Wherever they go. Wherever they go.
It’s fair to say that it’s been a great few days for us Gooners: the men’s team won the North London Derby, the women’s team thrashed Manchester City five-nil and last night Jonas Eidevall’s girls battered Sp*rs in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
Tottenham get battered wherever they go, indeed!
Last night’s North London Derby was a very interesting one, for several reason: it was Tobin Heath’s full debut after her brief cameo against Manchester City; it was Jordan Nobbs’ return after the injury suffered before the start of the WSL; it was Viktoria Schnaderback’s long-belated comeback and it was the first time Jonas Eidevall truly rotated the team, with spectatular results.
Although the gulf in quality between our squad and theirs is pretty big, changing as many as eight players is always tricky for a coach, especially in a one-legged cup tie with no room for mistake.
Jonas Eidevall rested Vivianne Miedema, Noëlle Martitz, Steph Catley, Manuela Zinsberger, Kim Little, Frida Maanum and Beth Mead, plus Jen Beattie who got injured against Manchester City, and got a great response for those who have been less busy or less impressive in the opening games of the campaign. It is a fantastic testimony of the overall quality of our squad, especially the attacking unit, and a very positive sign for the future.
The schedule is about to light up, with four games in the next fourteen days before the next international break, so we will need everyone up and firing in order to be able to chase every trophy available.
I mentioned it in my previous AWFC Journal but I am happy to repeat myself, because the options available to Jonas Eidevall are truly excellent: we (finally?) have a squad depth that puts us in a position where we can make without some of the best players and still produce great football, score goals and look solid, regardless of who is going out on the pitch. For me to see a front line of Nikita Parris, Tobin Heath and Caitilin Foord and realize that they actually are second-choice (at least for the moment) to Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead and Katie McCabe is simply unbelievable.
We have depth and we have quality all over the place, which gives me hope that we will not suffer from the usual injury-crisis we become so accostumed to, in the past. I could have done with an extra midfielder to get Lia Wälti some rest but I guess we will see more of Leah Williamson in midfield or either one of Jordan Nobbs and Kim Little playing in a deeper position, while waiting for Malin Gut to be available again.
Back to the North London Derby now, for some of the best moments of the night.
Sp*rs are yet to win a game against us but are getting better, recently, and they even took an early lead, before being put to the sword by our superior quality: a brace from Caitilin Foord and a goal apiece from Nikita Parris, Mana Iwabuchi and Lotte Wubben-Moy (via a deflection) sealed another empathic win for our girls, who are now on 8 wins in 8 games, scored 31 goals and conceded only 4.
It’s always painful to move around two deep blocks in a 4-4-2 like the one fielded by Sp*rs so we must give credit to Jonas Eidevall for picking the correct plan and to the players for moving the ball quickly and with purpose, despite the unconvincing start and a very unfamiliar starting XI.
Today I would like to talk about one player in particular, though: Mana Iwabuchi.
The Japanese wizard scored another worldie after the breath-taking effort against PSV, making it look far too easy. There is an element of grace in Mana’s way of playing that makes everything look effortless, even the most complex piece of skill.
Everything Mana does is art. pic.twitter.com/I14fEUCSAv
— AWFCLIPS (@awfclips) September 29, 2021
The video of her sitting down a Manchester City defender with one touch and one body-feint became viral last week, also because of the reactions from the stands, and the collection just keeps growing.
MANA-MAGIC (both angles) https://t.co/KM0Vn99Z9m pic.twitter.com/93PHIax1xB
— AWFCLIPS (@awfclips) September 27, 2021
I feel privileged to have such a brilliant player at the Club but I feel that his signing hasn’t been as appreciated as it should have been: is it because it was talked about for months? Is it because it came very early in the summer? Is it because of the arrivals of Nikita Parris and Tobin Heath? I don’t know.
What I know is that Mana Iwabuchi is a very, very special player and I feel extremely grateful to be able to watch her and some other world-class technicians like Kim Little, Jordan Nobbs, Tobin Heath or Lia Wälti. There’s a feeling of pride and identity in the way these players treat the ball, the Arsenal Way.
Next up for the Arsenal Women team is Aston Villa away, on Saturday, before we fly to Barcelona to face the reigning-champions in the first game of the group stage of the Champions League.
It’s on, ladies and gentlemen!
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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