Brighton and Hove Albion Women are one of the form sides in the WSL at the moment, but are also unpredictable at the best of times, with their last five games containing four wins, including a 2-1 victory over quadruple-chasing Chelsea Women, whilst they lost heavily to Everton Women in their last outing. Manchester United Women, meanwhile, are in inconsistent form, having won two and lost two of their last four games, with the majority of their key players currently on the sidelines. This tactical analysis will examine in greater detail how Brighton’s intelligent and well-executed game plan helped them to frustrate their opponents, as well as the reasons why Manchester United’s usual tactics didn’t work in this game.
Manchester United Womens problems
Before we look at Brighton and Hove Albion Women’s setup, we will focus on Manchester United Women’s problems in the game.
We see here how Manchester United had a wide defensive setup, looking to stretch across the pitch and make it hard for Brighton to win the ball off them. This structure allows them to find space by moving the ball from side to side, waiting for a gap to open up for them to find the players further forward. You can see how Brighton’s two attackers here are trying to track the ball across the pitch, but they can’t make a challenge, because the ball will simply move back to another player in the line, and a gap will have opened up.
This also allows Manchester United to push their full-backs, Martha Harris and Ona Batlle, higher up the pitch, which in turn enables the wingers, Kirsty Hanson and Lauren James, to cut inside and help out centrally, therefore increasing the team’s attacking presence in the box. This is generally how Manchester United like to play under Casey Stoney.
