When Liverpool Women were relegated to the Women’s Championship last summer, many thought they would make an immediate return to the WSL after just one season in the second division. However, at time of writing, they sit third in the table, five points behind second-placed Durham Women, and eight behind leaders Leicester City Women. Their results have not been bad, having lost just one of their last five games, and only losing two overall to date, but the fact that they are not where they would have hoped to be has been a reason for the departure of manager Vicky Jepson this week.
The club has faced criticism for the way the women’s team has been left in disarray and without proper support from the men’s team and owners, but, rather than getting into the off-the-field issues with the club, this tactical analysis will focus on where the new manager needs to make changes on the pitch, looking to help them close the gap to the top of the table. We will look at their tactics in attack and defence, seeking to suggest ways that they can become tighter at the back and more productive at the front, which will serve them well when they do return to the WSL at some stage in the future.
Final third play
We will begin this scout report by looking at Liverpool Women’s attack, specifically at their play in the final third. They generally set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but one of their holding midfielders stays back to protect the defence, allowing the rest to get forward and support the attack. The image below shows how this works.
Wales midfielder Rhiannon Roberts has the ball here, and you can see how she is in a good central position. From here, she can move the ball into teammates around the pitch, acting as a pivot. Liverpool this season have an average passing accuracy of 75%, and a 57.6% accuracy of passes to the final third, so we can see how this tactic helps them to play to their strengths. With Liverpool using attacking full-backs, this positioning also allows Roberts to slot into defence when needed if they are short at the back.
If we use this setup to look at Liverpool in the final third, we should see plenty of players in and around the box, supporting the lone striker. However, as is evident below, this is not usually the case.
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