Another season of ShePlaysWSL Fantasy is done and dusted and it’s time to announce our WSL Team of the Season.
As with all our Team of the Rounds, the team must fit within the £5M budget, ShePlays formation rules, and maximum 5 players from each team. This TOTS would have scored a massive 3062 points, captained by Vivianne Miedema. Our overall winner this season “When I saw her face… I said Sandy MacIver” scored just short with 2825 points.
Which of these players are you excited to see at the Euros? And who would like to have in your Euros Fantasy team…
Vivianne Miedema – 316 pts (Captain)
A stalwart on our Team of the Season, Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema is back with a slightly different role this year, moving from a striker to a number 10 role midway through the season (though she’s stayed a forward on ShePlays, for now at least). Despite moving deeper, she still came second in the Golden Boot race with 14 goals and made up the ground by assisting eight. She teamed up with Beth Mead very effectively – 39% of Viv’s goals (all competitions) came from Beth assists, and 30% vice versa. In the latter half of the season we saw Miedema combine with new striker Stina Blackstenius for a few lovely goals – a combination many will be hoping develops further next season should Viv stay at Arsenal. Miedema ends the season with the highest 21/22 ShePlays FAWSL point total – the first time she’s done so (coming second to Beth England in 19/20 and Kerr in 20/21), validating the choices of 30% – 40% of fantasy team managers who captained her each week this season.
By El (@grasseasons)
Sam Kerr – 311 pts
Sam Kerr continued her scintillating form in 2021/22, which has seen her grow into an undisputed super star of the game. In the FAWSL this season she scored 20 goals in 20 matches, meaning she has now won the Golden Boot award in every full season she has played since 2017 (2 x W-League, 3 x NWSL, 2 x FAWSL). When Kerr signed with Chelsea in 2019, she said she wanted to go to England to win silverware – a goal she has certainly achieved, after helping Chelsea win the FAWSL and FA Women’s Cup double again this season.
Kerr added 311 fantasy points to her total this season, second only to Miedema, despite missing two rounds while away with the Matildas at the AFC Asian Cup. This brings her total across all ShePlays competitions to a record 1075 points, highlighting the incredibly high level she has continued to perform at, regardless for what team or what continent she plays on. It’s not just her goals and attacking ability that makes her so valuable to Chelsea – it is the way she leads this team, and always steps up when they need her the most. This was on full display when she scored the 92nd minute match winner in round 17, or the two world class goals she scored in Chelsea’s must win match against United in the final round of the season.
By Ben (@benlawskiwi)
Alex Greenwood – 307 pts
In a strange season for Manchester City in which they were hit with injury problems for the first half, Alex Greenwood has been a stalwart in defence and one of the most reliable players on the pitch, playing all matches for Manchester City this season. She also scored four goals in the last six matches of the season – not bad for a centre-back. She recently shone in the FA Cup Final at Wembley – despite City’s tough loss, she was arguably one of the best players on the pitch. A left footed centre-back, she’s excellent at calmly progressing the ball and carrying it into space, and her set piece deliveries are dangerous for any team. This consistency has earned her the third highest total points this season, a spot in our TOTS, and almost certainly a starting position in the Lionesses squad this summer.
By El (@grasseasons)
Beth Mead – 304 pts
Arsenal’s Beth Mead has had a stunner of a season, breaking the WSL assist record, reaching the milestone of 50 goals scored in the WSL, scoring 11 goals in 22 matches and assisting eight. It’s a season spawned from her failure to be called up to Team GB last summer for the Tokyo Olympics – disappointment that she funnelled into a bit of a revenge tour, having said last September that she “plays better when [she’s] angry”. The consistency she’s had all season, both offensively and defensively down the right wing has earned her a worthy spot starting for Arsenal, back in the England squad for the Euros and on our best starting XI. Lionesses fans will be hoping she continues her fine form into the home Euros this July.
By El (@grasseasons)
Ashleigh Neville – 266 pts
Ashleigh Neville has had a sublime season for Spurs. In 21 appearances, the fullback kept 8 clean sheets and popped up with 3 goals and 2 assists (from an xG of 4.8 and xA of 2.3), including a final day of the season goal against Leicester. As her glittering scouting report on FBRef will attest, she is one of the league’s best in her position. Neville has grown with her team, playing a big part in their push up the table, and her Player of the Season nomination was truly well deserved.
Already a fan favourite at Spurs, her frequent fantasy hauls have won her a place in many a ShePlays manager’s heart. She practically lived in our Teams of the Round at times this season and finished as the third highest scoring defender in the game with 266 points. A place in the Team of the Season feels very fitting indeed.
By Dan
Ona Batlle – 239 pts
Spanish sensation, Ona Batlle, has had another standout season after being named Manchester United’s player of the season last year. Batlle was a rock in the United defence only missing 111 minutes all season and helping lead the team to nine clean sheets. At fullback, she showed off some “tiki-taka” skills completing 1082 passes, by far the most for her position and 3rd overall. The Red Devil also put in the third most tackles this season (43) which I’m sure had some wingers seeing red!
