Whilst the men’s game has been on a month-long break to allow for the FIFA World Cup to take place, the women’s game has kept going throughout, with a lot of excitement over how things are shaping up both domestically and in the Women’s Champions League.
However, despite all of the positivity over the increased interest in women’s football since the end of Euro 2022, there is one aspect of the game that has cast a dark shadow over it in recent months — injuries. At the moment, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) problems are the arch-nemesis of female players, with research showing that they are six times more likely to suffer them than male players. PSG Féminine striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Aston Villa Women forward Simone Magill are just two of the many high-profile players who will be spending the majority of the current season on the sidelines.
However, the ACL injury that really sparked the need to investigate why female players are so vulnerable was that suffered by Spain star Alexia Putellas, who was ruled out on the eve of the Euros when she got injured during a training session. As a result, her club, Barcelona Femení, knew that they would need to find a way of playing without her for the 2022/2023 campaign, which would not be easy given the immense influence that she has on the field.
Nevertheless, the fact that Barcelona have made such a bright start without her, with eight wins in eight league matches, shows that they have successfully found a way of playing without her, and this tactical analysis will highlight exactly how head coach Jonatan Giráldez has tweaked their tactics to make that possible. The scout report will focus specifically on how players have been given new roles to fill spaces that Putellas would ordinarily have been in, and how the team as a whole have adopted a different style of play to ensure that they can keep their opponents under constant pressure.
Direct play
In the past, with Putellas and striker Jennifer Hermoso in the side, Barcelona Femení favoured a style of play that saw them transfer the ball through the thirds and look to draw players out of position, with Hermoso often dropping back to get on the ball and both Putellas and Aitana Bonmatí running ahead of her to act as false nines. However, with Hermoso moving to Mexican side Pachuca Femenil in the summer and Putellas suffering her long-term injury, Barcelona needed to adapt their tactics and find a new way of creating goalscoring opportunities.
What Giráldez did was ask his players to use the air much more, with them now not looking to pass along the ground as often and instead sending long balls into the forward line directly from their own third. In this situation, Patri Guijarro, who tended to play in a defensive midfield role last season, has possession inside her own third and is now looking for a teammate making a run behind the Levante Femenino defensive line, with that being her only focus. In this case, Switzerland forward Ana-Maria Crnogorčević is doing just that (out of shot), with this pass leading to a shot on goal for summer signing Geyse Ferreira, although the Brazil striker misses the target.
It is important to note that this is not a completely new way of playing, with Barcelona looking to play long balls on plenty of occasions last season, often through Mapi León, who is one of the best ball-playing centre-backs in the women’s game. However, the difference is that it wasn’t their primary tactic back then, so that is what has changed.
That mentality of constantly looking to play direct attacking football is also shown in the way that Barcelona send crosses into the middle from further out, with players again showing little interest in keeping possession when the spaces are open for them to target. In this case, former Manchester City Women right-back Lucy Bronze, who joined the Spanish side after helping England to Euro success in the summer, has shown her ability to look for spaces in dangerous areas of the pitch, with the red arrow indicating how she doesn’t hesitate when the chance arises to put the cross into Madrid CFF’s goal area.
Again, this is different to how they would have approached these situations last season, as they did make crosses into the central areas but only when there wasn’t an opportunity to build through the middle. However, this season, without Putellas and Hermoso working to create gaps in the opposing defensive line, Barcelona have needed to find new ways of moving the ball behind them, which is why they are now sending in crosses from all areas of the field.
What is clear is that this is something that Giráldez had been considering even before Putellas suffered her injury, with Bronze and new left-back Nuria Rábano both agreeing moves to the club before Euro 2022 had got underway, and both have shown themselves to be equally as effective in creating opportunities from wide areas. Whilst it might have been a case of developing another style of play to add to Barcelona’s arsenal for the current campaign, it became imperative that they could make it work once the news came through that Putellas would be out for the majority of the campaign.
However, it is worth noting that only 36% of Barcelona’s crosses have been accurate this season. Although that is likely down to the fact that they are crossing balls in from further out, it does suggest that they can’t completely rely on this way of playing just yet.
As a result, it has also been common to see them take the ball forwards when players feel that they have the time and space to do so and then feed the ball into the box with a better chance of finding their intended target. In this case, Sweden forward Fridolina Rolfö has done just that, positioning herself behind the Levante defence and feeding the ball into Crnogorčević’s path.
