Reading Women hosted Manchester United Women for the ninth FAWSL fixture and the game ended with a Manchester United which enabled them to continue their lead of the league with 23 points, four points away from Arsenal and three points away from Chelsea who are yet to play their ninth league match.
And on the other side, Reading kept their mid-table position with ten points and are now holding the ninth spot which they could lose if Birmingham City win in their delayed match.
In this tactical analysis article I will focus on both teams tactics while mainly focusing on Manchester United strengths in attack and in defence in order to have a broader idea of their continuous solid performances this season. But first of all, let’s begin by presenting the line-ups before proceeding to the analysis.
Line-ups
Reading started the game with a 4-4-2 formation with Grace Moloney as a goalkeeper, Kristine Leine as a right-back, Deanna Cooper and Molly Bartrip as centre-backs and Lily Woodham as a left-back.
The second line of the team was composed of Amalie Eikeland on the right-wing, Jess Fishlock and Angharad James as central midfielders and Fara Williams as a left-winger. Ahead of them Emma Harries started for the first time of the season alongside Natasha Harding as strikers.
For Manchester United, the team lined-up according to a 4-2-3-1 formation relying on Mary Earps as a goalkeeper, Ona Batlle on the right flank, Millie Turner and Amy Turner as centre-backs and Kirsty Smith as a left-back.
In midfield, Jackie Groenen and Hayley Ladd were the two central midfielders while Tobin Heath played on the right-wing, Leah Galton on the left-wing and Ella Toone as an advanced playmaker. And Kirsty Hanson was the team’s striker instead of the unavailable Alessia Russo, Christen Press and Lauren James.
Manchester United’s attacking performance
Casey Stoney’s team started this match with a clear mindset; building up from the back patiently and looking for overlaps on both wings to create chances whenever there is the possibility of doing so. Therefore, the attacking plans of Manchester United relied mainly on Heath and Halton’s accelerations, crosses and penetrations.
And to do so, Ladd, Groenen and Toon needed to be always attentive to the wingers’ movements in order to launch accurate key passes to those two players. And to a certain degree, Manchester United players were successful in this regard since Ladd’s key pass was the source of the first goal.
You can see in the following picture how Ladd anticipated Galton’s movement and gave her an accurate through pass that enabled the latter to run freely until reaching the six-yard box and scoring without problems. What was even more beautiful in Ladd’s key pass is the fact that it passed through four Reading players who were not able to do anything about it given its precision.
Here, once again, Manchester United were able to break Reading’s high defensive line with an accurate through pass from Toone to her teammate who was yet to run towards the free space behind Reading’s defence. Such key passes were recurrent in this match from Manchester United and they helped the team reach the final third faster and more often.
