So after a grand total of two consecutive wins, the 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on Sunday felt so familiar it might as well have been generated by AI. A slow start to a game is punctured by a fast break down Arsenal’s left side exploited by a fast opposition right winger. It’s the fifth time in eight WSL games this season where the Gunners have conceded the first goal.
From there on, Arsenal toil and toil, playing the horseshoe of death around a ten player defence with lots of shots but little incision. The Gunners had 21 shots against Villa, only one of which was termed a ‘big chance’ by Opta. It’s all so frustratingly familiar. The equaliser, when it came, was too late to build on much the same as it was against Birmingham and Manchester United.
Slegers had banked on some nascent partnerships to try to get through this period before the November international break. Hinds and Foord on the left. Reuteler and Batlle on the right. Russo behind Smith. The problem is that when Arsenal went in at the break a goal behind, a double substitution was made which broke those partnerships up. So Arsenal were back to square one.
In last week’s newsletter, I asked how long Arsenal could ‘play the hot hand’ for. The answer was not for very long. Ultimately when results are under pressure, managers show you who they do and don’t trust. Hinds and Reuteler, who had struggled for any minutes at all until recently, were sacrificed at the break. The patience in those players was short.
Match stats for Arsenal Women v Aston Villa W: Possession 65% - 35%, Total shots 26 - 1, Shots on target 8 - 1, Shots off target 13 - 0, Shots inside box 20 - 1, Big chances 2 - 0, Corners 10 - 0, Offsides 0 - 5, Fouls 3 - 5, Saves 0 - 7, Passes 583 - 336, Pass accuracy 91% - 77%, Tackles 16 - 21, Interceptions 20 - 11.
Match stats for Arsenal Women v Aston Villa W: Possession 65% - 35%, Total shots 26 - 1, Shots on target 8 - 1, Shots off target 13 - 0, Shots inside box 20 - 1, Big chances 2 - 0, Corners 10 - 0, Offsides 0 - 5, Fouls 3 - 5, Saves 0 - 7, Passes 583 - 336, Pass accuracy 91% - 77%, Tackles 16 - 21, Interceptions 20 - 11.
Stina Blackstenius is also on the naughty step somewhat, even with Arsenal losing 1-0, she didn’t come on until the 82nd minute. When Emily Fox came on it was at left-back, with Batlle now having not played at left-back, the position she was principally bought to play in, since the Birmingham game. There are just too many situations and scenarios with players that look ruptured.
Player purgatories are becoming an uncomfortable theme, falling into the Nighswonger zone is a situation well known by Victoria Pelova, for example. Before she was injured, Selina Cerci was only trusted in ‘gun to the manager’s head’ scenarios. Arsenal increased the size of the squad this summer but her circle of Slegers’ trusted players seems to be shrinking.
Slegers is on record as saying that she prefers to delegate on the finer points of recruitment, that being the case, she either had to veto far more assertively when contracts were issued to certain players and when players were recruited, or else she simply has to use who she is given. There are so many recruitment red flags that have probably already destroyed this season when this was supposed to be Slegers’ squad for the next iteration of the club.
Renee was irritated by a question in the press conference about Russo playing as a 10. It is a question that has been asked in each of the last five press conferences now so it’s somewhat understandable. Russo is playing well and scoring goals, her playing as a 10 is, quite literally, the very least of Arsenal’s issues. The question is more why she is the only player who seems to be trusted, or able, to play in that position given the variety of other options.
At the end when the players huddled, Slegers cut an animated figure, her face creased with frustration. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, of course. But we know it is out of character for the manager, at least publicly, to present anything other than a calm figure. It’s another fracture that shows that this just isn’t working.