UWCL 2021/21: Exploring the reasons for Arsenal Women’s heavy loss to Barcelona – tactical analysis

Arsenal Women faced Barcelona Women at the Emirates Stadium for the fifth fixture of the UEFA Women’s Champions League and the game ended with a heavy 0-4 loss for the Gunners who didn’t play their best match of the season. And to put it better, Barcelona were better during this match in many aspects and that’s what allowed them to win without any kind of issues.

Barcelona are now at the top of Group C with 15 points after reinforcing this lead with this win while Arsenal remained at the second spot with nine points. Therefore, they will need to win or draw in their last group stage fixture against Hoffenheim in order to exclude any possible scenario that would prevent them from qualifying for the knockout rounds. Despite having the advantage on Hoffenheim in terms of number of goals, the latter can reach Arsenal in terms of points if they win their last match. That’s why Arsenal shouldn’t complicate their situation by themselves and will have to get a positive result from Germany to officialise their qualification.

In this tactical analysis article, the focus will be on Arsenal’s defensive mistakes and the tactical issues that they faced against Barcelona while exploring the latter’s attacking tactics and variety.

Line-ups

Arsenal started the match relying on the 4-3-3 formation with Manuela Zinsberger as a goalkeeper, Noëlle Maritz, Jennifer Beattie, Steph Catley and Katie McCabe in defence, Frida Maanum, Kim Little and Jordan Nobbs as central midfielders with Nikita Parris and Beth Mead on the wings to support the team’s striker Caitlin Foord, as Bayern Munich’s Vivianne Miedema was only subbed on during the second half.

On the other side, Barcelona played according to the same 4-3-3 formation with Sandra Paños as a goalkeeper, Marta Torrejón, former Paris Saint-Germain’s Irene Paredes, Andrea Pereira and Fridolina Rolfö in defence, Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmatí and Mariona Caldentey as central midfielders with Lieke Martens and Ana-Maria Crnogorčević as wingers supporting the striker Jennifer Hermoso.

Arsenal’s defensive and attacking errors

First, Arsenal can’t be harshly blamed for such a defeat against the best European team at the moment knowing that they did their best to not lose with such a result. Nevertheless, there are surely some tactical mistakes that need to be fixed or at least discussed. In terms of defensive performance, Arsenal should have adopted a little bit different approach when knowing that Barcelona attack in big numbers and not just with three attacking players. Therefore, using only the four defensive players with some help from midfielders is not enough for stopping a team like Barcelona. Arsenal should have been more organised in this regard and could have alleviated their opponent’s attacks if they adopted a stricter defensive system involving all team players.

Moreover, in terms of player choices, this match was not an adequate occasion in which Catley can be used effectively as a centre-back. She is an excellent left-back who is not so used to playing as a centre-back and putting her in such a delicate position in a match where the opponent’s attacking players are among the best in the world was not really the right choice to make.