of life in the NWSL, but it has also been pointed out that football is a results business and that the Royals have worryingly not been able to get them to date.
With that in mind, this tactical analysis will look at what has been going wrong for them so far and will highlight the reasons for their struggles, but will also show why things are not all bad and that there is no need for drastic action just yet.
Attack
When looking for a coach to lead the team’s re-integration into the NWSL, Utah Royals’ owners selected former USA forward Amy Rodriguez, who had performed with distinction for them in her playing days and who knew what was expected of the club from those who follow and support them. From her first day in the role, it was clear that she had a desire to reinstate the “Royals DNA” of old, which was based around regaining the ball at speed and controlling the tempo of their matches, and there has been evidence that her players are buying into that philosophy.
However, what has been just as clear is that it will take time for them to implement Rodriguez’s tactics faultlessly, with them possessing the basic ingredients such as moving the ball around the pitch in transition but lacking the speed of thought needed to make their chances count. That is shown clearly in this situation, with Dutch midfielder Dana Foederer feeding the ball into the path of wide attacker Paige Monaghan and expecting the return pass, but never receiving it. Instead, Monaghan held onto the ball for a fraction of a second too long and then failed to find Foederer when she did look to release the ball, with Chicago Red Stars’ Taylor Malham preventing the two from connecting.
Quickening the pace in moments such as this will be vital against any side in the NWSL but is especially critical against Chicago due to them being a lot more robust and defensively organised under former Jamaica head coach Lorne Donaldson, and teams who come up against them quite simply have to take their chances as and when they arrive as they will otherwise be cut out. Therefore, holding onto the ball in the manner that Monaghan did here will only make it harder for Utah to turn this promising opportunity into anything, and it is this slight hesitation at key moments that has been largely to blame for the Royals only finding the net on six occasions so far (an average of 0.5 per game).
It is not the only time that Utah have shown themselves to be lacking in the pace that Rodriguez wants to see them play with though, with their build-up play and multiphase situations also lacking the zip required. In this case, the Royals had managed to regain possession inside their own third and had instantly looked to construct a counterattack, which initially started well as the ball moved beyond the halfway line and Houston Dash scrambled to get back.
It is at this stage though that Utah see the momentum that they had built up until now drain away, with the ball at the feet of France midfielder Amandine Henry and her needing former Portland Thorns striker Hannah Betfort, who is positioned ahead of her, to make a run towards the Houston back line and to give her a passing option in the space beyond it. However, Betfort doesn’t recognise that and instead stays relatively close to the ball, meaning that Houston do not need to work as hard to contain her and so can focus on winning the ball back, as former Canada midfielder Sophie Schmidt looks to do here.
It is important to note that the attack itself doesn’t end here, with Henry managing to find Monagham with an aerial pass into the middle of the pitch and she is able to get a shot away at goal, but they don’t have the same time and space that they could have had if they had retained their momentum. Therefore, whilst they have seen 56.9% of their counterattacks lead to a shot on goal, there is no escaping from the fact that they are still missing the speed of thought required at times, and that is the key point to take away from this.
However, there are other reasons that Utah have struggled in attack on their return to the NWSL, with something else that has caused them plenty of problems being their players not anticipating what each other will do and so not reacting to passes until it is too late. This is a prime example of how wasteful that has made them at times, with Ally Sentnor working hard to get around the Chicago back line and to then pull the ball back into the space that has been left open, but Foederer doesn’t seem to read her intentions and so doesn’t move to control the ball when it is sent in her direction.
As a result, Henry is forced to backtrack in a circular motion in order to rescue the pass and to keep the attack alive, but this additional phase means that the Red Stars have been able to not only read what is happening but to once again set up to limit its effectiveness. As a result, Henry might have been able to control the ball here but she then had no clear route through to the goal, whereas Foederer had a gap ahead of her and could have taken Chicago by surprise. Therefore, when looking at why Utah are struggling to find the back of the net on a consistent basis, this too has to be factored into the equation.
Defence
Things have not been much better when it comes to Utah Royals’ defensive play, with them at times too open and therefore making themselves so easy to beat, and this is something that Rodriguez and her staff will have to pay special attention to if they are to recover from their poor start and to avoid still being at the foot of the table when the regular part of the season ends in early November.
There are in many ways similar themes running throughout the Royals’ play, with the lack of communication and delayed reactions highlighted already in this scout report prominent inside their own half too. In this case, Spanish defender Ana Tejada has given the ball away loosely and has allowed Michelle Cooper to launch an attack before Canada’s Zoe Burns can reach the ball, and that then gives Kansas City Current the advantage as they get onto the front foot.
The problem comes though once centre-back Lauren Flynn moves out in an attempt to slow Cooper’s progress down, with her then out of position and needing those behind her to also shift across and to ensure that the gaps that have become apparent are filled. However, Tejada doesn’t and instead combines with former Current defender Kate Del Fava to marshal the threat of Brazil playmaker Debinha. As a result, she leaves Vanessa DiBernardo to Henry, but that message didn’t seem to get across and DiBernardo was given the freedom of Salt Lake City to break into the space between Tejada and Flynn and to turn Cooper’s pass towards goal.
Kansas City might not have scored from this opportunity, but it was a clear warning sign for Utah that they do need to work more with each other in order to prevent cheap chances like this from coming about, and it is certainly not difficult to see when breaking down the lack of cohesion in their play why they have so far let in 21 goals, averaging 1.75 per game.
