Casey Stoney Tactics At Manchester United Women 2020/2021 – Tactical Analysis

When Manchester United Women were promoted to the WSL in the summer of 2019, many expected them to rise to the top and start challenging for titles.

The former team was disbanded back in 2005, but a new side was reformed in 2018, with England legend Casey Stoney appointed as their new head coach.

Their first season in existence saw them promoted to the WSL, before they claimed fourth place last season.

However, they made some really good additions over the summer and are now challenging for the WSL title, along with Arsenal Women and Chelsea Women, and sit at the top of the league at the time of writing.

Casey Stoney’s philosophy and the way she sets up her teams have attracted a lot of interest, and her success with Manchester United has seen her linked with other roles, such as the England manager’s job.

This tactical analysis will examine the tactics she likes her team to use and how they have helped Manchester United to the top of the table.

Wide attacking structure

The first key point to mention is how Manchester United Women play with a wide attacking structure.

In this image, we can see how they stretch right across the pitch, making it as big as possible, which is a key factor in their attack.

This was present in their tactics last season, but the summer additions of USA internationals Tobin Heath and Christen Press have helped them make it more effective.

Another addition, young England striker Alessia Russo, has been played in the target player role by Casey Stoney.

Therefore, Manchester United’s attack is balanced, with Heath and Press able to stay wide and cross into the box or cut inside and shoot, whilst Russo can get on the end of anything that comes into the box and create plenty of problems for the opposition.

In this image, we can see the same wide setup, but this time, Kirsty Hanson is on the right-hand side of the attack, with Press in the middle, wearing number 24.

This highlights how Manchester United’s attack is flexible.

They have many different options and combinations that they can use, and the players are happy to fill space wherever it appears.

This is another key element that Stoney has built into the squad, making them a really powerful attacking side.

Having this wide formation allows them to stretch the opposing defenders out and match their opponents’ formations.

To explain, if the opponents are playing with three at the back, then each of Manchester United’s attackers close down one of the defenders.

This is what we can see in the image above.

It is also notable that a fourth Manchester United player is in the middle, marking the central player. This means that the defence can’t play the short ball out to the midfield and has to clear it long.

This will lead to more mistakes from their opponents, so we can see how Stoney sets up her team to use space and force opponents to make errors.

Overloading the central areas

The second notable thing that Casey Stoney likes her team to do is overloading the central areas when in attack.

This tactic starts with the role played by Leah Galton.

As we can see in the image above, Galton, capable of playing at left wing or left back, provides the width for Manchester United Women.

However, because Galton is versatile and can play anywhere on the left of the pitch, Manchester United has options in attack.

If they have Galton as a winger, she gives them pace in attack and a constant source of shooting opportunities.

However, if she is playing at left back, with Christen Press, Tobin Heath, and Alessia Russo preferred as the front three, then Galton gets forward and allows whoever is the wide left forward to play a little more centrally without them having to constantly move back out to the wing when out of possession.

This means that Manchester United can increase their central threat, looking to outnumber the defence in that area.

Therefore, Stoney has opted to move Galton to left back for some games this season, which is proof of what it brings to the rest of the team.

Now that we have established how Galton keeps the width, we can see in this image how Manchester United use this to get players into the middle of the pitch.

The players in the red circles are Press and Heath, which shows just how central they can get in their positioning.

They are on either side of the other attacking players, with six Manchester United players in this area.

Therefore, their attacking presence is increased, and there is more chance they will score a goal if the ball comes in from Press.

Therefore, we can see how Stoney looks to set up her team to constantly attack and put pressure on opposing defences.

This has become a key part of her tactics this season, especially with the likes of Press and Heath as crucial options in her team.

Role of Ella Toone

However, whilst getting players into the forward areas has been a big part of Manchester United Women’s rise to the top of the WSL, this tactic doesn’t work unless there is someone to transfer the ball to them.

We have analysed how Leah Galton provides crosses from the wide channels, but Ella Toone stays further back and closes down any opposing counter-attacks, providing for the forwards.

In this image, we can see how Toone, in the red circle, has moved towards her opponent.

She ensures they can’t get the ball away from their goal area too quickly, and any balls not quite under control are reclaimed from the defenders.

What this means for Manchester United is that the attackers don’t have to run too far back because they know that Toone will be behind them, making interceptions and tackles and ensuring that the ball gets back to her teammates not too long after it has been lost.

Therefore, she plays a crucial role in the recovery of the ball.

