The Kansallinen Liiga might not be one of the most prestigious leagues in the European women’s game, but there is no doubt that it has provided its fair share of stories over the years and has given those who follow it moments of both joy and anguish.
Last season saw KuPS Naiset secure a historic league and cup double, but they will face a challenge to retain their top-flight title this year, with a number of teams looking to dethrone them and indicating their credentials as each week goes by. It certainly promises to be an enthralling campaign full of twists and turns.
The side currently leading the title fight is HJK Helsinki Naiset. They are a team who know what it takes to win the Finnish top flight trophy, having done so 23 times before now. Their reputation as one of the nation’s strongest female sides is not undeserved and has come through the calibre of players who have worn their shirt at one time or another, with Arsenal Women legend Marieanne Spacey-Cale, AC Milan Femmenile forward Oona Sevenius and current squad member Essi Sainio, who has spent a period of time competing for Turbine Potsdam and Freiburg Frauen in the Frauen-Bundesliga, all among those to have donned it over the years.
Whilst they have been experiencing a drought in recent times, having last lifted the trophy back in 2019, Arttu Heinonen’s team are not a side to underestimate, and this tactical analysis will highlight why a 24th league title could well be on the horizon.
Transitional precision
When watching HJK Helsinki Naiset play, what becomes immediately obvious is that they have a distinct idea of how they want to operate and that there is a strong sense of unity and teamwork in everything that they do. That comes across particularly well when looking at how they move the ball up the field during transitional phases of play.
Building attacks starts from the back for HJK, with their centre-backs being tasked in each match with controlling the flow of their play and with deciding when to move the ball up the field and when to be more conservative, with it clear that what underpins so much of their play is a desire to never take unnecessary risks.
It is for that reason that situations like this, when the defensive trio of Jasmin Mansaray, Maaria Roth and Helmi Raijas are positioned close to each other and are looking to pass between themselves, have been prevalent in their play, and it is not a case of them being too negative, but simply that they don’t want to see the ball lost in transit and to hand their opponents easy opportunities to regain the ball and to launch attacks of their own from dangerous areas of the field.
On this occasion, as they have in many games, the back three picked their moment well as Raijas ended up passing the ball towards Jenna Topra on the nearside wing, and that then allowed HJK to start to find ways through the JyPK Naiset lines and into their third.
That theme of not looking to take risks continues regardless of where the ball is on the field, though, and that is a key point to make about HJK’s play. Here, it has found its way into the path of Veera Hellman in space inside the field, and it would have been easy for her to make a one-touch pass and to try to speed things up in a bid to probe the Ilves Naiset defensive line before they had had a chance to set up in a defensive shape.
However, this doesn’t enter her thoughts. Instead, she stays true to the mantra that every HJK player seems to have drilled into them. Here, she holds onto the ball, looks around her, and then decides where she will send it next. This calmness and composure are one of the reasons that HJK has averaged 61.86% possession per game and registered an 80% passing accuracy across their seven matches to date.
What any team who looks to play at a constant pace when in transition needs is players who can drift between roles and an ability to always have passing options available, and that is something that has become a key component in both the modern men’s and women’s games.
However, there is always a need for one or two players to stay in their roles for the entirety of a game in order to ensure that everything else works to its full potential, and the player that HJK look to for that is Elisa Ikonen. Time after time, it is her who floats around the central third and who looks to bridge the gap between the defensive and attacking units in her team, and there is rarely a phase of play that goes by without her being involved in one way or another.
It is for this reason that teams have continually looked to mark her out of the game, with PK-35 Helsinki Naiset’s Minami Oi getting tight to her here and looking to prevent her from finding a teammate in an advanced position, and the thinking behind this is sound and does on paper lead to PK-35 having a chance to tackle Ikonen and to win the ball in a promising area. However, what has led to this being largely ineffective is that Ikonen knows how to deal with these situations and never loses her composure, with her here taking the ball around her opponent before feeding the ball into her teammates’ paths ahead of her and allowing them to work their magic.
