View: Carla Ward must prevent Aston Villa drop off against big teams
Aston Villa Women suffered another damaging defeat as they were easily swatted aside by a rampant Arsenal side who continue to hunt down leaders Chelsea in the WSL.
Things started to well for Carla Ward’s side, with Kirsty Hanson’s sixth-minute strike giving the Villans an early lead. In fact, Villa restricted Arsenal for the first third of the match, before Rachel Corsie put through her own net and brought the visitors back on level terms.
Despite the 4-1 defeat, Villa can take a lot of heart from their performance in the opening period of the match, and it’s something Ward will be looking for her side to replicate in the coming weeks and months. However, what changed so much in the remainder of the fixture to give the Gunners such an easy route to victory?
The first area to look at is the possession statistics. During the first 15 minutes of the game, Villa obtained 57 per cent of the play (Wyscout), which allowed them to create the early chance to give them the lead. However, from the 30-minute mark onwards, the visitors managed to grasp back control of the game, with the amount of possession Villa had reducing by ten per cent.
This could well be down to Arsenal’s quality shining through or a drop in concentration from Ward’s side, which can happen when you’re playing the best teams in the WSL.
One key stat which demonstrated Villa’s passing deteriorating during the match was the number of passes before they lost possession. In the first third of the match, Villa were averaging seven passes before Arsenal won the ball back, after the 30-minute mark, this dropped to four.
However, this was not entirely Villa’s fault. Arsenal were far from their best in the first period, but were rejuvenated in the second half and looked to win the ball back at every single opportunity. The Gunners’ passes per defensive action (PPDA) was much improved from the first part of the game and made it hard for Villa to retain possession.
Arsenal went from allowing 12 passes before winning the ball back to seven during the remainder of the game. Villa simply couldn’t hold onto the ball for a considerable period of time to really give themselves a platform to get back into the game with. Considering they conceded three goals in the second half, looking to retain possession better is something the Villans must work on.
Against the better teams, Ward must find a way to react to them by upping their performance levels, much like Arsenal did at Villa Park. Whether that be looking to match their opponents’ pressing or potentially sitting deeper and remaining more compact.
Her side’s PPDA barely changed from the start of the game, which allowed their visitors to take their time in possession and for their creative players to make things happen. Potentially changing the formation and looking to be proactive against the better teams could be something the Villa boss looks at.
Considering the Arsenal defeat was the second damaging defeat in a row, she will certainly have lots to contemplate when it comes to facing the biggest teams in the WSL.
In other Aston Villa news, Unai Emery will be rubbing his hands together as Jorge Mendes pushes Joao Felix to move to Aston Villa.