Hello, Arsenal Women aficionados!
Our girls were back in action this weekend after returning from the international break, and I was a bit worried that all the travelling and the minutes played across the globe would have a negative impact on our performance.
Bar a period of ten minutes or so, it wasn’t the case. Renée and the players took it exactly where the left it off before the international break and hammered Aston Villa on their way to regaining the third place in the WSL standings. The four-nil home win at the Emirates Stadium, combined with Brighton losing to Chelsea, means that we are now third, tied on points with Manchester United but ahead of them on goal difference. Manchester City, in second, is four points ahead of us, while Chelsea is far away and looks set to win yet another title, this year. Yay. Getting into the final Champions League spot was the priority, so far, so now it is all about consolidating that place and then be ready to pounce if teams above us stumble.
Celebration " data-image-caption="
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
" data-medium-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Celebration-780x542.png" data-large-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Celebration.png" class="size-medium wp-image-48591" src="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Celebration-780x542.png" alt="Arsenal Women players celebrating a goal" width="780" height="542" srcset="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Celebration-780x542.png 780w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Celebration-200x139.png 200w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Celebration-768x534.png 768w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Celebration.png 906w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px">
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
Also, we need to beat Valerenga on Thursday night to make sure we can still play for the top spot when Bayern visits London, next week, and hopefully get a more favourable draw for the knockout phase.
On a side note, does anyone remembers a game where a club faced so many former players at once? With Jordan Nobbs, Sabrina D’Angelo, Noëlle Maritz and Anna Patten together on the pitch after the hour mark, it looked like a training game…
RENÉE’S WORDS
The interim head-coach was obviously happy when speaking to the press after a fifth straight win in all competitions, a fourth straight clean-sheet and another clinical display in front of goal. The team started a new block of games with an impressive win and climbed to third in the league table, on par with Manchester United and ahead of Brighton.
“ We were very clinical again in the final third. Even though we want to do things better, coming away from here with a 4-0 win, that’s very professional.”, said the former assistant coach, before adding some details about the sudden change of fortune in front of goal: “[…] for example, in training, we’ve been working specifically with the forwards, so Kelly Smith is with us and we spend a little bit more time with the forwards, working on their finishing specifically so that’s in their roles and that hopefully is a part of why we are so clinical and ruthless at the moment. I think Kelly puts in great detail so.”.
Give me more of this, please.
Obviously, it cannot be that simple. I do not believe that forwards were not practicing their finishing under Jonas Eidevall’s tenure, so it’s probably one of those things that work, suddenly.
Later on, Renée Slegers gave away a couple of interesting bits – one about the team’s ambitions, one about her future. I particularly liked the part where she refused to settle for the current league position, but without any unnecessary buoyance.
When asked whether she believes that we can catch Chelsea, she replied:
“Yes, I think so, we have to believe that. But we’re happy we’re in the top three at the moment, we won’t settle for third place of course, so we try to go for more and that’s the same in the Champions League group, we want to go for first place as well so we’re not settling, we’re not happy yet. But obviously a good step.”
The step-by-step, game-by-game approach is working very well and, to be honest, getting back on track was the most important, yet the least obvious thing not long ago, so I like how Renée is resisting the temptation to pump her chest and make bold claims simply because we are in a good run. It is sensible, without being self-condescending.
Finally, it occurred to me that perhaps she simply doesn’t want the permanent role, and she’s helping as much as she can and supporting the club while a permanent head coach is appointed. Up to this point, I never considered the idea that both the interim coach and the club had an understanding about the long-term plan, and I assumed that the club’s hierarchy was messing things up, instead.
Listening to her speaking to the media, I got struck by the words she used to reply to a question about her role:
“I’m enjoying it, I’m having fun, it’s also very hard work. Sometimes you forget to enjoy it as well, because there are so many things that need to be done, from a planning and preparation and reviewing perspective, so you’re working most of the time but matchdays and these results and seeing these fans at the Emirates, being able to play for so many fans, that’s moments where you really feel the enjoyment and happy about what you’re doing, definitely.”
Maybe I am reading too much into this, but she spoke twice in the same sentence about the hard work or working most of the time, so it raised a flag – especially if combined to her multiple refusals to get drawn into discussions about whether she would take the job, or even if she was interested in making it permanent.
What if she wasn’t been coy or diplomatic, but she was withdrawing information to protect the players and the whole recruiting process happening in the background?
