The Women’s Championship may have been a mostly one-sided contest this season, with Liverpool Women currently 10 points clear and without a loss since the opening day of the season, but there are plenty of other teams positioning themselves for a title challenge next season, and Bristol City Women are one of them. Following their relegation from the WSL last season, they appointed former Tottenham Hotspur Women assistant Lauren Smith as Tanya Oxtoby’s replacement, following the Australian’s decision to permanently step down after spending the second half of the season on maternity leave.
The changes made by Smith have been noticeable, especially in attack, where a new style of play has helped the team to cause more problems for their opponents. This tactical analysis will look in closer detail at their wing play, their ability to get numbers into attacking positions and how their players don’t have fixed roles during matches, all whilst highlighting the differences between this season and the previous one.
Increasing attacking numbers
The biggest difference in Bristol City Women’s play is that they have begun to move more players into advanced positions when in possession, and this increase in options has seen them become the second-highest scorers in the second tier. However, this has not come through a change in formation, as their preferred setup is still a 4-1-4-1.
Instead, they have manipulated that setup so that the four players behind the striker don’t sit behind and form a protective line; they move up the pitch, as this image shows, supporting the striker and offering plenty of passing options in front of the ball. This gives Bristol a better chance of keeping their attack going, as it is harder for Crystal Palace Women, in this case, to successfully close down all five players. It also ensures that there are a range of passing options for the ball to go to, meaning that the player currently in possession can pick the right pass at the right time.
The impact on Crystal Palace is that they can’t predict where the ball will go as easily, and this is a big difference to last year, when Ebony Salmon tended to lead the line during most games and was Bristol’s target player in the attacking third. However, she left the club for NWSL strugglers Racing Louisville last summer, and Smith saw this as a chance to change her team’s tactics in the final third. As a result of her alterations, their goals per game value has risen to 1.74 from 1.14, so they do now carry a bigger goalscoring threat.
