Great analysis and impressive turnaround on producing the video. My summary is that Coach Hayes' training message was "Everyone on this team is a great passer, but you can't pass well if you didn't know where your teammates are going to be. Here are three attack patterns and one set play, so you always know where your teammates are. "
Thanks for showing the longer sequence on Mal’s first goal. Looking at Lindsey and Cat’s movement before Girma sends the ball forward. Lindsey’s thrust pulls the line back and opens the lane for Mal. Great hold up and turn by Sophie, who had been clattered by that defender. Beautiful
it’s crazy how emma was able to implement tactics I haven’t seen from this team in years in just a week when vlatko couldn’t do that for nearly his entire tenure
someone recommended this video in the comments of Tobin's re inc video about this game and I'm so glad I came over! I've been watching football for about a year now and I'm only just starting to understand the positions and formations so this was incredibly helpful! I'll definitely be subbing :)
Great insight! Thanks !Have loved Emma’s press conferences so far. She rightly has huge expectations of her front four and they were slow to get going as I think the altitude caught a few of them by surprise. I think Emma is right to want the team passing faster and making quicker decisions, I am just not sure there is enough practice time before the Olympics for her to coach them (or for Cat to get back her form and comfort level), but I hope I am wrong. Lovely to see the Girma- Smith-Swanson connection. Equally lovely to see Rose being Rose and Shaw being Shaw indicating how potent timely subs will be for the US under Emma. And who doesn’t love tall girls getting to score twice on headers from perfect service (was anyone coaching Korea’s defense?)! Great to see Emma’s decision to name a coach for set pieces (30 percent of all goals) paying off instantly. Emma is a real one and we should all be excited to see if she can help us beat the Spanish squad among others. Now if only the US men can get Klopp as a coach, American soccer really could roar at the next World Cup! (and keep you doing brilliant analysis for at least the next 5 years!)😉
Glad to hear you enjoyed this one, thanks for the kind words. I thought Emma was really forthcoming tactically in both the pre and postgame interview, it was nice to see. Cat had her moments but overall looked off and nervous, I think there's time for her to settle individually but agree that getting everyone integrated will be more challenging. Rose was a big highlight for me, she looked aggressive and somehow effortless, I loved watching her. The set piece coach was definitely worth it, excited to see more looks there but you're right it won't be that easy again, no adjustments from S Korea was unfortunate.
thank you for this!! very glad i saw it and that i'll be able to then watch tuesday's game with this in mind! what i found interesting after reading the commonds was the comparison between this and chelsea. and i find it interesting not because it looks so similar but that it looks so different. the triangle attack and the simple corner that each had a brace this game and clearly were intentional plays were...not the type of goals chelsea scores. for reference, here's the type of goals chelsea tends to score: 1) everyone being very near the goal and in the box, with goals especially coming from to opposition mistakes 2) crosses from wide into the box--which are much easier to score in the wsl, where marking is often nonexistent 3) breaking the backline through balls over the top, through balls, or just speed overall, in the league, the vast majority of chelsea's goals rely on being faster or more skilled than the opposition, rather than having set attacking patterns (though of course many of the players have simply internalized where to move, with no set attacking patterns needed) for the first type, the triangle attack goal, there's four 23-24 chelsea goals that i can think of that fit. first is erin cuthbert's goal against west ham back in october--it was the goal most similar to mal's two yesterday iirc. second is erin's goal against everton back in february, though i think that involved more than three players and probably wasn't a very perfect triangle. third is cat's first chelsea goal, which was also a short little through ball in a triangle-ish shape. finally, guro reiten's third goal against bristol city last month, which was assisted by cat, was also kind of like the mal goals. but that's four out of the record-breaking 71 total wsl goals, which, to do the math, is...very little. but i guess that makes sense? when you've been together as long as chelsea has, you don't need to follow set patterns of attack, and those patterns probably find you more than you find them! i find the corner situation quite funny, actually. i've seen a number of people get excited after the game about the set piece revival under emma hayes, and then i've also see chelsea fans see those posts and laugh. for context, you may know this, but emma brought her set piece coach from chelsea along with her. his name is stuart, and he's actually also the goalkeeping coach, and i didn't know until a couple days ago that he was even the set piece coach! goalkeeping legend, set-piece ability i'm a little unsure about... defensively, check out last month's liverpool game highlights if you're curious 🙃 offensively, though, what i find most funny is that chelsea, this season, NEVER scored from corners. with a caveat: cat macario. to be specific, chelsea scored from a corner in their second league game all the way back in october--but about five different people touched the ball between eve perisset taking the corner and guro toeing it in. the next time we