‘We’re in a good spot’ – Why Angel City are dark horses for a 2023 NWSL play-off position – scout report

For fans of Angel City, the 2022 NWSL season was a slow but steady affair, with the Los Angeles-based side ending their maiden campaign with eight wins, five draws and nine losses and sitting four points off the play-off places.

Many hoped that their near miss would spur them on with fresh impetus to challenge for the top six this time around, but they actually started 2023 in a concerning manner, with them only picking up two wins by the mid-season point and really struggling to find their feet.

As a result, with the team 11^th in the league (out of 12) and with the feeling that their investment in terms of squad additions was not being converted into results, the board replaced head coach Freya Coombe with her assistant Becki Tweed (on an interim basis), and it is a decision that has so far worked wonders.

Not only has Tweed helped to turn the club around and to take them to within three points of a play-off place, but she has done so whilst improving their style of play and refining what was previously letting them down, meaning that they are now a much more difficult team to face and one confident in what they are being asked to do each week.

This tactical analysis will look at that improvement, with analysis first of what Coombe instilled in attack and defence and then a breakdown of how Tweed has altered their tactics and why Angel City are the NWSLs form team at the time of writing.

Attacking issues

It has been evident when looking at how Angel City have tried to move the ball around the pitch that their tactics under Coombe revolved around being expansive and trying to stretch the opposing defensive line out, creating gaps in between for players in the middle to run through and exploit.

It was not a bad game plan to have, but what let it down was Coombes need for players to overload the wings, meaning that the ball was not being moved into the middle at the right time. As a result, situations like this were common to see from them in the early part of this season, with left-back M.A. Vignola available and ready to shoot at goal but being kept waiting by her teammates on the far side of the field.

Instead, Angel City tried to construct short passing sequences in the wide channels before moving the ball in, with the aim of dragging opponents towards the ball and creating additional space centrally. In practice, though, it only allowed opposing sides additional time to get back and set up in their desired shape, and that was clear here by the way that Washington Spirit centre-back Amber Brooks was able to close Vignola down as soon as the ball was sent towards her by playmaker Savannah McCaskill.

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