Sam Stone

Wed 11 January 2023 20:40, UK

It’s been a busy start to the January transfer window for Carla Ward and Aston Villa with the Villans capturing the signings of Jordan Nobbs and Lucy Staniforth.

Villa currently sit seventh in the Women’s Super League and have enjoyed a mixed start to the season, however, the club are showing plenty of ambition on and off the pitch with two marquee additions so early in the January window.

The Women’s Super League has seen four teams pull clear at the top of the table this season and it will take one of Villa, Everton or West Ham to go on a good run to close the gap at the top. Villa could look very different when they kickstart their campaign against Tottenham on 4 January, with Staniforth and Nobbs potentially both making their debuts.

It will be intriguing to see how Ward utilises Staniforth. The 30-year-old has only featured four times for Manchester United in the 2022/23 season and could well be a player who takes some time to get up to speed. Nevertheless, she’s an experienced campaigner and here Villa News takes a look at how the midfielder matches up to Ward’s current options.

Laura Blindkilde Brown, Kenza Dali, Remi Allen and new signing Nobbs will likely be the players Staniforth will be competing with for a spot in Villa’s midfield.

From a creativity standpoint, Staniforth could well provide the Villans with an increased number of passes into the final third.

The 30-year-old averages nearly ten passes into the final third per match, which is considerably more than any of Villa’s current midfielders. Furthermore, she doesn’t seem to be afraid to take a risk, with over six longer passes completed per 90 minutes.

However, when it comes to attacking output, Staniforth does struggle somewhat. Her expected goals are the lowest out of Villa’s midfield options, which indicates she may have been brought to Villa Park to undertake a specific role.

The 31-year-old is also not in the side for her defensive ability, with the former Manchester United play on par with the rest of Villa’s midfielders when it comes to defensive duel success rate.

However, Ward has signed a player who has immense technical ability and could allow the Villans to keep the ball far more effectively.

One outstanding measure of Staniforth’s technical ability is her success rate when it comes to dribbling.

Her 83 per cent success rate dwarfs the rest of Villa’s attacking midfielders and demonstrates she is more than capable of holding onto the ball in tight spaces and beating a player when she needs to. Furthermore, her ability to maintain possession when passing is also particularly impressive.

Much like fellow new signing Nobbs, she averages a high number of passes per 90 minutes and will always look to be progressive whenever she can be, with the 31-year-old managing 17 forward passes per 90 min, which is the highest out of Ward’s attacking midfield options.

With Staniforth and Nobbs now midfield options, the Villans will hopefully be able to sustain longer periods of attacking pressure in the second half of the season. The best teams in the WSL can maintain pressure and break their opponents down, which is something Aston Villa must improve on.

This looks like a smart piece of business which could reap rewards in the second half of the season.

In other Aston Villa news, Rachel Daly should be played as centre-forward for the Lionesses in 2023 after her stunning campaign in the West Midlands.