After picking up just one win from their first five matches of the 2022/2023 WSL season, it was looking like Brighton and Hove Albion Women were going to have a long season in which they would spend the majority of weeks trying to stave off the threat of relegation.
However, with former England manager Hope Powell announcing her departure from the club in early November, citing the need for fresh ideas on the pitch, there have been some improvements to the team, with performances looking more hopeful and the team picking up one win, one draw and one defeat in their final few games before the winter break.
Whilst Brighton as a whole have been struggling this season, individual displays have been much more encouraging, and one of the players who has stood out for them is 20-year-old forward, Katie Robinson. She has arguably been Brighton’s best player this season, and the fact that she was given her England debut in the Lionesses’ last game of the year, a friendly against Norway, showed that her strong performance levels have been attracting glances from those at higher levels.
This tactical analysis will look at why Robinson has been playing so well this season, and why she will be a player worth keeping an eye on during 2023. The scout report will focus specifically on how the Brighton forward shows good awareness around the field, carries a significant attacking threat and assists her team defensively too, all of which have made her a perfect fit for their tactics so far.
Awareness
One quality that all offensive players need to have, regardless of the role that they are playing in, is good awareness and an ability to read the game. As this section of the analysis will demonstrate, these are things that Katie Robinson has in abundance, with her often being Brighton’s most dangerous player during matches due to the way she can create chances and link different areas of the pitch together.
More often than not, Robinson has been used on the right wing, with Brighton looking to utilise her raw race to exploit gaps in opposing defensive lines and to provide passing options. Liverpool Women, in this game, didn’t seem to be aware of what the new England international can do when allowed to occupy spaces, and they were constantly having to track back to give Robinson as little time and space as possible to create a goalscoring opportunity.
However, this is where Robinson really shows her awareness and quality on the ball, because she is not just a one-dimensional player who simply sends balls into the goal area, but can adjust the angle of her passes depending on where her teammates are and how the opponents have set up their defensive shape. In this case, there is a gap open between Jasmine Matthews and on-loan Chelsea Women player Charlotte Wardlaw, with Norway forward Elisabeth Terland offering herself as a passing option in the middle of the field. Robinson sends the ball through to her teammate, ensuring that Brighton can get a shot away at goal before Liverpool have been able to get numbers back and close the spaces off.
Whilst Terland is unable to convert the opportunity on this occasion, with her sending the ball narrowly wide, the fact that Brighton were able to have a go here was because of Robinson’s speed to get up the field and then her awareness to pick out the Norwegian, and that is one reason that she has been so central to her team’s attacking play this season.
The fact that Robinson plays on the wing so often means that she has a good understanding of what to do when a teammate has possession in the wide channel. Here, former Arsenal Women striker Danielle Carter, in the yellow circle, has received the ball from a teammate and is now looking to keep the attack alive, but there is initially no Brighton player in a position to offer her a viable passing option and maintain their attacking momentum; this is noticed by Robinson, who runs ahead of the ball to provide the option. This is where talk of second phases comes in, with players thinking ahead and looking to see where they can help their teammates out and affect the game.
On this occasion, Carter’s pass towards Robinson is overhit, with Liverpool defender Megan Campbell seeing the ball out of play for a goal kick, but the fact that Robinson had made the run to help her teammates shows how, even when she isn’t the one in possession, she still plays a crucial role in helping to keep Brighton’s attacks alive.
She is not just a winger though and does often cut inside the field to support her team’s attacking play in the middle too. In this case, South Korea forward Lee Geum-min has possession in the final third but has been surrounded by Reading Women players, so has no route through which she can shoot at goal. Robinson is once again aware of this and has moved inside the pitch to give her teammate a passing option, and the key thing here is that Reading have not noticed her and she has therefore not been closed down. As a result, when the ball comes to Robinson, she is able to control the ball and find the back of the net, scoring what turned out to be the winning goal in this match.
Whilst the goal shows that she possesses an end product, what is most important to note about this situation is how Robinson judged her movement well because it would have been easy to go too far forward and overrun the pass — or to stay back for too long and give Reading a chance to clear their lines. However, she was aware of what was happening around Lee and was able to move as soon as the ball started to travel in her direction, which shows how she doesn’t overthink situations and remains composed in advanced areas of the pitch, which is another reason that Brighton will need to rely on her if they want to stay in the top flight this season.
Attacking threat
Katie Robinson’s strong awareness means that she has been the player that Brighton have built their tactics around, with her speed and ability to find spaces and read the game meaning that, when they get into the final third and have a chance to create a goalscoring opportunity, they have always posed a threat.
What Robinson does to exacerbate that threat is to identify where the spaces are and therefore where she can affect the game, with her often the key target that they look to find when playing direct attacking football.
However, this can also help when spaces become tight and gaps need to be opened up, as was the case here against current Women’s Championship leaders London City Lionesses. What Robinson does here is to run towards the London City defensive line and immediately give them a problem, because they know that they have to stay with the forward and prevent her from running behind them, but also recognise that doing so will leave the midfielders isolated and enable Brighton to create some attacking momentum.
