Breaking down how Vanessa Gilles has become a crucial part of the CanWNT/CanXNT backline heading into 2022
In 2021, not many on the CanWNT/CanXNT had a bigger year than Vanessa Gilles. In this, I break down the film to see what made her such an indispensable part of the team by the end of the year.
(This post contains a lot of GIFs. If you’re reading this via email, it’s recommended that you head directly to destroyandprogress.substack.com to avoid missing out on any of them).
Heading into 2021, she had just 3 appearances for her country. By the end of the year, she started (and won) an Olympic gold medal final.
But that was just the sort of year that it was for Vanessa Gilles, who had a 2021 to remember for both club and country, making her a household name on the CanWNT/CanXNT.
Despite starting the year as a forgotten piece of the Canadian puzzle, the 25-year-old centre back was probably just looking to make Canada’s Olympic squad, and pick up some minutes along the way.
Yet, by the end of it, she became a nailed-on starter on an Olympic-winning team, becoming one of the centrepieces on one of the stronger backlines in international soccer right now, just showing what kind of year it was for the Ottawa native.
Along with a big year at the club level, which included a top 3 finish in the D1Arkema with Bordeaux in 20/21, a taste of Champions League soccer and a transfer to Angel City in the NWSL, a lot of what Gilles touched this year turned to gold (no pun intended).
Now, as Canada turns the corner on 2021 and looks ahead to 2022, Gilles has become a key part of their plans going forward. Still very young for a centre back, she looks to be the sort of player that Canada can build around at the back going forward, having formed a great partnership with Kadeisha Buchanan, who at 26 has already proven to be one of the best centre backs in the sport.
For Canada, it’s given them a lot of confidence on the defensive side of things as they prepare for the next challenge in their journey. They still have some work to do in terms of figuring out how to score goals, but as we saw during the Olympics, where they conceded just 4 times in 6 games en route to the gold medal, their defence is more than comfortable carrying the reins while the offence figures itself out.
And as we saw throughout 2021, a big part of that has been due to the play of Gilles.
So as we get set for a big year of CanWNT/CanXNT action in 2022, here’s a deeper look at what Gilles brings to the Canadian backline, helping us understand how she became such an important part of head coach Bev Priestman’s plans as the year went along.
Using Canada’s April win over England as an example, a game in which Gilles played 90 big minutes en route to a key 2-0 Canada win, their first win over tier 1 opposition in over 2 years, it’s a good chance to see why Gilles stock rose so much in 2021, and why is poised to continue doing so in 2022.
Playing out of the back isn’t a big worry:
And to begin, it’s important to dive into the parts of Gilles’s game that make her the player that she is, as there is certainly a lot to her playing style.
Overall, if you had to describe it, an old-school, no-nonsense defender is ultimately the term most would land on, although there are some aspects of the game that are a lot more polished and akin to the modern centre back.
One thing that has to be remembered, though, is that considering she only started playing soccer in her teenage years, she’s more of a late-bloomer than most, and because of that is still very unpolished, but rapidly improving.
And when you consider that, it more than helps explain her rapid rise this year, as it just feels like every time she stepped out on the field, she gained more necessary match experience than most others who’d join her out on the field.
Because of that, when we start breaking down the aspects of Gilles game, it feels important to remember all of that when diving into her passing ability, which we’ll begin with.
She’s not what one would deem to be a pinpoint passer, say, but she’s very functional, and has shown improvement over the years. She might never be a Buchanan or Shelina Zadorsky, who are very adept passers of the ball, but Gilles can more than make things work as a secondary passing option along either of those two, as she showed in that England game.
There, paired up with Zadorsky, she was unfazed by the skill of the English players, putting together a very solid passing performance.
And when looking back at the clips from that match, you can see that on full display, as Gilles showed a lot of comfort in having the ball at her feet, making a lot of solid, short passes, helping Canada play out from England’s press.
For example, take this clip from the first half as an example of what Gilles can do with the ball at her feet.
Here, she might not have played a pass that went further than 15-20 yards, but she played several accurate, crisp balls, including a nice progressive one to Quinn at the start, and a nice one to Zadorsky at the end.
Along with a nice Cruyff turn thrown in the middle there, it was overall a comfortable sequence of possession for Gilles and Canada, who reacted well to the counter-pressure that was applied on them by their opponents.
And overall, there was a lot of that in this England game. I’ll spare you all the clips, as 10 GIFs of Gilles playing short lateral passes is a bit overkill, but that’s just the reality of playing out of the back, as it’s not often an exciting skill.
What is exciting, though, is progressive passing, and while Gilles might not have a killer line-breaking pass that can take out 8 opposing players, she did show to have one that can help jumpstart attacks.
Just take these next 2 clips as a good example of what that could look like.
First, there’s this nice progressive pass under pressure to Desiree Scott, who almost caught off-guard by the ball, is forced to play another pass back to her goalkeeper, Stephanie Labbe, to keep the play alive.