However, again, Barcelona tended not to rely too heavily on their wide players to deliver balls into the box in this manner last season, with them again preferring to play through the middle and use the likes of Putellas to create gaps in opposing lines. Her absence has therefore meant that an alternative way of creating those spaces has been needed, and the fact that a lot of their performances this season have seen them switch play from side to side and try to open up their opponents that way demonstrates again how they have found new ways to stay on the front foot.
Midfield tactics
That is not to say that Jonatan Giráldez has told his Barcelona Femení players to ignore the central third completely because those players who occupy that area of the pitch have been as important to the team’s style of play as they ever have been. However, even they have been given some new ideas tactically this season, with some players switching roles and new signings offering different possibilities.
This situation against Real Betis Féminas shows how the Spanish champions have not changed the basic structure of the team, with three players in the middle here who are all in close proximity to each other. However, what is different is that they no longer have fixed roles, as was the case last season, and the fact that Bonmatí has dropped back whilst both Guijarro and Norway international Ingrid Engen have moved up the field highlights that point.
In effect, what this indicates is how Barcelona have needed to be more flexible this season without Putellas because she gave them a focal point in the final third and someone who could receive the ball and then weight passes through lines to perfection. That is a quality that is not easy to replace, and it is clear that giving players more opportunities to move around the central third than they had last season is one way in which Giráldez has sought to address that problem.
The signing of Keira Walsh from Manchester City for a world-record fee in the women’s game has also helped in that regard because she has shown throughout her career that she is quite happy to sit back and act as a deep-lying playmaker whilst the rest of her team push up the field and create numerical overloads against their opponents. Therefore, with her on the field, Barcelona know that they can leave her to sit in deeper positions and give their other midfielders more freedom to play in advanced areas, which is another reason that they have so far been able to cover for Putellas’ absence.
Walsh is known for her wide range of passing and excellent awareness when in possession, with her ability to assess her options and find the right pass at the right time, and the fact that the team as a whole has an 84.9% passing accuracy shows how they have rarely made a bad decision. In this case, with Betis dropping back to protect their goal, Walsh has decided that a shorter pass towards the nearside wing, where Rolfö is waiting, is the best option.
The fact that the England midfielder has taken over the defensive midfield role means that the likes of Guijarro have been able to focus purely on creating goalscoring opportunities, with it common to see her in the same areas this season that Putellas occupied in the previous campaign.
As a result, she has been able to show a different side to her game that not many saw in 2021/2022, which is her ability to play through lines and create goalscoring opportunities, and the fact that she has registered the joint-most assists in the league (four) shows how it is something that she has thrived in. Here, against Madrid, she has spotted that the defenders are all positioned on the edge of the box and therefore sends the ball into open space behind them, with Crnogorčević narrowly missing the target on this occasion.
Therefore, just as in the last section of the analysis, it is clear that the adjustments that Barcelona have made to their general play in order to cover for the absence of their talismanic captain have been working, with a mix of new signings, new tactics and new positions for players all helping to keep the team on the front foot and as dangerous as ever, and the fact that they have managed to win all eight matches in Liga F and are top of their Champions League group is a testament to the efforts of everyone on the field.
Different types of strikers
However, whilst the absence of Putellas’ creativity has been covered by the new direct style of play and the decision to push the likes of Guijarro further up the pitch, none of those changes compensates for the goals that Barcelona Femení have lost through the playmaker’s absence, and the departure of Hermoso will not have helped matters in that regard.
The main issue that they have this season is that Hermoso was not a typical striker, in that, as mentioned, she tended to drop back and link up with teammates in deeper positions, often acting as more of a midfielder than a centre forward. Therefore, when she was on the field, Barcelona knew that they could keep the ball on the ground and wait for their opponents to move out of line, with them following Hermoso, before playing through them and into the spaces behind.
However, their main target player now is Nigeria star Asisat Oshoala, who is much more of an out-and-out striker and someone who likes to lead the line from the front. As a result, she needs those behind her to play differently, and this is another reason that the team have been much more direct with the way that they have created opportunities this season.
They have also needed to build attacks before sending the ball into Oshoala, as, whilst Hermoso would look to involve herself in creating chances, the former Arsenal Women and Liverpool Women forward doesn’t so much. Therefore, it has been more common for triangular structures such as the one on the near side of the pitch here to appear, whilst Oshoala waits in the goal area for the ball to come her way.