This image shows Manchester United under pressure, having been forced back towards their own goal area.

However, Toone, in the red circle again, runs forward to win the ball off her opponent.

Once she gets the ball, as mentioned, her teammates know it will go forward, and we can see that two players are already looking to get forward behind the opposing defence, as shown by the red arrows.

Therefore, Toone has a big influence on her team and is the player they can rely on to win the ball in the middle and then launch attacks from.

With so many options for Stoney in the final third, Toone is the one she has charged with winning the ball and feeding it through to them.

Once possession has been taken back, Toone is a key player in the transition.

However, we also need to remember that Toone is a forward by nature, not a midfielder, and that means she is in her natural position when playing in the final third.

In this image, she is in a good position to receive the ball from the far side of the pitch, and ends up scoring here.

Therefore, her spatial awareness is also excellent, which again allows her to get into areas where she can help her team’s attack. This is why she is such a key player in Casey Stoney’s tactics.

Defensive organisation

When it comes to defence, Casey Stoney likes her backline to be organised, and we expect that this will be the case.

Stoney is a former defender herself, so she knows how to set up a defence to cause problems for opposing attacks.

This situation comes as Manchester United are retreating towards their penalty area.

However, we can see how they are organised and working together even when going backwards, which shows how much defensive work they do in training.

All four players are narrowly organised, which stops Manchester City Women from getting the ball through them.

Instead, Manchester City has to play the ball wide, and we can see that a player is on the far side of the pitch, ready to receive the ball in that area.

However, it will be easier to block a cross from that area than it would be to stop a shot coming from a ground pass through the middle of the defence, and this is what Manchester United’s and Casey Stoney’s defensive tactics are set up to prevent.

This is another situation in which Manchester United’s organised defensive line at the back is stretched across the pitch a little more this time.

This is because, as you can see, they are looking to get tight to the Manchester City attackers in the middle. This stops the ball from going to those players, limiting their passing options.

The second part of the setup is to get the midfielders, who have tracked back to help out, to close down the player with the ball and put pressure on them to move it quickly.

All of this looks to force Manchester United’s opponents to make mistakes in possession, and we have already seen how they punish mistakes and move the ball forward.

Marking and pressing opposing attackers

Player-to-player marking is the last key tactic that Casey Stoney likes to use to make it harder for opponents to get the ball into their forwards, and we will now take a closer look at it.

Manchester United Women’s defence is built on a strong backline and forcing opponents to pass the ball into areas where it can be taken off them.

Here, we can see how they have forced the ball out wide and set up to win it back when it comes into the middle.

The three red squares show how Manchester United have got tight to the Manchester City Women attackers.

This now forces them to move the ball quicker, but their options have been limited.

The obvious ball in would be the cross into the box, but with the two central attackers being closely marked, this will likely lead to the ball being cleared.

Therefore, the ball can only really go backwards now, and the threat has been ended.

This is how Manchester United’s marking stops attacks, and it is a key reason why they have been so difficult to beat this season.

They have not lost any of their opening eight games in the WSL so far.

Again, we can see here how the ball is with Manchester City forward Chloe Kelly on the wing, but she is under pressure from the Manchester United defender.

Her options with the ball are limited, and her two teammates inside are also marked by defenders, meaning they can’t pass the ball without risking it being lost.

However, it isn’t just in these situations that Manchester United like to close down the passing options.

This image shows Birmingham City Women attacking, but red shirts surround striker Claudia Walker.

This means that she has to move the ball quickly and make a pass that she probably wouldn’t make by choice.

In this image, it is likely to be the pass to right-back Sarah Mayling on the wing.

Again, this would make it easier for the attempted cross to be blocked, ending the threat.

Manchester United focuses on this in defence: taking control by marking players and forcing the ball to be passed into areas where they can win it and launch counter-attacks.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this analysis has shown how Casey Stoney’s tactics have helped her side reach the top of the table and become one of the hardest WSL teams to beat this season.

Having examined how she sets up her defence and attack in detail, we can see how both link together and how this makes them a really hard team to play against.

Stoney’s philosophy is to win the ball as quickly as possible when it is lost, getting it to the forward line at the first opportunity.

We have seen many times how this has paid off in terms of goals and points.

They may have conceded seven goals in eight games this season, but they have scored 19, which shows how Stoney has instilled in them a mentality that, even when they concede goals, they focus on scoring more.

This is precisely why her team has been so potent in front of goal this season.