Almost not expecting the ball from Gilles, it was too bad that Scott wasn’t able to scan her surroundings in time to make a progressive play forward, but to be fair to her, many wouldn’t have expected that from Gilles, either, at least at the time.
But the good news? She wouldn’t make that mistake twice, as a few minutes later, she’d be ready to receive a similar ball from Gilles, and would help launch one of Canada’s smoothest attacks of the game, one in which they went from back to front in just a couple of touches.
And that was positive to see. As long as Gilles can keep playing these sorts of passes, it can be of benefit to Canada, who can jumpstart attacking moves like this more often.
Even if she might not have the passing of Zadorsky or Buchanan, if she can do this, it’ll force opponents to choose between maybe marking Zadorsky and Buchanan tighter (which interestingly, if you watch the recent clip back, England actually tries to do), or mark Gilles tighter, which either way would open up space elsewhere.
Otherwise, though, one other attribute that Gilles has when playing out of the back is that she knows when to defer or abandon the cause, which might seem like a strange skill to highlight, but is important.
In the modern game, with the rise of ball-playing centre backs, we’re also seeing the rise of some comical errors at the back, most often not coming from a lack of talent, but from almost not knowing when to abandon the principle.
So while this clip might not be anything too special, other than a moment where Gilles tries to relieve pressure on her teammates by clearing the ball, this easily could’ve ended up as a big chance for her opponents if she didn’t act decisively, making it worth to point out.
But if things were to go wrong, though, which to be fair, happens (athletes are human, after all), the last bit of encouraging news here is that Gilles is quite the athlete, which was quite evident on this last clip, one in which Gilles makes a rare mistake playing out of the back, but quickly makes up for it with a nice bit of pace and positioning to cut down the angle and make a block.
And we have to remember that this is all from a game back in April of 2021, so not only was Gilles relatively adept in that game, she improved massively as the year went along, and will continue to do so.
Positioning an important attribute:
And continuing on that theme of positioning, that’s actually probably one of the more underrated parts of Gilles game, and the one that doesn’t get noticed as much as others (which we’ll get to in a bit, here).
Stylistically, in terms of centre backs, she’s more of the old-school mentality of “let’s get stuck in and pressure opponents mould”, which is a bit of an outlier in terms of how teams want to play, but she does it so well, harnessing that aggression in a way that forces opponents into mistakes.
And that’s key.
Often, defending isn’t just about the duels you engage in, but the decisions that lead up to any potential duels or plays. For example, one might remember the last-ditch block you make, but they won’t remember you stepping up on a play to help force an opponent turn around, allowing your team to set up its defensive shape.
So while Gilles does have a few spectacular moments in her locker (the last clip in the prior section is a pretty good example of that), what doesn’t get talked about as much is her ability to make the little reads that actually reduces her possibility of having to make plays like that.
And when watching back the England game, there are a few examples of that.
On one hand, there are the more active moves, often ones made when the opposing team is on your side of the field, and is attacking.
There, in a 2 centre back system, like the one that Canada plays, the centre back on that side is expected to step forward and engage as soon as possible, either to win the ball, force a pass, a dribble or poor shot, with the idea being that bit of pressure can push the attacking team into a sort of trap.
So to understand what that might look like, here’s an example of Gilles playing that sort of role quite nicely.
In that clip, Gilles might not have made the tackle, or the interception (heck, to some data trackers, she might have been credited with a duel lost), but by stepping up and pressuring the back of the English attacker as soon as she had a touch, it forced her to back up, where she ran right into the backpressure of Jessie Fleming.
Had Gilles been a step or two back, though, that wouldn’t have happened, as the attacker would’ve been able to turn and play that pass that they almost made to the left winger, but instead, they were left to watch Canada counter-attack.
And throughout this England game, Gilles made several strong-side reads like that one, helping keep England off the board, as well as to just 4 shots on target, which from 58% possession and 14 shots, reflects well on the Canadian defence.
But as mentioned above, when the ball is on the other side, Gilles also proved quite capable of making several weak-side reads, as well, once again showing her positional strengths.
There, when the centre back steps up as she did in a clip such as the one above, the weak-side defender’s job is to drop back and track any potential runners, while also maintaining the defensive line with the full backs.
By doing that, the plan is to make it impossible for the opponent to play a through ball, or at least close to impossible, that is.
And here, Gilles does a great job of that on two occasions.
First, there’s this clip from early in the first half.
In this one, even though England got a shot off, thanks to the work of Zadorksy to step up and of Gilles to drop back and take away a clear shot at goal, it rushed what could’ve turned into a high-quality shot for the opponent had they had an extra second or two.
Had Gilles pushed forward with Zadorsky, for example, there could’ve been a through ball to have been played, or the England attacker could’ve dribbled one of them, creating a clear look at goal, but instead, with how quickly Zadorksy stepped and Gilles slotted in behind her, she was forced into a lower-percentage look (and credit to her for almost burying it).
But while that’s a decent example of what the weak-side pressure looks like, here’s a better one, as Gilles once again does a good job of reacting to Zadorsky stepping up, stopping a key English attack.
