Generally, they are not afraid to recycle

possession until they see an opening and then

they exploit it. Creating numerical superiority
in the first phase of play, however, is the
foundation on which they build their attacks
further. This gives the centre-backs the freedom
to move forward safely without having to
engage the opposition in duels.
Usually, one midfielder will drop to conn a situation where they have an impossible
decision to make.
You can see the basic structure behind those
tactics in the image above. The opposition’s
midfield has to decide whether to press the
full-back or one of the midfielders but choosing
either frees the other man as a direct result.
Of course, the goalie then has to find his
teammate with an accurate pass and by failing
that, the whole concept and the attack break
down immediately. Still, even if the opposition
invest more players to mark out of the options,
Ramírez also likes to drop his wingers deeper
to receive the ball either directly from the goalie
or from the backline, whoever is in possession
at that time. This, once again, ensures the
numerical superiority is always on their side.
But there’s also an interesting concept I’ve
noticed them utilise in a couple of games and
that is the use of inverted full-backs. These
tactics are both used as a tool to advance the
play from deep and occupy the right spaces and
markers higher up the pitch to set ect with
the back three and outplay the pressing duo
while the other midfield works together with the
full-back to push the other markers higher up
the pitch, creating a pocket of space to exploit.
These are, however, juGenerally, they are not afraid to recycle. This
will give us an indication of how often they
dribble and successfully deliver a cross along
with its frequency. Immediately, we can see a
widespread set of players across the graph. The
players in the top right quadrant are the best
performers, in this case, Cascarino finds herself
there with 10.72 dribbles per 90 along with 6.4
crosses per 90 with a 33% success rate. The
average crossing accuracy rate here is 30%,
making her accuracy higher than her European
counterparts. There seems to be a correlation
when crossing frequencies and success rates
are high, as the dribbling statistics seem to
be high as well, which could mean they play
in teams that afford them space and time to
transition.
Lastly, we will be analysing ball progression.
Using progressive runs is an indicator of how
often a player can carry possession drawing
the team closer to the opposition’s goal, along
with the number of dribbles per 90, we can
understand how effective Cascarino is in this
metric. The darker circles represent a higher
number of dribbles success rate. We notice
that Cascarino is ranked amongst the highest
performers with 2.8 progressive runs and 10.72
dribbles per 90, with a success rate of 61%.
What this illustrates is that Cascarino is one of
the best ball progressors in Europe which is a
vital asset for a winger, especially when coming
up against teams that are likely to sit deep and
soak up pressure.
11

Which WSL club is the

best fit for Cascarino?
T hrough Total Football Analysis’ data team, we were able to use a team profiling
method
to determine which clubs in the WSL ranked in
relation to Olympique Lyon’s metrics in Division
1 Feminine. The data was used to compare and
see how well each WSL club fared against Lyon
under certain metrics including PPDA, passes,
crosses, dribbles, shots, duel intensity, and
possession. This would give us an indication of
the team that is closest to Olympique Lyon in
terms of the aforementioned metrics. Each WSL
team was ranked against Lyon’s score of 12.
The below graphic illustrates Lyon’s style of play
based on the metrics, and we can see that they
are a possession-based team who use the wide
areas as their primary method of attacks.
The top five teams are Chelsea (5), Everton (4),
West Ham (4), Manchester City (3), and Arsenal
(3). What this means is Chelsea are the closest
team to Lyon and would be best placed to
replicate their domination. However, it’s clear to
see how dominant Lyon are with their score of 12
and also indicates the competitiveness brewing
in the WSL. Now we need to determine which
teams would be best suited for Cascarino.
These networks show us the results for both
Arsenal and Chelsea. Notice how both teams
dominate possession and look to build up rather
than counter-attack. The main difference lies
in their preference of going wide or central,
with Chelsea preferring to utilise their wingers
whilst Arsenal capitalise on their strengths in