As an interim coach, she could not say or even give a hint that she would not take the job, or she would have had a hard time to get the players’ buy-in, so perhaps she adopted a low-profile to quiet down speculations and rumors.
Also, she swapped a head coach role at Rosengard to become an assistant coach at Arsenal, under Jonas Eidevall, and while the jump in terms of prestige is huge and her connection with the Arsenal well-known, one of the factors that convinced her to take the job in London might have been being away from the spotlight.
With only three games remaining before the winter break, we will know very soon.
LESSON LEARNED
Kyra Cooney-Cross might not be “world class” yet, despite Renée’s post-match comments, but the potential is huge, and the Australian midfielder is growing very nicely. Deployed in midfield in place of Lia Wälti, she was at the heart of every good move and delivered a great ball for Alessia Russo’s opener – helped by Sabrina D’Angelo’s slip on the goal line. At this rate, the succession plan to replace Lia Wälti might come to life much earlier than anticipated.
KCC " data-image-caption="
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
" data-medium-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KCC-780x513.png" data-large-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KCC.png" class="wp-image-48589 size-medium lazyload" alt="Kyra Cooney-Cross of Arsenal" width="780" height="513" data-sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" src="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KCC-780x513.png" srcset="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KCC-780x513.png 780w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KCC-200x132.png 200w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KCC-768x505.png 768w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KCC.png 877w">
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
Next to her, Mariona Caldentey showed why she is so highly regarded in women’s football as she played yet another position and another role in her debut season with the Gunners: mostly deployed as a false winger on the left by Jonas Eidevall, she also played a few times as a number eight in front of a single pivot, and against Aston Villa she was used in a more conservative role as part of a double pivot with KCC. The Spain international played the part brilliantly, especially on the defensive side of the game, and helped the team to keep another clean sheet. The former Barcelona player is second in the league for tackles made (30) and third for tackles won (22, 73%), so is used to go into duels and win them, although she usually does from a more advanced position, but didn’t have much troubles adapting to a new role in the team.
Finally, thumbs up for Kathrine Kühl’s first appearance of the season: the Danish midfielder came on to replace Kyra Cooney-Cross with six minutes to play and showed her composure on the ball, reminding everyone of her technical ability. Hopefully she will be reintegrated and reinvigorated, very much like Lina Hurtig, who is now a regular in the team. Renée Slegers seems to have a magic touch when it comes to rebuilding players both physically and mentally, which is a fantastic quality to have for a coach. With Amanda Ilestedt now returning from her maternity leave and Victoria Pelova back on the pitch after her ACL injury, I cannot think of a better coach that Renée to bring both up to speed and full of confidence.
KK " data-image-caption data-medium-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KK-780x528.png" data-large-file="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KK.png" class="wp-image-48590 size-medium lazyload" alt="Kathrine Kühl of Arsenal" width="780" height="528" data-sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" src="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KK-780x528.png" srcset="https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KK-780x528.png 780w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KK-200x135.png 200w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KK-768x520.png 768w, https://gunnerstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KK.png 875w">
Photo courtesy of Arsenal.com
NEXT’S UP
The Arsenal Women will be back on the pitch on Thursday night against Valerenga. The Norwegian side suffered a heavy defeat in the reverse fixture, which was Renée Slegers’ debut as a head coach, but recently took two points off Bayern in Oslo and will look to give another night to remember to their fans.
After winning their second league title in a row with 24 wins in 27 games, Valerenga did the domestic double with a one-nil win against Rosenborg in the Norwegian Cup, but haven’t played any football in almost a month – the last game being the cup final, on November 24th.
On one hand, they had plenty of time to prepare for our visit to Oslo, on the other they might find it difficult to get in the mood and in the rhythm at kick-off.
It sounds like a cliché, but the staff and the players will have to be wary of the arctic temperatures (minus six Celsius degrees) that we will be facing in Oslo, on Thursday night, as they might became a factor. After that, we will be travelling to Liverpool, on Sunday morning, to face the Reds and hopefully continue our hot run of performances and results.
Speak to you soon!
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Italian living in Switzerland, Gooner since mid-nineties, when the Gunners defeated my hometown team, in Copenhagen. I started my own blog and podcast (www.clockenditalia.com) after after some experiences with Italian websites and football magazines. Covering Arsenal Women with the occasional rant about the boys.
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