scored a goal from a corner was five months later, in march against leicester--funnily enough, in cat's debut game, but it was actually before she came in. it wasn't a direct goal either--it was hit by leicester player and then bounced twice before it was kicked in. (memorably for me, it was one of our player's first chelsea goal, and the commentator's description was "what a weird goal!") ok, finally getting to the real stuff. chelsea's first goal scored DIRECTLY from a corner was against west ham on march 24, which was...quite far into the season! there were many, many wasted corners along the way, lmao. another fun fact: i was there!! however, it still wasn't a header, but other than that it fits the mark. the corner was taken by cat, obviously, and erin was left open at the back post, like tierna yesterday! as for the first corner-to-header goal, that was scored even farther into the season, on april 17, with the service also from cat. (another one that was a player's first ever chelsea goal!) chelsea's next goal was also a corner-to-header; different goalscorer, but also taken by cat. anyway, the moral of the story is that chelsea literally did not score from corners until cat came into the picture. so yes, we should be expecting some actual threats from corners now (even if done very simply), but it's not a chelsea or emma hayes thing per say. i'm mostly just grateful that we've been freed from the corners of sam coffey. thank you sam, you're amazing, but let's stick with cat and mal on those corners for now...😅
I wish I'd seen enough of Chelsea to really compare but so far what I think I'm seeing is the pace, intensity, and fluidity looks like Chelsea, the actual execution to get there is quite different though. For your three categories: 1) Think we started to see them getting closer to this look a little in the second half - they'd make it to the box but without time left to really set up shop and pass 2) Don't remember really seeing this - playing in 3D is what I miss most about english football 3) Don't remember them really trying this either, there was no space left in behind when they'd play the long ball I think you're right on the mark with triangle pattern, it's the most basic fundamental shape in football so Chelsea probably aren't even intentionally setting up like that, it was just a naturally forming shape for 4 goals. Funny though Cuthbert is 2/4, she's struck me as a player that just does the basics well beyond everyone else. I'm so curious about the set piece coach, I definitely want to do a bit of googling on him. Didn't realize he was the GK coach too but I think that's sort of genius, a good GK coach is incredibly hard to find but the ones that rock are usually encyclopedias and remember every attacking setup used in history. Just the person you want tinkering with set pieces. I'd imagine a lot of the value is defensive as well. It's much more boring to talk about in the video so it didn't make it but the US looked very disciplined defending corners and frees with a lot of movement, they didn't get drawn and just played their roles nicely, so I liked that a lot. Will compare to Liverpool game, thanks for the heads up. Scoring off set pieces is a whole different beast but you're not going to win an international tournament without that in your tool belt. West Ham, bet that was a fun match to be at! That goal sounds like absolute chaos, agreed it going in off the foot isn't the desired effect so that's 1 corner goal already crossed off the good list. And then west ham again later in the year? Some issue going on there it sounds like. My biggest takeaway from the summary - setup is important but nothing's more critical than the kick. You can plan every look you want but if someone can't execute that kick with about 95% accuracy it's pointless. A lot of Coffey's balls looked too fast and whippy to me. Personally I'd rather the ball takes longer to drop and fight for positioning vs fighting the ball itself and trying to keep my nose in one piece. Appreciate all your thoughts!
I love the way you break down the action so a novice like me can start to understand what teams are trying to do. I'm excited to see Emma finally at the helm and hope her success at the club level translates to the international game.
Would love a video discussing players such as Demelo and Sanchez specifically but also broadly players like sullivan, thompson, & debernardo and if you think they have a future with the USWNT, what they would need to do for a call up, whether or not they fit into Emmas style, what they did wrong etc.
I told people, Emma Hayes is gonna make USWNT fire to be feared by other nations. Some silly US fans are still skeptical. I am not a US citizen, neither have I been there but as a Chelsea fan, I know who Emma really is. Best women coach. USWNT is my team now. I love watching teams coaced by Emma Hayes. Go go go USWNT.
Welcome to team USA! They're so much fun to watch and I can imagine it'll only be better having followed Emma Hayes, the team is for sure lucky to have her
enjoyed the quick breakdown. cautiously optimistic about the changes. first 30ish minutes yesterday was frustrating, poor passing, slow passing, heavy touches, too much passing. you could hear Hayes for most of the first half yelling "too many passes". the team seemed to get more focused towards the end of the first half and all through the 2nd. front line looked more dynamic, playing off each other better. optimistic, but, this was S Korea, 30th ranked team in the world, who is not going to the Olympics and lost to N Korea of all teams. the thing that still worries me is teams who can counter against this play. S Korea did not really test our defense in any way. will these glimpses of dynamic play carry on against the top teams? we shall see.