There, you could see that Gilles was looking to contest that aerial duel, but as soon as she realized that Zadorsky had it covered, she took a step back, and that allowed her to block the oncoming through ball, saving Canada from a breakaway chance.
Again, it might not have been a groundbreaking move from Gilles, but if she steps forward instead of taking that step back, it could’ve left the English winger 1 on 1 with Ashley Lawrence, and while that’s a battle you fancy Lawrence winning, you don’t want to take that risk if you don’t need to.
And looking throughout the game, Gilles just did such a good job of making those sorts of reads. It also comes down to Priestman’s defensive system, no doubt, and the cohesion with which the Canadian backline, but credit to Gilles for not looking lost in it, as there was a reason why she would go on to stake her claim in the lineup at the Olympics.
Aerial prowess is game-changing:
But for all of that, it doesn’t get into the heart of Gilles’s game, as while she can play out of the back and is pretty positionally sound, her strongest attribute is, without a doubt, her aerial prowess.
And what’s most impressive about that isn’t that she’s good in the air, but that she does so without being particularly tall, as she’s approximately 5’8”, which is certainly a strong height, but isn’t skyscraper-esque. In fact, for comparison, per Canada Soccer’s website, Buchanan is 170 cm tall (Gilles is 174), while Zadorsky is 173, yet Gilles feels a lot taller than both (credit to Buchanan, though, whose jumping ability as made her an offensive set-piece weapon).
Despite that, though, Gilles just has this uncanny knowledge of where the ball is going to land, and combines that with a will to put her head on any loose aerial ball that finds its way into the box, and that’s what makes her so dangerous.
Just looking back at the England game, you can have quite the highlight package of her demonstrating those skills.
How about this clip of Gilles quickly reacting to a nice clipped ball, thumping it out of the box, clearing a good chance away from her opponents?
Or if not, how about this seek and destroy effort off of a corner, one in which she covers an impressive amount of ground to win the aerial duel, helping clear a potentially dangerous chance?
No matter the scenario, it just seems like Gilles has a magnet on her head sometimes, and she makes the most of it.
Like almost scarily so.
And that’s been the x-factor that she’s been able to bring to this Canadian backline. She might not have Buchanan’s all-around game, or Zadorsky’s passing ability, but she just has this innate ability to get under the ball, and that really manifested itself in a game like this.
Because of that, it makes it hard for opponents to attack Canada, because not only are they going to do a good job of shutting down the middle, as we saw before, but with Gilles mopping up everything in the air on crosses, they are also able to make it harder to attack down the flanks, as well.
Plus, it doesn’t just manifest itself off of the wide balls, either, but also if you dare to attempt the long ball, of which Gilles doesn’t appear to be a big fan of, as well, as seen here.
So overall, as this next clip shows, when it comes to Gilles going up for crossed balls, forget about it, because you’ll probably lose the duel, and then as Gilles own Canada teammate, Allysha Chapman then learned, you might end up on the floor.
So now, if you’re Canada, it’s all about figuring out how to weaponize that aerial ability offensively, now, as Gilles is yet to score for Canada, something you have to imagine changes soon considering she has 4 goals in 12 games so far in 21/22.
To be fair, they sort of found a way to make the most of it in this game, as a Gilles aerial duel win did actually lead (sort of) directly to a goal, so that’s a start.
And just imagine how many more it could lead to when they start fully weaponizing it, as the idea of Buchanan and Gilles in the same box on an offensive corner should be quite scary for most defenders.
So overall, there’s a lot to like about Gilles’s aerial prowess, as seen here. Plus, as one subplot of her move to LA is that by going from the D1Arkema to the NWSL, she’s now going to a league that publicly tracks aerial duel data, which means that we’ll also finally see her aerial output measured, which is a scary proposition.
Just watching back this England game alone, it’s a good reminder of how dominant she can be in the air, and that doesn’t look to be a part of her game that’ll be going away anytime soon.
Looking Forward:
Because of that, Gilles is most definitely one of the top Canadian players to keep an eye on this year, for both club and country.
After a big first full year of playing for Canada, she just gave a taste of what she can do on the big stage, and will look to carry it over to World Cup qualifiers in the summer, where Canada is going to look to leave a big impression on the rest of their CONCACAF peers after their gold medal.
Plus, still young (especially for a late bloomer), you have to imagine she takes even more strides forward in her game, of which she’s done since this England match, and will continue to do each game, especially now with Angel City.
So now, it’ll be fun to see what Gilles can get up to this year, because if she keeps this up, she’ll be a crucial part of this Canadian team for years to come, as her star has only just started rising recently, but is far from finished doing so.
After starting the year on the fringes, she’s a locked-in starter, and whether that’ll lead to Canada considering a 3 at the back long-term to get Gilles, Buchanan and Zadorsky out there all at once, or if they’ll the 4 at the back, either way, Canada is in good hands back there now.
Vanessa Gilles in action vs England (Canada Soccer/Will Palmer)