Deyna Castellanos' start to life in Bay FC examined

The Venezuelan brings creativity and dynamism to the NWSL but how has she been in her first minutes?

Bay FC’s start to life in the NWSL can be graded as a C+ so far. Despite having many exciting players in the squad and some decent foundational tactics, some improvements must nevertheless be made based on their first three games. Their assembly of international superstars and local talent has the right blend to create a competitive team and in head coach Albertin Montoya, there is enough to deploy a good tactical ethos into the team but this will still take time.

It’s clear what Montoya wants to accomplish with his side is to play an attractive brand of football of playing out from the back, dominating possession, and controlling tempo. Still, some issues need to be ironed out before they are to become a solid outfit, most pertinently the position and role of Deyna Castellanos.

Possession recycling and wing play have been bright spots but there are limitations in attacking mechanisms and build-up that have been hindering Bay FC from cohesively putting together effective patterns of play from midfield to attack.  This partly comes down to the way Montoya uses Deyna, particularly in build-up sequences.

“Deyna is a player you can’t take your eyes off — she is enigmatic, dynamic and will excite our supporters with her attacking flair and play.”

These are the words of General Manager Lucy Rushton on signing Deyna. The Venezuelan midfielder was brought in as the marquee signing for Bay FC and given the Number 10 shirt as an indication of her importance to the side. Having played for Atletico de Madrid and Manchester City, Deyna brings a wealth of experience with her play style — very much that of an advanced playmaker. A lot of her good moments in Spain and England came at the back of playing in a system that suited her qualities as No. 10 and striker, ensuring she did most of her work on the ball in the attacking third of the pitch. So far, we’ve seen Deyna start as a No. 8/10 hybrid role moving into various positions around the pitch and as a result, she’s unable to be at her most effective.

This illustration emphasises Deyna’s comprehensive profile, showcasing her prowess as a dynamic ball carrier and goal-scoring threat. It suggests that deploying her deeper in midfield may not fully leverage her strengths. While it's been reasonable considering Deyna's proficiency as Bay's top ball carrier, there's also merit in evaluating Montoya's role in build-up mechanics.

Montoya’s current set-up is in a 4-3-3 with two clear No. 8s and a single pivot which effectively transitions with one of the 8s moving into a No. 10 role. Deyna occupies this position and acts as the team’s chief creator and tempo controller. As a result, this hybrid No. 8 role means the other midfielders need to be much more disciplined and help carry out the out-of-possession work by covering the defence and offering a box-to-box presence. 

Montoya wants to be dominant and possession-driven, and while this formation and system derives that style, it requires mobile and more importantly ball-playing central defenders when they lack the numbers in midfield, especially with the way Bay want to play out from the back. 

Their build-ups start from wide centre-backs that sit deep with the goalkeeper pushing up to create a back three. Next to them are two full-backs that move into slightly higher positions with differing profiles. One is a more defensive-minded full-back that can operate as part of a back three out of possession, whilst the other inverts and pushes forward to support the wide attackers. There are also semblances of third-man patterns to facilitate build-up and create open lines for primary playmaker Deyna to dribble through. The sequence in the above example is how Bay would typically try and play out from the back, using their defensive lynchpin as their point of reference before playing it out to the full-back or other central midfielder, thus leaving space for Deyna to drive through the middle.

But here is where the problem starts: neither Emily Menges, Kayla Sharples, nor Jen Beattie are known to be ball-playing centre-backs, and while Alex Loera is an excellent pivot player, she becomes a man-marking target for the opposition to stop Bay’s build-up and force hurried passes into the full-backs. The play effectively runs through the No. 6 even though there are some triggers and moments that invert the full-backs into midfield, but they don’t seem to be in good positions nor as technical to be able to progress the ball further up the field.

These pass maps from their games against Washington Spirit (top) and Houston Dash (bottom) highlight their dominance and positioning in games. Though they lost both matches, the Spirit game shows Deyna (#10) in a higher position to be able to influence proceedings more. There were more direct passes into her from the back given how high the backline was compared to the Houston game where Deyna had to drop deeper more frequently to receive and turn.

In theory, you need your central defenders to compensate and help when you play a single pivot playing out from the back, thereby giving yourself more options to build out and eliminate the reliance on going exclusively through the defensive midfielder.

This example highlights some of the issues in the build-up. Bay’s centre-backs are only offering wide passing options for goalkeeper Lysianne Proulx, with the full-backs in higher positions. The centre-backs start wide with Houston Dash pressing in a 3-4-1-2 shape and the pressing system is designed to create numerical superiority against Bay’s back line and midfield. What you can see here is Loera is man-marked by Diane Ordonez which forces Deyna to drop into a No. 6 position to help in build-up. This effectively forces one of the wingers to drop in and help make up the numbers but when the centre-backs have to go long, it reduces Deyna’s impact in the middle and final thirds because she simply isn’t there. 

Across their three games, Deyna has been involved in the fourth-highest pass combination for Bay with 24 passes between Deyna and Menges (against Washington Spirit) and 17 passes with Caprice Dydasco (against Houston Dash). It’s clear that Deyna is heavily involved in midfield and the team is looking for her to progress the ball.

Loera has played next to Joelle Anderson and Deyna across two of the opening matches with Dorian Bailey starting in their away trip to Washington. The former trio seems to be the best midfield combination but it will need Anderson to become a semi-permanent fixture as the team’s second No. 6 in build-up to allow Deyna to play in a more advanced role truly. This gives Bay numbers at the back to implement a better rest defence, utilising a 2-2 or 3-2 structure to compensate for the lack of speed in the middle in transition moments.

There is further potential to be unlocked from this Bay FC squad, and the initial indications are encouraging. Unlike other teams that are solely reliant on star players, Montoya's approach encourages cohesion and tactical acumen. However, it will require time to address the weaknesses in the system and propel Bay into contention for the championship positions this season.

Photo by Lyndsay Radnedge/ISI Photos/Getty Images