Three statistics and what they tell us about the WSL
Manchester City's offsides, Aston Villa's tackling and Arsenal's shooting
There are few things I enjoy more than a perusal of Women’s Super League statistics on FBRef of an evening. Here I explore three that stuck out to me.
Manchester City have the fewest offsides
Manchester City have only had 15 offsides this season in the WSL. That is more than 30 less than league leaders Manchester United who have had 48.
With Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly on the wings, it is easy to imagine a team’s natural inclination might be to put quick balls out wide in order to generate space in behind for the duo.
But City value patient build-up when they play, as well as backing their players to take on more set defences in 1v1 situations.
They are right to do so. City lead the league when it comes to both successful take-ons (161) and attempted ones (304).
It is not Hemp or Kelly who have the most successful take-ons at City though. Instead it is Bunny Shaw. Shaw ranks fourth overall in the league with 28.
She regularly drops into space to pick up the ball, often with her back to goal, before turning and running at defences. This allows her to then lay off the ball to one of City’s wide options before continuing her run into the box.
City’s patience on the ball is clear when looking at their direct speed. Direct speed is a measure of how quickly a team progresses the ball up the pitch, and at 1.23 m/s City’s is the slowest in the league by quite a significant margin.
It is clearly not a bad approach given they are level on points with Chelsea at the top of the league. But recent losses to Chelsea in the Continental Cup semi-final and Tottenham in the FA Cup quarter-final have shown a need to occasionally mix it up.
Opposition presses are looking to block off Yui Hasegawa in midfield, leaving City’s centre-backs to try and progress the ball without Hasegawa’s help. Khiara Keating is often used to kick long - only Liverpool goalkeeper Racheal Laws attempts more ‘launched’ passes than Keating on a per 90 basis - but trying to get Hemp and Kelly running into space more often would force teams to adjust.
No team has picked up more points from losing positions than City this season. On three separate occasions they have come back from a goal down to win. Normally they predominantly rely on their original game plan coming good. But recent results suggest some more variety is needed.
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