Manchester United Women hosted Chelsea Women in the seventh fixture of the WSL and the game ended with a deserved 1-3 win for the Blues while Manchester United lost the battle against one of their rivals especially and this loss can be impactful for the Red Devils when looking at the standings even though the season is still long. In fact, Manchester United are just behind Chelsea in the standings: Manchester United are third while Chelsea are second behind Arsenal who are at the top of the WSL.
The difference between the two is just three points but winning a direct encounter will mean a lot at the end of the run, despite the fact that Manchester United are yet to play a delayed match. Chelsea however put on another excellent attacking performance exploiting Manchester United’s defensive errors and doing their best to score as many goals as possible even when they were 0-2 and 1-2.
Cuthbert, James, Kerr, Ingle and Bright were the key players for Chelsea in this match as they were the most impactful players during the 90 minutes and contributed heavily not only to the actions of the three goals but also to preserving and consolidating their win.
On the other side, Manchester United were not able to cope with Chelsea’s powerful attacking line and failed to resist their attempts. And at the same time, the team wasn’t able to threaten Chelsea’s defence continuously which gave a lot of space and time for the Blues to attack more often and keep possession as needed too.
In this tactical analysis article, we will focus on exploring Chelsea’s attacking performance and tactics as well as the reasons that led to Manchester United’s loss. But first, we will start the analysis by introducing the two line-ups.
Line-ups
Marc Skinner, Manchester United’s head coach, preferred to start the match relying on the 4-2-3-1 with Mary Earps as a goalkeeper, Hannah Blundell, Maya Le Tissier, Millie Turner and Maria Thorisdóttir in defence, Hayley Ladd and Katie Zelem as central midfielders, Nikita Parris and Leah Galton as wingers, with Ella Toone being the advanced playmaker just behind the striker Alessia Russo.
For the Blues, Emma Hayes chose to play according to a 4-4-1-1 formation with Ann-Katrin Berger as a goalkeeper, Niamh Charles, Millie Bright, Kadeisha Buchanan and Magdalena Eriksson in defence, Sophie Ingle and Erin Cuthbert as central midfielders, Guro Reiten and former Manchester United’s Lauren James as wingers, and Pernille Harder as an advanced playmaker behind the striker, Sam Kerr.
Chelsea’s attacking performance
Chelsea had the superiority over Manchester United throughout this match as the team had 58.61% in terms of possession despite playing at Leigh Sports Village and facing a team that strives for a home win against Chelsea. The Blues used a high pressing approach in order to disturb Manchester United’s build-up phase and prevent them from reaching Chelsea’s half with ease. This pressing was often led by Kerr, Reiten, James and Cuthbert and it was effective because it led to numerous Manchester United mistakes.