What is also important to point out here is the confidence that Ikonen’s teammates had in her, with none of them looking to drop deep to help her out but instead holding their positions and trusting in their teammate to overcome the immediate issue at hand and to then find them where they currently are. With Ikonen registering a 78.8% passing accuracy so far this season, there is certainly plenty of evidence to suggest that that is the right approach to take, and it highlights again why HJK’s well-executed transitions have been so key to them taking an early lead in the Kansallinen Liiga standings.
Attacking threat
This ability to work as one and to demonstrate precision and cleverness when in possession does not end once the ball moves into the final third though, with HJK Helsinki Naiset continuing in that mindset when looking to fashion goalscoring opportunities. It is this that has led to them being so potent in front of goal, with 19 goals to their name so far (an average of 2.71 per game).
Once again, player movement has been pivotal to everything that they have done well, with it clear to see that what makes HJK so difficult to contain is their positional flexibility and the fact that they have players who can operate in multiple areas of the field and who can drift between them without giving it a second thought. In this case, the ball has been sent towards forward Sara Sievistö from a throw-in, and she has dropped deep to control it, with it appearing as though she will look to turn and run with the ball once she has it under control.
However, it quickly becomes clear that this is only a ruse and that Sievistö’s only aim here was to plant an image into the minds of the PK-35 players around her, and it worked as Venla Haikala followed her and fell into her trap, which then opened up a gap for Sievistö’s teammate Emmaliina Tulkki to exploit. The fact that Oi didn’t react in time and so was unable to get back to close the gap demonstrates the speed at which HJK make these adjustments and once again highlights the unity that has been so paramount to everything that they do, as well as creating a sense of mystery and unpredictability that has led to them being so tough to keep out.
As with the previous section of the scout report, there are players who really stand out and deserve a mention for making this possible. One who epitomises the unpredictability in HJK’s play is the aforementioned Topra.
When looking at her heatmap for the season so far, it is clear to see that she makes a lot of vertical movements, which is to be expected given that she plays more often than not as one of the wing-backs. However, what is interesting is that she also likes to get into central areas once inside the final third, and that leads to moments like this when she angles her body so as to keep her opponents guessing and so again gives her team options on the ball. Here, she has JyPK’s Katariina Niskanen ahead of her, but the latter player doesn’t know which way Topra will go, and she is able to move towards the line or further infield.
In the end, she goes for the second of those options and gets a shot away at goal, which might have failed to lead to anything but highlighted the danger that Topra poses. With her having scored four goals and provided two assists, as well as seeing 67.3% of her dribbles and 63.1% of her offensive duels be successful, there is no doubting her role in the team as an all-rounder and someone who will therefore be vital for HJK to keep fit if they are to mount a serious title challenge.
Many of the points made so far in this analysis have highlighted the tactical intricacies rife within HJK’s game plan, which might have provided the impression that they are a one-dimensional side with only one way of playing whenever they are on the attack.
However, the truth is very much the opposite, with HJK capable of adapting to different circumstances and altering their tactics to suit what is happening in front of them. This was shown in no small way during the match against JyPK, with the visitors allowing the league leaders to implement their usual passing sequences and to play with the same patience as they have done throughout the season, but they changed things up later in the match and looked to press with intent from the front whenever they could. As a result, HJK no longer had the time and space to play with and so needed to find an alternative way of creating goalscoring opportunities.
What they looked to do was to adopt tactics that relied heavily on counterattacks down the wing, with them using the spaces that were left open by JyPK’s own wing-backs pushing high up the field to then cross the ball into the middle and to test the back three whilst they were exposed. The speed at which they made these deliveries also caught the eye, with Elli-Noora Kainulainen not waiting to send the ball in here as she might have done in other circumstances and instead looking to find Lilli Halttunen inside the goal area as soon as she had spotted her position.