Agreed the first 30 wasn't great, they looked very stiff. Once they settled players seemed to be following the same plan but executing things in more of their own way and it opened play up a lot. There were glimpses of a few nice structure things defensively but we definitely can't read too much into this, the US dominated possession and Campbell wasn't tested. Great start though!
I think Coach Hayes has an idea of what she has and she will play to their strengths, she understands the US culture and players. So called beautiful futball can look different than what Spain plays, that style of play is just one way to play so called beautiful futball.
@@BusyWatchingWomensSoccer Your breakdown analysis of the structure of attack is what i have been looking for and asking questions about!! Yes - i am just a fan but want to be able to understand the game. (so I am a new subscriber) i looked at the stats [4 goals; 9 on-target; 15 shots] w/ 67% time of possession and was encouraged. I looked at the last set of friendies and was worried (S Korea 2019 Victory Tour) that it was a draw; then saw that that squad was ranked 20 and this is ranke 30 --- too bad they have fallen right now. Anyway, any thoughts about Spain vs US style? another video? in the 2019 world cup there was a feeling Spain just needed to get better in the final 3rd --- and they seem to have done so. However, in looking at their 2-0 victory against France in Women's Nation's League, I was not impressed. it seemed that the first goal was a delected attempt at a weak pass into a cutter across the front which was deflected by the defensive back past the keeper. The second one seemed a mental lapse by one French player just jogging behind the wide play who suddenly 'remembered' she was to mark Aitana Bonmati --- whoops. Do you think it will be a USWNT vs Spain at the Olympics or am I a couple of years too early?
@@kevinkanter2537 Glad to hear this hit the mark, thanks for following along. It's interesting you point out the possession at 67% because I'd hazard a guess that's close to Spain's possession percentage against France - I'm used to seeing them dominate possession but how the US and Spain are choosing to spend their time on the ball looks very different. I haven't seen that game but you've sold me on adding it to my watch list! Olympics is going to be tough, I wouldn't be completely shocked to see either team not make it to the final because there's going to be great match ups at the quarter and semi-finals. If the US can build enough momentum I think they've got a real shot.
Thanks for doing this quick analysis! Like you, I noticed the center backs coming forward a lot, being part of the attack. That's definitely something new, and very welcome, though I expect it will only be used against certain teams. And about those set pieces - the USWNT was excellent on set pieces under Jill Ellis, they look good already under Emma Hayes, but they were *terrible* on set pieces under Vlatko. Any thoughts on why?
Doesn't shock me to hear the other british-ish coach had the team tighter on set pieces! Under Vlatko I feel like I've seen 1-2 flavors of set piece, but on the setup they read very clearly as a ball to Horan. It's just too predictable and leaves no room for error if the ball isn't perfect. If they're going to stick to Horan as route one I think they need to establish other legitimate options (If you're an American football guy I'm thinking establish the run before you turn to the play-action) to free her up. The match gave me the sense that Hayes and her set piece coach are feeling out what they have right now before picking out a few more complex setups to work in.
Hey Bridie!! Thanks for mention of the "triangle." I thought it was okay. In my opinion, not super effective or consistent. I think the preoccupation with forming a triangle was at times limiting to specific attacks and specific attacking moments/ situation. I think the triangle was definitely more effective with some of the second half players like Lavelle, in part because Lavelle is such a devasting player to go up against. Additionally, the addition of Dunn, a fourth player ("triangle +1"), into the mix in the attacking third made it much scarier to defend against, in my opinion. For the first half, I felt that the first attacking three weren't super coordinated regarding the triangle and that it was really the athleticism and inherent skill of these players which were more threatening than the triangle itself. To be honest, the triangle looked clumsy against that 5 line. I wonder if more than 3 women are needed to break a 5 line or at least a different strategy or shape (i.e., rectangle/ pentagon). Looking back against the game against China last year, I remember the three attackers of the U.S. struggling to break through that 5 line of the Chinese. This is why I like the addition of a fourth (Dunn) and possibly a fifth. Imagine if 3+ speed demons/ dribblers are running at your backline - uh oh! I get that this is a transition attack style based off a formation, but I think having additionally runners (which the U.S. is blessed with on the wings) would be a great idea; perhaps a rectangle or pentagon attacking formation with Rodman and Dunn... Additionally, I think the U.S. needs a transition formation alongside other transition attacking strategies like the rectangle. That would be cool. I liked the longball strategy, but in my eye, that 5 line is good defense against a lot. USA crossing struggled, and I think, like you, working in the box was better. Great vid Bridie! See you next time!
