Frauen Bundesliga 2019/20: Wolfsburg vs FFC Frankfurt – tactical analysis

Matchday eighteen of the Frauen Bundesliga brought us a matchup of the current league leaders Wolfsburg hosting fourth-place FFC Frankfurt. Frankfurt are punching above their weight and are aiming to break into the competitive top three of Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich and Hoffenheim (and fight for a Champions League berth). Analysis shows that Frankfurt entered the match with a fairly aggressive plan for their out of possession tactics.

Wolfsburg were easily able to handle the problems thrown at them while in possession and were able to create plenty of chances on goal. This tactical analysis will look into exactly how it happened.

Lineups

VFL Wolfsburg (4-4-2): Abt, Maritz, Bloodworth, Goeßling, Rolfö, Gunnarsdóttir, Blässe, Popp, Pajor, Harder, Huth.

FFC Frankfurt (4-4-2): Heaberlin, Aschauer, Kleinherne, Storzel, Hechler, Mauron, Nüsken, Pawollek, Dunst, Freigang, Reuteler.

FFC Frankfurt: out of possession

FFC Frankfurt’s tactics when out of possession set the foundation for most play throughout the match. They chose to employ a 4-4-2 mid-block with a primary focus on controlling the Wolfsburg fullbacks.

Frankfurt did this by pushing up their outside-midfielders to apply quick and immediate pressure to Wolfsburg’s fullbacks Noelle Maritz and Anna Blässe. The two Frankfurt forwards, Géraldine Reuteler and Laura Freigang were tasked with marking the Wolfsburg centrebacks as well as creating a cover shadow to eliminate Wolfsburg central midfielder Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir as a passing option.

By employing these individual tactics, Frankfurt would hypothetically be able to control the entire Wolfsburg backline of four and central pivot with the use of only four players. In turn, this gave Frankfurt an overload of  players in their defending and midfield line to control Wolfsburg’s front three and two attacking midfielders.

Overall, Frankfurt had six players in the back (red box below) to control Wolfsburg’s five and would be able to control the Wolfsburg defensive and pivot players (yellow box) with only four players. On paper, an overload in the back and controlling the opponent with an underload in the front is a formula for success.

We see examples of this throughout the match. Below, in the seventeenth minute, Wolfsburg are building out of the back from their defensive third. We can see that Frankfurt’s right midfielder Sjoeke Nüsken, has pushed up to the forward line to enable quick access to Wolfsburg left-back Maritz.

The two Frankfurt forwards are centrally located, creating cover shadows to eliminate any passing options to the Wolfsburg pivot. The Frankfurt forwards are also close enough to access and pressure the Wolfsburg centrebacks. In this moment, Frankfurt have control of the area and can dictate play.