This Arsenal team has got something about it, hasn’t?
From one-nil down to three-one up in the Conti Cup final against Chelsea.
From one-nil down to two-nil up in the Champions League against Bayern Munich.
From one-nil down to two-nil up in the league against Manchester City.
Three big games against three big clubs, at the peak of their form, starting from a losing point and three massive wins – and a trophy – along the way.
The most prominent aspect of those wins has to be the character shown by the players and their willingness to overcome any obstacle thrown at them: we conceded early, we lost big players due to injuries, we had to make swift adjustments and yet we came up on top, sometimes in a way that isn’t adequately reflected in the scoresheet.
Yesterday’s game against Manchester City looked like it was too much for the players’ legs and brains but, somehow and somewhere, they found the resources required to flip the game on its head.
Jonas Eidevall made two changes compared to the Champions League game, as he replaced the injured Kim Little with Lotte Wubben-Moy, shifting Leah Williamson in midfield, alongside Lia Wälti, and chose Sabrina D’Angelo instead of Manuela Zinsberger between the posts. The Canadian shot-stopper was in fine form but could not prevent Manchester City taking an early lead when Bunny Shaw found the far post with a nice header, five minutes into the game; from that moment on, as much as the hosts tried to regain control of the game, Manchester City looked much better and could evade our pressing rather easily, mostly thanks to Coombs’ ability to move to wide positions when they had the ball.
As we were unable to pick our wingers with long balls behind their full-backs, Manchester City had a relatively easy task in keeping us at bay and, simultaneously, build their attacks with lots of time and space. If it weren’t for Sabrina D’Angelo’s key saves, the game could have been over before half-time. We dug in, we stayed in the game, we didn’t drift and we earned our chances to fight back, in the second half. Losing Caitlin Foord was a big blow, considered the space behind our opponents’ full-backs, but as soon as we adjusted to our new attacking setup, we looked far more aggressive and far more dangerous, going forward.
Another impressive display from Frida Maanum
As expected, Noëlle Maritz moved to left flank as soon as Victoria Pelova was shifted to left-wing, to keep the chain intact, with Laura Wienroither and Katie McCabe operated on the right. The key aspect of our priceless win was the increased aggression, instigated by the impressive Frida Maanum, which led to more turnovers and a more apparent field dominance from our girls. Frida Maanum, who is simply unplayable at times, got a deserved goal by reacting first to a loose ball in the penalty area, and then we completed the comeback when Katie McCabe rifled the ball to the top corner with a powerful, curling strike from just inside the box. In between, though, it was Jonas Eidevall who did something special as he moved to a back-three at the back to stretch Manchester City in midfield and find additional combinations in the half-spaces. By replacing Stina Blackstenius with Jodie Taylor, he added speed to our attacking line, then asked Frida Maanum and Katherine Kühl (who replaced Victoria Pelova) to start from wide position to drift centrally, while both wing-backs pushed on. The new setup was difficult to read for Manchester City at first, allowing our players to push on and get the deserved winner.
The injured Katie McCabe celebrates the winner with the bench (photo by Arsenal.com)
The visitors didn’t truly fashion clear-cut chances, mostly because of the compactness of our defensive line, but Sabrina D’Angelo was great to push the ball over the bar, when Chloe Kelly had her opportunity, then the referee stopped the game with Bunny Shaw ready to strike home from three yards out, following Frida Maanum’s head injury.
Was it the right call? I did not see the incident….
This massive, massive win takes us to the third place, ahead of Manchester City and three points away from Manchester United at the top, who played one game more than us and Chelsea, currently in second place. The race is very tight and exciting and is likely to go to the wire, at least for three clubs. We are among those, of course, and we can all feel confident because this team just showed us, once again, how resilient and strong it is.
I cannot be prouder of the coach, the staff and the players and I couldn’t be happier to say that I was wrong to question them, not longer than a month ago. The strength, both physical and moral, they showed since the Conti Cup final has been simply sensational.
Now it is time to rest and recharge, very much like the men’s team, to get ready for the final sprint: six leagues games, including top-of-the-table away games at Chelsea and Manchester United, to see how far this team can go, plus the home and away UWCL semifinals against Wolfsburg, with a ticket for Eindhoven at stakes.
Brace yourselves, Gooners!
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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