This is not something that HJK do all the time and it didn’t lead to anything here as Leena Torpo managed to put the ball behind for a corner, but the fact that 54.8% of their counterattacks have led to shots on goal shows how this is another method in which they can move the ball up the field and can create shots on goal, again highlighting the unpredictable nature of their tactics.
Defensive tactics
The fact that HJK Helsinki Naiset play in such a careful manner when building attacks has other advantages too, in that they don’t tend to leave themselves too open whenever they do lose the ball and so haven’t let many goals into their own net, with just three conceded during their seven games so far.
This is largely down to them once again having an understanding of how they want to defend and what the key focuses should be on, and one thing that is very noticeable is that they work hard when the ball is further towards the wings to close down angles rather than to close players down with presses.
That was shown clearly here as KuPS’s North Macedonia forward Gentjana Rochi took the ball up to the goal line but quickly found that any passing options inside her had been cut off as a result of Noora Karvonen making an angled run alongside her that left just a shot on goal from an acute angle as her only option.
As a result, KuPS had seen a chance of finding the back of the net be quickly snuffed out, and the fact that these clever runs have been seen in many of HJK’s games this season highlights how this situation is not a one-off and is instead just one example of something that they have worked hard on whilst on the training ground.
Another thing that has been prevalent in HJK’s defensive play has been the compact nature of their back three, with them always remaining tight to each other and forming a metaphorical brick wall whenever opponents do look to be in a strong position from which they can test HJK’s resolve.
On this occasion, there were actually two lines between the ball and the goal, making it doubly difficult for HPS Naiset to find a way through, and the fact that Anna-Stina Simonen’s effort travelled wide of the target showed how this defensive shape has been just as key to HJK’s ability to keep their opponents out, with their teamwork once again clear to see and that being the reason that just 38% of their opponent’s shots on goal have been on target.
However, as with their attacking play, HJK are not a team who simply rely on well-rehearsed strategies and on repeating the same techniques to protect their goal, with them also capable of resorting to basic instincts when there is a need for them to simply put a body in the way and to engage in 1-v-1 duels.
Against FC Honka Naiset, this was especially vital as they are a side who like to favour a fast-flowing style of football and who like to get their key players into dangerous areas as quickly as possible. Ilona Walta, who has the ball here, demonstrated her goal threat and overall quality during a recent match against PK-35 Vantaa, and she has managed to penetrate the HJK goal area here, too, but she was prevented from getting a shot away at goal by Raijas coming across to make a well-timed block.
This again highlights how HJK can meet different demands as and when they need to adapt and can ensure that they never make it easy for their opponents to play against them. The fact that Raijas has won 62.5% of her individual defensive duels so far highlights how she has been just as important when her team has been under pressure as she has been when they have been launching attacks from inside their own third.
There is no doubting that HJK have been a better team defensively so far this season when compared to the last one, with this graphic indicating how they had a high propensity for conceding goals inside their own penalty area in 2023 and have not done so as much this time around. Instead, they have been making more blocks and have generally looked to improve on what let them down last time, and that shows how they have progressed and are reaping the rewards of that.
Again, it comes down to them getting the basics right, and that really has been the key theme throughout this analysis. Their transitions and final-third successes are all the result of them not taking risks and of every player knowing their roles at each stage of the game. Therefore, if asked to identify one reason that they have been so tough to beat this season, that really sums things up nicely and highlights why they are looking like champions once again.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this tactical analysis has looked in detail at current Kansallinen Liiga leaders HJK Helsinki Naiset, highlighting the tactics that they have played with in offensive and defensive situations and indicating the role that their careful transitions have had in allowing them to control the flow and tempo of their matches.
The season is still very young and there is plenty of time for others to catch up with them, with second-placed KuPS only six points behind and looking strong whilst FC Honka also look like they could cause problems whenever they step out onto the pitch.
However, after so many years of the title being kept firmly out of their grasp, perhaps now really is the time for HJK to relive former memories of lifting the trophy into the air and adding yet another entry to their honours board, which certainly looks like a distinct possibility.
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