Hi ZB! I like your point about the athleticism and skill gap being a factor. The triangle wasn't all that effective for much of the game, and I think that's a reflection of the transitional moments being poor. Where they did have success in transition it was less about patterns of movement and more the skill gap, this would've looked very different against a top 10 ranked team. The idea around adding a 4th or 5th attacker is important against that 5 line. The US never really got set deep in the attacking third and in a position to pass the ball around the box, but once they start building on this that'll probably be where they go next, more depth to the shape to allow them to find the spaces in between the back line. Excited to see how this one develops. If the the crossing got better that would be a cool one!
By the way, great recognition of the center backs involvement. I think its an excellent and common sense idea for them to be more directly involved! With Naomi and Davidson at the back I have all the faith in the world in added utilization of the center backs!@BusyWatchingWomensSoccer
I'm hoping we see a lot of turnover, maybe last game's subs as starters and players like Yohannes and Hershfelt as subs. If she's seriously considering taking either of them they'll play but she might be more focused on team building than player evaluation.
I doubt she starts them. Definitely think the starters should be the unit likely to start or get significant time at the Olympics, but I hope to see those two around the 60th min mark. Especially Lily
@@uniikdiscord5666 I highly doubt that will be the deciding factor. I would think Emma has been in conversation with Lily. She likely has no shot at the Olympic roster so it’s understandable that her first cap might not come until the next camp afterwards. It could also hint to the fact that she might not yet be ready, even if that’s surprising to hear. I would like to see her for 15-20 min though.
@@candacelong7643 In her interview she said she's scouting between the Dutch & the Us for the team that can give her playing time, the Us simply has too much midfielders for her to even be considered as a starter meanwhile, the Netherlands has only 3 quality midfielders.
Was curious to see where Macario would play. I do think the 10 suits her but i wonder if she’ll get pushed up more often considering we don’t have much depth at the 9 and now have SO many options at the 10… Lavelle, Shaw, Moultrie, Bethune, Sanchez. Ever Dunn or Horan too. Wonder if we’d ever see a double 10 formation like the OG NC courage. Maybe a double 6 base of Coffey & Horan. Macario and 1 of any of the 10’s. And a front 2 of Swanson smith or Rodman (would love to see this for Rodman so she doesn’t have to do as much defensive work)
I’d love to see two 10s, definitely the personnel to make it work. Lavelle and Horan at 10 and Cat at 9 would be a fun experiment. So much depth at the forward and attacking mid group like you mentioned, it should allow Hayes to rotate through different looks if needed
This team has a long way to go! Unfortunately, passing and creating does not come natural for some players but the USWNT program won't expand their player pool for individuals who are better suited to run the system that Emma Hayes would like. Without great performances from Swanson and others, the USWNT will probably not make it out of their group at the Olympics
I think passing to break down the low block is going to determine the team’s fate at the Olympics, Swanson certainly could be a big part of that. Hopefully overtime they can get the right mix of developing existing talent vs identifying the type of intuitive passers needed, it really is going to be the bread and butter of the team.
Passing doesn’t have to come natural but you can certainly develop into a competent and reliable passer. For example, that first goal. That pass by Soph I wouldn’t have expected even a year ago but she has already improved her passing for both club and country despite not being a natural playmaker in comparison to goal scoring. Under Hayes many of the players will improve their skills
I think both individuals will be the future of the USWNT but right now, I don't see us making it out of our group in the Olympics. I can see teams employing pressure to thwart our offensive attacks and we are vulnerable for counter attacks
@@wishbone1490 Two third place group finishers making the quarter finals may end up being important! There's going to be no easy games regardless, a lot more pressure coming their way for sure.
The games are been broadcasting badly, from too far away, I mean, you can not even recognize the player, compare with the World Cup videos. No slow motion play back ether
Couldn't agree more, every game is broadcast from space. I think the problem is the stadiums have camera locations to suit American football instead of soccer and networks don't show enough replay or analysis in the downtime because they're too busy trying to show ads. Hopefully more viewers will improve it!
Thanks for showing the longer sequence on Mal’s first goal. Looking at Lindsey and Cat’s movement before Girma sends the ball forward. Lindsey’s thrust pulls the line back and opens the lane for Mal. Great hold up and turn by Sophie, who had been clattered by that defender. Beautiful
