Seagull Strikers

Fresh from being part of a Euro-winning England side and being named Young Player of the Tournament, Michelle Agyemang returns to Brighton. Given that she made only three starts last season, where does Dario Vidosic plan to play her, and how does he intend to use her?

One of the first areas worth considering is the loan parameters and discussions that enabled Agyemang’s return to the South Coast. Clearly, gaining more competitive minutes was crucial in Arsenal’s decision to open the door for a loan.

With England’s leading striker Alessia Russo and Champions League final scorer Stina Blackstenius ahead of her in the centre-forward position—and Foord, Caldentey, Kelly, Mead, and new signing Olivia Smith (with Katie McCabe also capable of playing on the left wing)—there is fierce competition at Arsenal. These players are also complete or close to fully developed, which means Agyemang would struggle to break into a side chasing their first WSL trophy since 2019.

However, did Vidosic promise Arsenal more starts for Agyemang this season? Despite making 17 appearances in the WSL, she only started three times and was on the pitch for 566 minutes—essentially the equivalent of six full games. It’s hard to imagine Arsenal agreeing to another loan without a clear pathway for her to gain significantly more starts and minutes.

I also wonder to what extent Vidosic had to commit to a specific position for Agyemang in order to secure the loan. Do Arsenal simply value minutes in the forward line regardless of position, or are they hoping she develops as the centre-forward? Any further signings in the window may reveal Vidosic’s intentions regarding her role. Does he believe Agyemang can go from three starts to being the main striker? She’s not an unknown quantity—Vidosic will know whether she can make the step up. Sometimes, all a player needs is an extended opportunity and a consistent run of games.

Last season, Agyemang had a real learning curve and played most of the forward positions. She replaced Madison Haley in against Manchester City, nominally on the left before swapping with Nikita Parris and playing more centrally. This fluidity helped to unsettle the Man City defence. Against Liverpool, she played one half on the left and one on the right whereas against Everton and Aston Villa she played all the minutes she had on the pitch on the left.

A key tenent of Agyemang’s play is her ability to hold the ball up and keep possesion in advanced positions. When playing in the centre she would often drop deep to link up play such as below where she received the ball in a deep position, before giving a lovely touch and go before sending a ball over the top eventually resulting in a corner.

During pre season, Brighton scored a lot of goals from midfield runners, Noordam’s headed goal from midfield as a classic example, and Agyemang’s hold up play and strength could be a perfect way to amplify our midfield and spread goals around the squad.

Equally, Agyemang is a good outlet to receive long and high balls. When she started on the left in the away fixtures against Everton and Aston Villa she was an outlet to receive long balls and maintain possession by breaking through the first line of the press. Indeed, Brighton produced a long raking cross field ball to Agyemang a total of eight times in the first half alone showing how she is used a valve to release the pressure at the back. This is a trend that happened in any game she played.

When Brighton beat Arsenal 4-2 they used the 6ft defender Caitlin Hayes in a similar way. Hayes would start in the forward position to receive the ball before moving back into defence. Agyemang couldn’t play against her parent club but I can see Brighton using Agyemang in this way as opposed to Hayes having to trek up and down the pitch all the time.

When Agyemang played on the wings, she held the width of the pitch whilst Brighton were in possession and often defended deep off the ball. In the shot below against Liverpool you can see Agyemang is in line with our defence almost acting like another wingback.

Agyemang is not afraid to support the defence and would frequently drop deep to support the midfield or defenders before moving back into forward positions.

One of the downsides of playing across the front line is it is harder to learn attacking positioning. There were several occasssions where Parris and Agyemang would seem to occupy the same spaces in the centre of the pitch seemingly clashing or crowding their own attack.

However, this does not mean they had a dysfunctional relationship as Parris and Agyemang would often swap positions and be fairly fluid in their movements which, when it worked well, would offer an element of unpredictability about their attacking play.

Interestingly, when Agyemang spoke about her equaliser against Italy, she said how she was meant to be at the far post but found herself just outside the main throng of players which hints at a lack of fluency in what her coaches want from their forwards when attacking.

Regardless, Brighton have an intelligent player on loan who has experience across the forward line. If we can hone her experiences into a more central area, we can use her as a way to beat the first press with an aerial ball, a mechanism for midfield runners and a source of goals. She has the experience to play on the wings and after Madison Haley’s hatrick we may find a more fluid front line this season that changes dependent on opposition. It’ll be exciting to see how Vidosic uses Agyemang and how she continues to progress this season.