On this occasion, Brighton don’t seem to be on the same wavelength as Robinson and send the ball back towards their own goal area, but the fact that the forward made the run once again shows how she poses a major threat during games and is a player that opposing defences need to be wary of.
When not manipulating defenders, Robinson is just as capable of keeping her distance and making the pitch as big as possible, again opening up spaces for her team to move the ball into. Reading have set up with a compact defensive line here, which has left plenty of space open for Brighton to transfer the ball around them, and this is where Robinson again demonstrates her attacking instincts and ability to read the game, as she knows that if she keeps her distance, she will have time to take multiple touches of the ball and to assess her options.
On this occasion, what she wants to happen does happen, with another on-loan Chelsea player, Jorja Fox, sending the ball in her direction and allowing her to then move it into the middle and behind Reading’s line, but it is worth noting that Brighton have not always been this decisive when in the final third, and that has often been one of the main reasons for them struggling to pick up results. However, with Robinson on the field and showing time and time again what she can do when in that area of the pitch, they can give her the ball and allow her to do what she does best, which will always give them a chance of getting on the scoreboard and winning matches.
That ability to pose a threat in wider areas is just as evident when Robinson engages in 1-v-1 duels, as is the case here against Manchester United Women. Winger Leah Galton is the one who has found herself up against the Brighton forward on this occasion, and what is immediately obvious is that the Manchester United player is flat-footed and is therefore at an immediate disadvantage, with her stance making it difficult for her to push off either foot and block an attempted cross.
Meanwhile, Robinson has a wide base and a low centre of gravity, meaning that she does have the ability to push off either foot and change direction on the spot, and the fact that she ends up winning this duel easily comes down to little details like that, which show again how Robinson is a dangerous player when given any chance to influence Brighton’s attacking play.
It should be mentioned that Manchester United won this game comfortably in the end, with Brighton unable to contain their incisive attackers. However, as the matches have gone on, they have begun to score more goals and make the vast number of conceded goals less damaging, with Robinson central to their improved final third play. If they want to maintain their recent promising performances, then they will need to keep her fit, as losing her to injury could see the whole machine grind to a halt.
Defensive play
When Brighton concede possession, the expectation is that the whole team contributes to their defensive effort, and, as with everything in this scout report, Katie Robinson has been a key player in helping to disrupt their opponents’ attempts to move the ball around the pitch.
Brighton like to defend from the front when they can, with those in the forward line tasked with ending attacks as early as possible, and that often means that they have to watch where the ball is and make judgements about when to press and when to hold their position. Fortunately, as already highlighted in the analysis, this is one quality that Robinson has been particularly strong in.
West Ham United Women are looking to play out from the back here, with Kate Longhurst in possession and spotting the run of ex-Manchester United full-back Kirsty Smith (out of shot). However, Robinson has also noticed this and is looking to time her run, knowing that moving too soon would give her intentions away and moving too late would see her not be able to intercept the ball. Once again though, she gets the detail right and secures possession for her side, with Brighton able to put West Ham under instant pressure.
As this graphic indicates, winning the ball in advanced areas is not an uncommon thing for Robinson to do, with her making plenty of high regains during the current season, and this is another reason that she has been a perfect fit for their tactics. Without her securing possession as often as she does (she has made 29 interceptions to date), they would quite simply not pose as big a threat as they do, with many other players not showing the same attacking instinct and ability to time their runs, and that is why, without her, they are a very different team.
It is not just about winning the ball when it is in front of her though, as defending from the front also means tracking back when needed, to make life as difficult as possible for opponents. This is where Robinson’s speed and work rate once again comes into play, with her capable of reacting to opposing threats and identify where she can have an impact on the game. In this case, Reading have managed to move the ball almost up to the halfway line, with Gemma Evans now searching for a teammate higher up the field to pass to in the hopes of keeping their attack alive.
Initially, there was a passing option not too far away from the Wales defender, but Robinson has spotted this and positioned her body so as to cut that option off. As a result, Evans now has no obvious way to pass the ball forwards, with her only options now being to either send it towards the three Brighton players ahead, or to move it back towards her own goal area and look to recycle it.
With her options limited, she is forced to do the latter, but the fact that Robinson is in her vicinity means that the pass lacks quality and is easily intercepted by Lee, putting Brighton once again in a position from which they can shoot at goal. However, it was Robinson’s defensive play that caused this to happen, and that is why she is just as important to her side when they don’t have the ball as she is when they do.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this tactical analysis has looked in detail at Brighton and Hove Albion Women forward Katie Robinson, focusing on why she has played a key role in their attacking and defensive tactics this season and why she will be central to any hope that they have of staying in the WSL.
What has been clear throughout the analysis is that she does a lot of unnoticed things for her side, such as picking out the right cross at the right time or working hard to limit opponents’ options, and a lot of what she does appears simple, but is actually made to look that way through the care and attention that she takes with everything she does.
If she continues her good form and keeps standing out in Brighton’s fight to avoid a drop to the Championship, then she has every chance of securing a place in England’s World Cup squad in the summer, and, given the qualities she would bring, it would be hard to argue that she wouldn’t deserve to be there.