This though has presented another issue, as the risk of playing this way is that a gap could appear between Oshoala and the rest of the midfielders, leaving her open to being cut off by opponents. Therefore, to bridge that gap, it has been common to see Clàudia Pina, in the white circle here, playing almost as an attacking midfielder or a second striker, dropping back behind the Nigerian and providing a link between her and those behind.
As a result, despite being a striker by trade, a good deal of Pina’s contributions on the field this season have come from outside the goal area, as shown in this graphic, and it is clear that she has slotted into the attacking midfield role that Putellas’ injury and Hermoso’s departure has left open.
Her ability to get on the ball and pass it to teammates ahead of her has been vitally important in creating opportunities and keeping Barcelona on the front foot this season, and the fact that she has continually worked hard in her new role, despite her natural instinct being to lead the line and score goals, shows again how the whole team is operating as one to ensure that performances and results do not falter.
As was shown earlier in the scout report, Barcelona want to play more directly this season, and their summer recruitment was clearly done with that in mind. As noted, Bronze and Rábano have come in to offer more threat from deeper areas, but the signing of Geyse from Madrid really highlighted how they are looking to go down a different path, tactically, this season, which would have been the case even with Putellas in the team. The Brazilian was the joint-top scorer in the league last season, alongside Oshoala, with both picking up 20 goals for their respective clubs. Having both in the side suggests that the emphasis this season is much more on staying higher up the pitch rather than having their striker drop back in the way that Hermoso did.
Geyse’s positioning against her former club in this situation highlights that point, as Guijarro has the ball and it would be easy for the Brazilian to move towards it and give her an easy passing option. However, she instead drifts away and gives Madrid a difficult choice, with them needing to decide whether to close the ball down or to get tight to Geyse. In the end, they chose the latter, but Guijarro’s clever pass meant that Barcelona managed to move the ball into the space behind anyway and the Brazilian had a shot on goal.
Some fans might have had concerns about where goals were going to come from once the extent of Putellas’ injury was confirmed, but the fact that the team as a whole have averaged 3.63 successful strikes per game so far suggests that they have found a way of being productive in the final third without her, and, with Geyse their top scorer so far with four goals, it seems that she has been a very smart signing as they look to continue posing a threat.
However, whilst the presence of Oshoala and Geyse has led to the team needing to adapt to an alternative way of creating chances, those two are not the only players who will be expected to contribute in the goal area this season. There has also been a greater focus on the need for the wide forwards to get into dangerous areas, which hasn’t changed from last season, but what has been altered is the freedom that they have to move around the pitch.
To explain, Norway forward Caroline Graham Hansen has generally played as a right winger for her club but did operate in central areas for her country at Euro 2022. As a result, Barcelona have tasked her with playing inside the field more and supporting those in the central attacking areas, with her in the yellow circle here and in a position from where she can either pass back out to the wings or turn and run towards Villarreal Femenino’s goal area.
Secondly, Mariona Caldentey, who generally played on the left of the forward line last season, has been given more freedom to get into different areas of the pitch in the current campaign, with her on the near side here and looking to either link up with Hansen or run into the space ahead of her.
However, the key point about her new role is that she is a naturally left-sided player, meaning that having her on the right side of the pitch will see her drift inside and support the striker, which is what Giráldez wants.
As a result, it has been common to see her in all three channels on the pitch this season, as the graphic indicates, and she has also dropped back to operate as a midfielder when needed in order to help keep the ball moving around. As it stands, her goal numbers will likely not be as high as 2021/2022, when she netted six times, but, if that is the case, it will be down to her involvement in a lot more of their build-up play, again helping to fill spaces that Putellas would ordinarily be occupying.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this tactical analysis has looked at the many ways that Barcelona Femení have adapted to life on the field without their captain and playmaker Alexia Putellas. It is always difficult for teams to adjust when they lose important players, and many clubs have spent the last months working out how to go about their business without them. However, as this scout report has shown, Giráldez’s new tactics and subtle alterations on the pitch have helped Barcelona to be as impressive as ever, for which he and they deserve a lot of credit.
The fact still remains though that they are without their leader and arguably most influential player for the majority of the season, and that presents issues when thinking about how many titles they can compete for. The Liga F title is virtually a given, but the Champions League is another story, with them losing in the final last season to Lyon Féminin. As a result, fans will be desperate for them to reclaim their title, but the question is whether her absence will ultimately prove to be their undoing as they try to make that dream a reality.
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