FAWSL 2019/20: Manchester United Women vs Arsenal Women – tactical analysis

The FAWSL continues into its second week with another mouth-watering clash between two iconic teams in the league. Manchester United take on Arsenal in what is always an electrifying battle between the two giants of English football. Manchester United had previously faced Manchester City in the Manchester derby with United losing 1-0 to a worthy match-winning goal from Caroline Weir.  The statistics weren’t kind with United only having 37% possession and two shots on target. The task against Arsenal wasn’t any easier and they knew they would need to dig deep and produce a dogged display to get something out of the game.

Arsenal, on the other hand, come into the game with a perfect record having beaten West Ham and Fiorentina in two convincing displays and face Manchester United as heavy favourites. This tactical analysis will outline the tactics used by both managers to claim three important points in the WSL.

Lineups & Squads

Both teams played relatively attacking line-ups with notable absentees for both sides. Manchester United lined up in their familiar 4-3-3 transforming into a low block 4-4-2 formation looking to defend deep.

Arsenal made one change from their UEFA Women’s Champions League match against Fiorentina last Thursday. Jordan Nobbs received her first start to the season after making a comeback from a long term knee injury over the last couple of weeks. This is her first start since November 2018. Danielle van de Donk was relegated to the substitutes bench.

Manchester United had two changes of their own with summer signing Jackie Groenen and Lotta Okvist both missing due to injury.

“Unfortunately Lotta suffered concussion in training over the weekend so will not be involved in tonight’s game for obvious reasons. Jackie picked up a knock last weekend in the derby and is also unavailable for us.”  Casey Stone, Manchester United Women’s Manager

Manchester United: Earps; Smith, McManus, M Turner, A Turner; Galton, Zelem (c), Ladd, Toone; Sigsworth, Ross.

Arsenal: Zinsberger; Maier, Williamson, Beattie, McCabe; Roord, Nobbs, Little, Evans; Miedema, Mead.

Arsenal’s attacking struggle

Both teams looked to attack whilst trying to keep a compact back line. Arsenal began with the majority of possession, looking to utilise their nimble-footed midfielders in Kim Little and Nobbs. Nobbs played as the number 10 giving Arsenal much needed impetus going forward, exchanging neat passes with Little throughout much of the first half. However, Manchester United made a good account of themselves by acquitting a compact, low block shape out of possession. Their midfield bank of four looked to move together and looked to quickly close the gap to their defensive line as Arsenal moved possession forward.

We basically just told the players that they’ve got to get out of each other’s lines. We felt that the player on the ball was always playing along the lines of others. We needed to open up the passing lines to go beyond instead of just keeping it low.  Joe Montemurro

Manchester United played with a narrow, flat midfield four that looked to drop deep when Arsenal were in possession in the final third. Having the two wide midfielders come in centrally stopped Nobbs, Little, and Miedema from combining and creating passing triangles within the Manchester United half.

Based on the analysis, the graphic above shows, Arsenal were restricted to passing the ball around their back four patiently trying to find a way through. Katie Zelem dropped into a defensive midfield position while the two strikers adjusted their positions based on the balls trajectory and position on the pitch. Arsenal were frustrated by this as their first shot on target only came in the 36^th minute. Manchester United were looking successful for the most part.

The above example shows Arsenal transitioning from defence to attack in a swift counter-attack with Manchester United caught slightly out of position. However, what the Red Devils did well in the first half was quickly get back into position. This first image shows Arsenal using the third man concept with the three players in view. Manchester United have two defenders running back to cover the unoccupied areas.

The second image exemplifies Manchester United’s willingness and tactical intelligence. They got enough numbers back into a defensive position to stop Arsenal from being able to penetrate through the centre forcing them wide. A by-product allowed for more reinforcements to arrive and give them added protection.

Arsenal

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