Their desire to press forward and to win the ball early has not aided matters, with them looking to play as high up the field as possible but then leaving themselves too exposed and so allowing opponents to play through them with relative ease. In this case, Racing Louisville have instigated one of the fast transitions that they have become so well-known for this season and have seen the ball travel from Taylor Flint into the feet of fellow midfielder Savanna DeMelo.
It looks at that point that Utah have set up in a way that prevents the ball from moving behind them, but both Monaghan and left-back Madison Pogarch have their eyes firmly on DeMelo and so have not noticed the presence of right-back Lauren Milliet higher up the field. That proves to be their undoing in the end, with DeMelo feeding the ball between the two Royals players and allowing Milliet to then cross the ball into the middle under little pressure, where Nigeria forward Uchenna Kanu heads it into the back of the net.
It is moments like this that will leave Rodriguez really frustrated, regardless of the constant messages about them learning and being at the start of a long process, because defending these situations simply comes down to players being aware of their surroundings and of protecting themselves against all eventualities. In this case, Utah failed to do that and paid the price, and it is not the only time that they have seen a goal come about that could have so easily been avoided.
The other thing that has not helped their cause is that they do have a tendency to take unnecessary risks inside their own third, with goalkeeper Mandy Haught particularly guilty of this and inviting pressure from their opponents through almost trying to be too clever. On this occasion, Haught had received the back pass from Tejada and had Kansas City forward Temwa Chawinga (sister of on-loan PSG Féminine and fellow Malawi international Tabitha) for company, and what she needed to do was to either move the ball into Flynn, who was waiting in the middle of the goal area, or to simply send the ball aerially up the pitch.
However, rather than doing either of those, Haught instead opted to try and take the ball around Chawinga on her own, which resulted in the attacker tackling her and then sending a shot towards the open goal. Haught was spared this time by the crossbar coming to her aid, but there have been other times when Utah have not been so lucky and so ensuring that they keep things as simple as possible will be vital if they are to get out of their current predicament.
Reasons to stay positive
In the introduction to this analysis, it was pointed out that Utah Royals have been getting a lot wrong but that they have also been doing some things well, and there is certainly a lot that they can be happy with from their first 12 matches and that will give them confidence as they continue to build their on-field identity.
In particular, the performances of the aforementioned Sentnor, who was this year’s No. 1 pick in the College Draft, have proven that Utah’s transfer policy does stack up, with it clear that they can identify players that fit the style that Rodriguez wants to implement and that they have players with the ability to provide a constant test for their opponents around the field.
Initially, Utah looked to use her as more of a wide attacker, with it clear that they wanted Betfort to lead the line and to provide the focal point, and that did work for Sentnor as she was able to demonstrate the composure on the ball and ability to work with those around her that had led to her gaining a reputation as one of the college game’s biggest stars. However, there was always a feeling that she is best used in the central channel and not confined to one side or the other, and that is something that Rodriguez has gradually come round to as well, with Sentnor handed the central role in Utah’s game against Washington Spirit at the weekend and constantly bringing others around her into the game.
It may have been another defeat for the Royals, but it was a match in which they played a lot better and seemed to have a better balance, with players clicking with each other and them looking dangerous in attack whilst appearing largely solid at the back. The false nine role that Sentnor occupied in the game certainly aided that as she was able to hold the ball up and to ensure that Utah could retain it for longer periods of play, with her here receiving a pass from Henry and instantly laying it off for the midfielder to run onto, and there was certainly a better feel to Utah’s overall performance with her leading the line.
The other player who has rarely had a bad game for the Royals has been Foederer, who joined the team after starring in the Vrouwen Eredivisie for a number of sides. She is not the finished article and that has been made clear already in the analysis, but there is no doubting that she has been central to so much of Utah’s positional alterations as they have looked to alternate between systems and to find the one that gives them the best chance of winning their matches.
What allows Foederer to be this dynamic is her constant desire to win the ball and to keep it in her team’s possession, and it is that that has led to her looking to close North Carolina Courage’s Germany left-back Felicitas Rauch (who signed for Sean Nahas’ side after leaving Frauen-Bundesliga giants Wolfsburg Frauen in the winter) down here.
The key thing to note though is that, by making this run, Foederer has changed Utah’s shape from a 4-2-3-1 to a version of a 4-4-2, and that is why the Royals have appeared so flexible at times whenever they have been out of possession and have been able to drift from system to system both during and between matches.
When looking at her pitch coverage so far for the Royals, Foederer’s contributions and importance to the team become even clearer to see, with this graphic indicating that she is just as capable of playing in very high areas and of contributing to her side’s high pressing strategy as she is at dropping back and helping to screen the back line when they are under pressure.
Therefore, it is evident that Foederer will be a vital player for Utah to keep fit as the season goes on and they continue to search for the right shape for their tactics, and having her on the field will always allow them to change if there is a need to bias the team towards a greater attacking threat or a bigger defensive presence.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this tactical analysis has looked in detail at Utah Royals’ return to life in the NWSL, breaking down their performances throughout the first 12 matchweeks and showing why there is good and bad in what they have been doing so far.
It is only their first season back in league action and so there should be a degree of patience afforded to Rodriguez, with her new to management and so learning about her role whilst simultaneously trying to find the right formula for her side. However, the simple fact is that football is a results business and she is rightly or wrongly under pressure to start delivering both performances and points.
There is no doubt that they are moving in the right direction, albeit a bit slower than many would have hoped for, and their display during the loss to Washington was arguably their most convincing since their win against North Carolina back in March. However, if they don’t keep backing it up, then they could find that that early patience quickly evaporates and that the heat is really turned up, with knee-jerk decisions not needed but perhaps moving a step closer with each new defeat.
