Data Breakdown: WSL Game 1: Chelsea Away

By Harsh Mishra

First game of a new season, away from home; away to the reigning Champions; first game under a new manager. All of this came together when Tottenham Hotspur Women played their first game under their new Swedish coach, Robert Vilahamn. Everyone expected it to be a tough game, perhaps even the toughest of the season. But Spurs held their own for large periods throughout the game. Not only that, they brought the game to Chelsea and had a fair degree of control across large spells, especially in the first half.

The game ended with Chelsea seeing out a 2-1 win, but Spurs’ attacking efforts saw them get the most shots on target against Chelsea of any team in a WSL game, in a decade.

Pass Network Maps for Chelsea vs Tottenham

As expected from his time at Häcken, Vilahamn fielded a 4231, with Drew Spence playing as the #10, and debuts for new signings Martha Thomas, Grace Clinton, Olga Ahtinen and Luana Bühler. Tottenham’s pass network above, shows the average on-the ball locations of all the starting players, up until the time of the first substitution. Ash Neville to Grace Clinton was the most played pass combination by Spurs. Without going too much in detail, Spurs’ on the ball approach was to play from the back & play it short, through the lines of pressure. The wingers started by positioning themselves wide during the buildup phase, but would then come inside with the ball, allowing the fullbacks to make runs up the pitch. Angharad James made some good runs, particularly in the first half, but her team-mates could not find her with the ball.

On the other hand, Chelsea also started in a 4231, but moved to a back 3 while on the ball. As also captured in their pass network map, the left back, Niamh Charles would push up, whereas the right back, Mjelde would stay back to form the back 3. Guro Reiten would come narrow on the inside left, dragging Angharad with her, allowing Niamh a clear path to overlap.

Passing, Carrying and Shooting events by Guro Reiten and Niamh Charles

This structure led to quite a few Chelsea chances throughout the game, where Charles and Reiten combined, or Charles was able to carry the ball into the final third and then play the ball into the penalty area. Perhaps not coincidentally, Niamh Charles ended up assisting both Chelsea goals.

Passing, Carrying and Shooting events by Olga Ahtinen and Martha Thomas

Which brings us to the reasons for Spurs creating chances, good in quantity as well as quality. Martha Thomas with her pace and relentless pressing and running in behind was the major goal scoring threat for Spurs. She ended up getting 7 out of Tottenham’s total of 15 shots, hit the post once, but eventually got her well deserved goal. Thomas’s running ability with the ball can be seen in her event map above, with a number of vertical carrying events (purple arrows). Thomas’s brilliant movement in behind was very well complimented by Olga Ahtinen’s long range passing. The Finnish midfielder twice carried the ball through Chelsea pressure and found Thomas, leading to 1v1 situations and shots on goal. Her technical quality was a big reason why Spurs were able to play out from the back, with her being able to hold onto the ball, while twisting and turning under pressure in central areas.

Passing, Carrying and Shooting events by Grace Clinton

Another player who impressed highly on their debut was the 20 year old, Manchester United loanee Grace Clinton. She had the second most touches of the ball out of all Spurs players, only behind Ash Neville. She repeatedly positioned herself on the left touch line or in the left half space and looked to cut inside with the ball and look for interplays centrally. She also had a really good curving shot from the edge of the box, which was top corner bound, if not saved by Musovic. Off the ball, she did well in coming inside to cover Nüsken & not allow inside passes, when Chelsea switched the play to their left side. It is evident that Grace has Robert Vilahamn’s trust, having been picked to start ahead of Jessica Naz and Rosella Ayane. I feel that her performance did justice to Vilahamn’s confidence in her.

Whoscored are following the WSL this season, which means that Opta’s event data will be accessible, thus helping me create visualizations like the ones above, for the Women’s team as well. I hope to make these short summary pieces a regular this season!

Also look out for a detailed tactical and statistical discussion on Vilahamn’s Spurs, once we are fair few games into the season!

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Thanks for reading.

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