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We all respect the sensational work Casey Stoney is doing at Man United Women. But attributing to her the growth of United’s players – something that started happening “coincidentally” after Tobin Heath’s and Christen Press’ arrival – is warping the truth.
I stopped watching United Women matches this season before Heath and Press started playing – after the first half of the Birmingham Women game. It was, somehow, the mess I had watched last season, with players that truly seemed to be regressing.
Then I restarted watching them in the game against Arsenal Women, with both Heath and Press integrated. The team was transformed by then.
I remember Heath coming down from the stands after the game ended – she had been subbed out earlier. She was effusive, expressive, hyping her teammates. And I started paying attention to her and her teammates dynamics during games.
United Women played Man City Women next. In that game, when United were under relentless City’s siege, at some point, Heath pulled her teammates aside and talked to them, in what looked like an attempt to keep them focused and in the game.
She seemed particularly mad in that match. And, in the second half, she went and brought United Women back from the doors of defeat herself. With her attitude and play, she willed the team’s comeback.
This past weekend, against Reading Women, after United Women conceded the goal that drew the game at that moment, she could be seen frantically going after an out-of-bounds ball to quickly make the throw-in and get the game going.
I always talk about how women’s football is changing. And Stoney is one of the head coaches that are pushing the women’s game into a new era. Her revolutionary defense-first approach is changing the way we think about the game. And she deserves acclaim. https://twitter.com/NiostaC/status/1336032637169889280?s=19
But this United Women’s amazing run we are witnessing is not only about Stoney’s coaching approach. Because without Tobin Heath’s leadership on the pitch that team wouldn’t be where it is. Heath doesn’t wear the armband but she is the leader of that team.
With her talent and the way she conducts herself on the pitch, she has been pushing that team to be better. (Perhaps better than it could realistically be.) And, in doing so, she’s been lifting her teammates to new heights.
In Spain, Rosa Márquez always showed flashes that she could be a great player. Since Ángela Sosa joined her at Real Betis Women this season, Márquez has been slowly truly turning into a great player. Playing with Sosa, a world-class and mature player, is making her better.
Coincidentally, Sosa, in that Betis team, has been like Heath in the United setup. She’s been willing her side to victories and draws. And she’s been trying to keep them in line. She doesn’t wear the armband but I know she’s the leader of that team.
However, unlike Heath, Sosa doesn’t have someone like Stoney on her side, a cunning head coach that knows her own strengths and makes the best use of them. That’s why United Women and Betis Women are where they are on their respective league tables.
Stoney and Heath have the will that the ultimate competitors have. And, combined, they’re too powerful. Which can be seen in the fact that they’re turning an ordinary side into a title contender.
In Stoney’s case, having an elite competitiveness being a head coach, she reminds me of José Mourinho, the Portuguese King of Darkness and ultimate head coach-competitor in men’s football.
You’ll beat Mourinho once, the first time around, while he still learns the workings of his team and surroundings. The second time around … forget about it; you’re not beating him. In the WSL, they beat Stoney once, the first time around. The second time? Forget about it.
And this is leading people to attribute to her the development of her players. But a closer inspection of players dynamics, player’s leadership and its impacts shows United Women players’ jump in quality being owed more to Heath (and Press) than Stoney.
Just like a before and after comparison, using Heath’s arrival as the dividing point, shows the same.
The bulk of those United Women players were with Stoney in the Championship and were with her last season, but didn’t make the jump in quality while being only with her. Heath (and Press) shows up … boom … we have a sudden spike in quality.
It’s really easy to understand what happened/what is happening, if one is looking at the right data or full data.
If you take Heath out of United’s setup, what you have is the leaderless, rudderless ship that United was last season, being helplessly looted and sunk by pirates everywhere. And you don’t have United Women sitting at the big girls table in the WSL.
The same thing happens in France. PSG Women’s playing style and defensive organization are all Olivier Echouafni. But without Irene Paredes’ leadership on the pitch that ship is not sailing. PSG’s resilience and resolution are an extension of Paredes’.
That Spanish woman is too tough and highly competitive when on the pitch, and that spills onto the rest of the team.
Paredes plays with Paulina Dudek in the centre-back positions. Dudek is a great defender herself. But when you pay close attention to her, after some time, you realize that there’s a Paredes in her. (Jokingly, I call her a young, Polish, and left-footed version of Paredes.)
Meaning that playing with Paredes lifts her. Makes her better. Echouafni’s tactics puts her where she needs to be. Paredes’ play pushes her to be better. She’s learning from a master of the defending arts – though she’s not yet the supreme dark artist that Paredes is.
So, yes, at United Women, Stoney is putting players at the right places and getting them to do the right things. But that personal player development? That’s Heath’s (and Press’) on-the-pitch influence and competitiveness. And credit needs to be given where’s due.
