When Georgia Stanway signed for Arsenal during the summer, the brief was, on paper at least, significant. Under the stewardship of Renee Slegers, the midfield- arguably the entire team- has been defined by a double pivot of Mariona and Kim Little. Two players who really ought to have won the Ballon D’Or during their careers.
The 30-year-old Spaniard and the 36-year-old Gunners captain formed a highly intuitive and complex partnership in midfield. After the opening day victory at Brighton, Renee Slegers told Arseblog News that Stanway’s arrival was about, ‘the quality of playing bigger and looking bigger so that brings a different dynamic to our midfield.’
Slegers was referring to Stanway’s penchant for long, diagonal passes and shots from range. Speaking to Arseblog News at Arsenal’s Sobha Realty Training Centre, Stanway insists she has not come to the club with a grand action plan in mind. ‘I never want to come in and change something that has been working. I think Kim and Mario’s dynamics and their connections are super important within the team. I’ve been asked to come in and play the way that I play with freedom, but also within the Arsenal Way.’
Stanway says she sees versatility as a strength in this new look engine room. ‘The midfield, I’d say in terms of me, Kyra, Kim and Mariona probably have the ability to play anywhere around the middle and with Mario playing on the wing as well, being able to come inside. I think that allows us to have the flexibility to be able to rotate in those positions.’ The 27-year-old scored in both games for England during the international break and says she is getting a feel for more advanced positions since Kyra Cooney-Cross came into the Arsenal line-up.
‘At the start of the season I was probably a little bit deeper than what I have been in the last few games for Arsenal so it’s just finding that dynamic and finding those connections together.’ The three games before the recent international break saw a consistency of selection in midfield with Stanway partnered with Cooney-Cross and Kim Little. Stanway says that combination has given her more freedom to get forward and she scored her first goal for the club in the 2-2 draw with Paris FC in the Champions League.
‘Kyra’s naturally probably a little bit more defensive, which means that when we do progress the ball, I have the license to be able to go a little bit higher and make box entries try and get closer to Alessia or whoever’s in the nine. That allows me to be able to do that and then Kyra’s more the one that’s been sitting a little bit deeper. It’s a little bit of playing with the system at the moment and trying to find those dynamics. But I do think it’s been working so far.’
While on international duty, Stanway again took her place alongside Chelsea’s Keira Walsh in midfield. Stanway and Walsh has been the go-to partnership at the base of the Lionesses midfield since Sarina Wiegman took over as manager in 2021. Stanway admits that very firmly established partnership took some time to settle, an experience which she is drawing on as she beds into this Arsenal team.
‘I probably wasn’t a starter for England in the midfield until Sarina came in and my first six months with Sarina was quite tough because I was playing full back at City and then coming to England and trying to challenge for a midfield position was difficult because I wasn’t playing in position at club. I probably only managed to define that maybe four years ago.’ In 2022, Stanway signed for Bayern Munich. As well as stretching her horizons, she says Bayern also offered consistency of selection.
‘I was able to play the same position consistently and I was able to learn how to play the position and how to make it my own and how to feel free within it at the same time.’ The signing of Stanway does not just signal a new era for the Arsenal midfield. The Gunners said goodbye to big, defining leaders like Beth Mead and Katie McCabe during the summer. A two-time European Champion with England and four-time Bundesliga winner and WSL winner with Manchester City, Arseblog News asks Stanway whether being a leader has been part of her brief at Arsenal.
‘I think becoming a leader kind of just happens. I think it happens through experience. It happens through age and one minute you are 21 and you’re the kid that’s up and coming and then you wake up and you’re 27 and there’s a lot of responsibility and I feel like that’s kind of what happened with me. When I arrived at Bayern there’d been no word of leadership.
‘I just played the way that I played and got on with that. Then I became one of the vice-captains at Bayern in my first year. That was something that I took with open arms and I enjoyed that responsibility. I enjoyed the trust from the manager. I feel like coming here it’s not necessarily that I want to replace what’s been here. Maybe I can bring something that’s a little bit different in terms of leadership.’ Georgia says she is a player who prefers to lead by example.
‘I feel good in communication when I understand the system and I will lead by example,. I’m not somebody that can come into training and be half-hearted. I will always give it my all. I’m somebody that turns up to train and wants to put tackles in wants to have intent behind the passes and I think that also shows in my performances that I don’t do things half-heartedly.’
Stanway also suggests that she likes to pick her moments in games to help to turn momentum, ‘I want to come here and I want to hit the ground running and if that is being a leader in terms of catalyst moments- tough tackles or in terms of something that happens within a game then I would rather lead by example in that way than lead by words.’
Renee Slegers encourages a collaborative style of leadership with her players, encouraging, demanding even that they contribute to team talks and game plans. ‘I enjoy the fact that Renee is super open. I think we’re the ones that are playing and we’re the ones that feel it. I think from the sidelines it’s also good to get a good overview but at the same time, we’re the ones on the pitch and we have to be able to work things out quickly depending on what the opposition give us.
‘Renee’s not alone also and there’s a lot of staff down there that work tirelessly to put us in the best possible position.’ The Gunners start to the season has been poor which the England international hints at when she says, ‘I think at some point it becomes the player’s responsibility to step on the pitch and make it happen.’ After just one WSL win in the opening five games, Arsenal are in a situation where they need to put a run together in this upcoming block.
Arsenal players scored 13 goals in the recent international break, with Stanway scoring two of those for England. From an Arsenal perspective, Stanway says the international break was useful in one sense but frustrating in another, ‘I think it’s really useful. There’s a part of me that’s a little bit frustrated though because we did it with our national teams, but we couldn’t do it here.
‘There is a little bit more of that frustration inside to think ‘right, it’s time to put things right.’ It was nice to go with national team just to get a change of scenery, but at the same time it was hard to leave this place because not everything’s ticking. It was a good opportunity to clear the head, get some good creative actions against Greece get a lot of positivity in terms of the relationship between me and Less (Russo) and get goals and assists. It is nice to come back with a new mindset and the plan is on Saturday to try and hit the ground running and build as much momentum as possible.’
Arsenal play at home to Birmingham City on Saturday lunchtime aiming to relaunch their season. While the previous block ended with a gutting draw in Paris and defeat at Manchester City, Slegers’ side did at least correct some early season issues in front of goal, scoring twice in Paris and twice in Manchester. Stanway says that gives the team something to build on ahead of the Birmingham game.
‘We can build on it a lot. I think it’s just taking each thing as each game as it comes. There’s no point in getting too far ahead of ourselves.’ Slegers and Arsenal were clear externally that their big aim for the season was to win the WSL, an ambition that already looks highly unlikely given their current position. Stanway says the focus has to be a little more granular now.
‘Whatever was said in preseason is taken back now and it’s literally about the process and Saturday making sure that we put ourselves in the best possible position and to make sure that we’re playing with freedom, making sure that those chances are not just chances and we turn them into goals.’
Arsenal play Birmingham City at Emirates Stadium at 12.45pm on Saturday. Tickets are available here.