Hello, Arsenal Women _aficionados_!
UWCL knock-out phase, here we come. The 3-1 win in Norway saw us validating our ticket for the first round of the knock-out phase of this year’s UWCL, restoring our status as one of the best teams in Europe.
The final fixture, at home to Bayern Munich, will tell us whether we progress as group winners or runners-up, but the mission is accomplished.
Despite a much-changed lineup, our players dominated the hosts and could have probably registered a much bigger scoreline, if it wasn’t for a mixture of bad luck and inconsistent finishing. Renée Slegers made five changes to the starting XI that defeated Aston Villa last weekend and handed Katie Reid her full debut in an Arsenal shirt, yet the team looked as fluid as ever. Alessia Russo scored twice each side of Frida Maanum’s customary European goal, while other players could – and probably should – have scored additional goals, before Valerenga make the most of the team’s sloppiness in the final ten minutes of the game, scoring the consolation goal and threatening to make the contest much closer than it was.
This was Arsenal’s sixth consecutive win in all competitions, a testament to Renée’s unbelievable job since she took over. Onto the next one now.
**RENÉE’S WORDS**
The interim head-coach was obviously delighted with the win, but she sounded especially happy for Katie Reid and Freya Godfrey:
_“**I’ve been here for a little more than a year, and I see how the academy players are developing. It’s getting stronger and stronger, better and better, and players are coming through**. Katie and Freya have been with us for a while. They train with us day in, day out. They’ve shown in our training environment that they deserve these opportunities and they’re ready to go. I think you could see that with Katie Reid today, starting for us, she did really well. We felt this was the right game to give Freya the opportunity, as well.”_
Katie Reid, a centre-half by trade, was deployed at right-back in place of Emily Fox and slotted in very well, both defensively and offensively: despite her young age, she looked calm and composed, although at time a bit over-enthusiastic when the goal was at sight. Freya Godfrey, who like Katie Reid impressed during the US tour, last summer, couldn’t have much of an impact when coming on, but she surely enjoyed the opportunity.
Further down her post-match interview, Renée Slegers spoke about games coming thick and fast, with Liverpool next:
**_“\[…\] It’s coming so quickly. We’ve already spoken about recovery. The girls are doing what they need to do already now, minutes after the game, to get ready for Liverpool. I think that’s the advantage you have. If it comes so quickly, you have no time to think. It’s Liverpool.”_**
Thursday night in Norway, Sunday afternoon in the Merseyside. That’s not ideal, indeed.
Having rotated the team so heavily (and so seamlessly) will help having the best possible XI on the pitch at the Totally Wicked (ugh…) Stadium, but I suspect that Renée will have the Bayern game in her mind – so I won’t be surprised if a couple of big players were given limited minutes, on Sunday.
**LESSON LEARNED**
Our youngsters are looking bright: Katie Reid showed that she can be a valid option, although the right-back position seems well stacked at the moment, while Freya Godfrey had another opportunity to show her qualities. Elsewhere, we have Teyah Goldie playing regularly at London Lionesses in the Championship and Michelle Agyemang cutting her teeth in the WSL with Brighton, both waiting to be given an opportunity at their parent club.
I don’t know how this team will look next summer – or even after the winter break – but the talent pool seems very exciting, and I would be surprised if none of the players mentioned above were to become a first-team regular.
On the tactical side of the game, the most interesting aspect of the starting XI was Alessia Russo’s position in the forward line: the England international was deployed as a winger, out on the left, with Caitin Foord on the opposite side and Frida Maanum behind Stina Blackstenius. The former Manchester United forward is equally good as a lone striker or as a second striker, so I expected her to play off Stina Blackstenius in a more central role, but Renée Slegers opted for a midfield duo of Mariona Caldentey and Kyra Cooney-Cross and for a conventional attacking midfielder, instead. It pushed Alessia Russo wide, but given her output in the game, it worked wonderfully.
Perhaps Renée Slegers just found a way to make Alessia Russo and Stina Blackstenius coexist, something that Jonas Eidevall unfortunately couldn’t achieve.
Speaking of Stina Blackstenius, the game against Valerenga summed up her qualities pretty well – especially in one passage of play: midway through the second half, with the team already three-nil up, she controlled beautifully a long ball from Manuela Zinsberger, passed it back to Rosa Kafaji who released Frida Maanum in the central channel; the Norwegian waited for Stina Blackstenius intelligent run on the left-hand channel, played her through, but Stina Blackstenius could only hit the post from a narrow angle.
Stina Blackstenius did everything 100% right, from the control while under pressure to the supporting run. Everything but one thing: the finishing.
Like many other times during her Arsenal career, she deserved to score, she deserved to apply the finishing touch to a wonderful team move she initiated and instigated, yet the ball didn’t hit the back of the net.
Football is a sport of fine margins and, for a reason I can’t explain, those margins are almost always against Stina Blackstenius: whether it is a miraculous save from the goalkeeper, or the post, or the bar, or a desperate goal-line clearance, there is always something preventing her from converting those chances. What a player she would be, if she could turn those fine margins to her advantage…
**NEXT’S UP**
Our beloved Arsenal Women team will be back on the pitch in Liverpool, on Sunday afternoon.
A big game to consolidate our third-place berth and put ourselves in the best possible position to take advantage of any unexpected slip-up.
Then, it will be Bayern at home for the final fixture of the UWCL group stage!
**Speak to you soon!**
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.