Good evening Arsenal Women aficionados!
Non caped hero
Not all heroes wear a cape, they said, but the Club should start considering launching a new fashion range with capes branded with Katie McCabe and her number 15.
The Ireland captain was once again the savoir, although in a less dramatic way compared to the stoppage-time equalizer against Aston Villa, and scored a wonderful brace to ensure that we would get into the international break with a second consecutive win in the bag.
Against newly-promoted Bristol City, the Arsenal was expected to win comfortably and take advantage of an inferior opponent to heal their goal difference, but instead they had to work very hard to edge the hosts and record their first away win of this campaign.
Winning against Aston Villa was seen as the turning point of the season, especially when we consider how we got the best of the visitors, and the away game at the Ashton Gate Stadium should have been all about building the confidence and momentum, but instead it almost became another big bump on the road.
Bristol City were very compact at the back, defended in a low block, fought on every ball but should not have posed much of a problem for Jonas Eidevall’s girls, especially when Katie McCabe scored the opener in the seventh minute, but instead of becoming a stroll in the park, the game got much closer than expected.
I don’t mean to disrespect Bristol City, but once again we became our worst enemy and kept this game tight with misplaced passes, rushed decisions and a way too familiar tendency to overdo and overrun in the final third, rather than for the quality of our opponent.
The lack of composure in applying the final touch has been an issue since the beginning of the season, and one of the reasons why we crashed out of the Champions League.
In all the league games played so far, we combined lapses of concentration at the back with poor decision-making at the front, resulting in laborious games and disappointing results. Obviously, this is not sustainable on the long-term and Jonas Eidevall must find new solutions to make sure that the players are sharp enough, both physically and mentally, to put the game to sleep when they have a chance.
The Swede made two changes to the team that won against Aston Villa, selecting the unconvincing Laia Codina to replace Amanda Ilestedt and choosing Victoria Pelova ahead of Frida Maanum in midfield. As mentioned, we started well and got our lead through a long-range strike from Katie McCabe, who collected the ball on the edge of the penalty area and unleashed a fierce strike that hit the top corner. What looked like the start of a comfortable afternoon in Bristol, slowly turned into a nervy affair as we couldn’t find the second goal and – in all honesty – didn’t truly push for it. We seemed content to keep the ball, control the tempo, search for the right opening but there was little intent in our possession and interplay.
Football being football, Bristol equalized out of nowhere when Rachel Furness outsmarted and outjumped Laia Codina to head in a pinpoint delivery from Jamie-Lee Napier and the home fans pushed their players to another level. The over 12,000 people at the Ashton Gate Stadium erupted when Bristol City found an unexpected equalizer and the players found new energies and new belief to protect what would have been their first point of the campaign.
When we headed down the tunnel at half-time, things weren’t looking especially bright.
For as much as we tested the debutant Olivia Clark, who pulled a series of nice saves, Bristol City were defending well, and our attacks were sparse and not incisive enough.
Once again, we relied on one player to provide a spark and change the momentum of the game, rather than putting our opponents under pressure, and Katie McCabe took the front stage again: she got first on a loose ball in the box and found the back of the net with a powerful right-foot strike, leaving no chance to the goalkeeper.
The goal had a tangible effect on the crowd as the stadium got much quieter, and the Bristol City players seemed to accept their fate and virtually gave up on the result, after giving their all for the first hour or so. Jonas Eidevall proceeded to make some changes, with Frida Maanum and Beth Mead coming in to replace Victoria Pelova and Laia Codina, but the big moment of the day came when Vivianne Miedema replaced Alessia Russo: the Dutch, who was absent for almost a year following her ACL injury, looked genuinely happy to set foot on a pitch again, and took seconds to setup Beth Mead with a trademark through-ball.
With so much said about our poor decision-making and execution in the final third, having someone as good as Vivianne Miedema will make a huge difference and will surely represent a big boost for our ambitions. Before her injury, there was this kind of chit chat about where she would fit in the team and how Jonas Eidevall wanted to use her, given her unparalleled scoring ability but also her desire to play as a number ten.
Having her back, after so long, will be a great reminder of her ability and importance to the team (to any team, really) regardless of her position on the pitch, and might possibly make us all realize with more clarity how much we missed her, last season. While there was a time when Vivianne Miedema wasn’t an automatic starter for this team, it is impossible to imagine the team without her now that she is back.
Let’s leave all the headaches about where she plays and which zones she will occupy to our opponents, because with Vivianne Miedema on the pitch this team will look completely different as she is simultaneously the best ten and the best nine we have in the squad and one of the best in Europe.
When fully fit, Vivianne Miedema will be the brain behind our attacking moves and the ultimate weapon in front of goal, whether is it with Alessia Russo, Stina Blackstenius or both.
The Women Super League will resume on November 5th, when we will face top-of-the-table Manchester City at Meadow Park, in what will be the biggest test of the season, so far.
Gareth Taylor turned Manchester City into title challengers again after a poor first half of last season, and added former Gunner Jill Roord to the squad, paying a British record-fee to prize her away from Wolfsburg. The Dutch, nominally a midfielder, already scored three goals in four league games – as if we needed a reminder about her goal scoring ability.
Anyway, there is still time before the game kicks-off and Jonas Eidevall will have some time to work with his players, or at least those that won’t be travelling around the world during the international break.
Speak to you soon!
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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