During Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea last weekend and their 3-2 defeat to Bayern in midweek, Arsenal looked vulnerable to transition moments through the spine of the team. This harks back to an issue we saw with the team at the end of last season, particularly during away defeats to Brighton and Aston Villa in the spring.
Arsenal were playing without Leah Williamson and Kim Little, who are significant players in the spine of the team and for the team’s out of possession game. Arseblog News asked Renee Slegers during her pre North London derby press conference about the team’s organisation out of possession with Little missing.
‘Of course, we miss Kim, she’s always that presence in front of the back line and she has so much ability to cover ground and read situations so well, both in and out of possession. We’ve been missing her because we’ve built a lot of things around her on the pitch.
‘We’ve been looking at what are we doing structurally out of possession to make sure that that space isn’t too open for the opposition and then it’s, of course, also the personnel question of what player is the player that plays that role for us when Kim isn’t on the pitch.’
Lia Walti left the club for Juventus in August, the Gunners made a late move for her compatriot Geraldine Reuteler, we believe there was an inquiry about another international midfielder earlier in the summer. Arseblog News asked Slegers whether a more ‘orthodox’ defensive midfield player will be on the shopping list in January.
‘We have a fantastic recruitment team and and of course, we’re in a really good position as well because we’re a very attractive club, I think a club that pioneers and is world- leading in a lot of things.
‘So now, we are always looking to build for the year in the future and looking at where we need to strengthen where we want to strengthen and how we how we build moving forward. That’s always happening in the background in several positions at the moment.’