Batlle, like many defenders, made her mark on the ShePlays WSL Fantasy Points via the attack and defence points (or as I like to call them the grind points). She was the most balanced defender in our Team of the Season scoring 63 attack and 60 defence points, highlighting her prowess on both sides of the ball. With possibly one year left on her contract and interest from teams across Europe, United qualifying for the UWCL will likely be a key to a possible contract extension.
By Marran (@youngmarran)
Guro Reiten – 238 pts
Guro Reiten shone for Chelsea and fully earned her place in our team of the season. She impressed instantly in the FA WSL upon her arrival in 2019, going from strength to strength and becoming a key figure in Emma Hayes’ Chelsea side. Reiten finished the season with 16 goal contributions in all competitions and amassed over 200 ShePlays fantasy points. Though her significance has often been overlooked.
On countless occasions this season Reiten’s contributions proved to be the difference for Chelsea. Her superb glancing header gave Chelsea the lead against a strong Manchester City which helped close the gap to then league leaders Arsenal. Reiten later helped Chelsea defeat Arsenal with an outstanding long range goal, allowing the blues to put one hand on the trophy. She did not stop there. On the final day with her side level, Reiten burst into the box and slotted the ball past the Manchester United keeper to get the lead, break Arsenal hearts and all but secure the league for Chelsea. Moments like these showed Reiten’s importance to this Chelsea side whilst also highlighting her vital role in helping the blues lift their sixth league title and fourth FA cup this season.
By Tarran (@tarran_sidhu)
Katie Zelem – 231 pts
Manchester United’s captain Katie Zelem played all but 4 minutes for Manchester United this WSL season. She’s scored five goals, including two penalties, and assisted five. Her set pieces have been a huge part of Manchester United’s set-piece dominance this season – the club has scored 11 goals from set-play, the most of any in the league, and Zelem has taken the most corners in the league (104). Zelem scored two goals directly from corners in a single match (in four minutes!) vs Leicester City in March, an astonishing feat. She’s been called up to the Lionesses squad consistently over the past year or so and is named in the wider squad for the Euros.
By El (@grasseasons)
Gemma Evans – 194 pts
Reading’s Gemma Evans earns a spot in our team of the season with some excellent defending – the most blocks this season and the second most clearances (after Louise Quinn). She played the maximum number of minutes she could have played in the FAWSL season this year at 1,980 – a feat only five other players achieved. She was named player of the match in the Reading 1-0 win over Chelsea in December, where Deanne Rose scored in the opening minutes and Reading held out in defence for the next 87 or so minutes. Signed from relegated Bristol City at the end of last season, Evans has proved she’s FAWSL team of the season calibre.
By El (@grasseasons)
Manuela Zinsberger – 171 pts
Arsenal’s Manuela Zinsberger won the Golden Glove this 2021/22 season, keeping 13 clean sheets (a new FAWSL record) in the 20 matches she played and conceding only 10 goals across the season, with a save percentage of 80%. Even in the UWCL she has a save percentage of 71.4%, which is no mean feat coming up against the likes of UWCL champions Barcelona.
The introduction of new head coach Jonas Eidevall saw a move away from the previous two goalie system and saw Eidevall make Manu his number one goalkeeper. She played 2,700 minutes across the 21/22 season (all competitions) compared to 1,350 in 20/21. In her third season at the club, this shift has seen a more confident goalkeeper emerge. Still underrated in the WSL due to stalwarts like Ann-Katrin Berger and the proliferation of young, homegrown talent in Ellie Roebuck and Hannah Hampton, Zinsberger has proven her place in our Team of the Season. A fun stat – she also has a 100% penalty save record for Arsenal, including one from Alexia Putellas penalty in the UWCL group stage in October. Next up – she’ll be goalkeeping at Old Trafford for Austria in the opening match of the Euros vs. England.
By El (@grasseasons)
Jess Carter – 171 pts
A stalwart of the Chelsea defence this season, Carter hit the ground running. She proved herself last season when she had to come in to replace the injured Maren Mjelde and when she got the starting position this year, she became one of the first players on the team sheet every week. She can take a lot of praise and a lot of commendations for Chelsea’s league win. Her defensive plays were crucial.
When Eriksson had to miss a chunk of games through injury, Carter had to take another step up, and she never missed a step. She was regularly the last player back, making the last-ditch tackle and she rarely ever went wrong. She was the player you wanted players to run at, with a tackling success rate of 70%, there was very little more she could do to help Chelsea keep a clean sheet.
Even her attacking action whilst not as prolific as last season when she got to play as a right-back and get forward more often, she most definitely always looked to help the team get up field.
Her game this season has rightfully earned her a call up to the national team and I think this to be just the start for the 24-year-old. If she manages to stay both healthy and playing regularly, I can see her becoming one of England’s top defenders.
Note: Although Carter is now a defender, she was listed as a midfielder by Chelsea at the start of the season and is include in the TOTS as a midfielder.
By Rosie (@shorty2694)