Hello, Arsenal Women aficionados!
While an away draw at Manchester United wasn’t such a bad result, the home draw against Aston Villa has a whole different taste to it, also because the visitors struck at the very end. It is not to say they didn’t deserve their point, though: Aston Villa had several chances to equalize, especially in the second half, and got a well-deserved goal to go with a valiant performance at one of the most difficult grounds in the WSL.
Of course, we are left to rue a few missed chances, but it’s not like we dominated and squandered opportunities all day long either. Former Gunner Sabrina D’Angelo was barely tested at the Emirates Stadium, with one notable save on a Katie McCabe powerful shot from inside the box, and Aston Villa held on rather comfortably.
We missed some urgency and possibly a spark in the final third, since we seemed happy to circulate the ball in and around the penalty are without intent, rather than attacking Aston Villa low-block with purpose. Even Olivia Smith, a player who thrives when running at players, could not find her magic moment, while in midfield Mariona Caldentey and Kim Little struggled to impose themselves.
EMILY FOX MARAUDING RUNS
The US right-back was one of the bright spots of the afternoon and possibly our most dangerous player, which speaks volumes about our attacking performance. Twice she found herself in a very favourable position to score, and twice she failed to make the right decision in front of goal. Granted, that is not her primary role and we can all forgive her for back passing to Alessia Russo while through on goal, or shot right at a defender while she could have squared the ball to Caitlin Foord – although the Australian didn’t help by running towards Emily Fox, instead of taking a step back to separate herself from Wilms.
The former North Carolina Courage star is one of the finest full backs in world football and one of our most consistent performers, but she only scored twice in almost sixty appearances for the club and is yet to develop into an attacking weapon.
Through her pace, stamina, understanding of the spaces and technical ability she has all the ingredients of a marauding full back, but she needs to develop her attacking instincts to contribute more in terms of assists and goals.
Unlike Katie McCabe, who was educated as a forward, Emily Fox must start from scratches but her innate ability to spot channels and lanes for her underlapping runs could become an asset for our attacking style, and it feels like we’re missing a trick by not expecting more from her in the final third.
FRIDA MAANUM HYBRID ROLE
Is she a midfielder? Is she a forward? Ever since the Norwegian joined us from Linköping, Frida Leonhnardsen Maanum has divided opinions among the supporters and observers, because her skill set is so unique that it is very hard to put her in a category.
After her magical night in Lyon in 2022, when she took apart Olympique Lyonnais with her powerful runs and surging drives from midfield, Frida Maanum established herself as our main attacking midfielder – although she doesn’t possess any of the traits people usually associate with an attacking midfielder or a number ten.
She is not particularly skilled in terms of technique; she doesn’t like going for tricks; she rarely receives the ball on the half-turn; she is not keen on finding teammates with through balls and she doesn’t have (or show, at least…) flair with her playing style.
When Mariona Caldentey joined from Barcelona, the expectation was that she would play in the half-space or in the hole between our main striker, which of course meant that Frida Maanum would make space for her – either by moving to a deeper position in midfield, or to the bench.
Instead, it was Mariona who morphed into a deep-lying midfielder, and Frida Maanum kept her place at the tip of the midfield triangle.
That’s because Frida Maanum is not your traditional midfielder and doesn’t have the qualities required to help moving the ball forward and build up play from deep. If you compare her to Kim Little, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Mariona or the now-departed Lia Wälti, it is hard to put her in the same category of these players.
We could consider Frida Maanum as the archetypical box-to-box midfielder, or a box-crasher, but she lacks the finesse to pick her teammates between the lines of find the unlocking pass through a packed low-block – which are skills I would expect from a midfielder.
The opposite is true, too: who else can cut through midfield with the ball at her feet and not be bounced off the ball? Who else has the same drive to shoot on goal from long range with her confidence and accuracy? Who else presents a similar goal threat for oppositions?
So far, the Norwegian scored three goals in four WSL appearances, she reached double-digits for goal scored in all competitions in two of her four full-seasons with us and she’s about to hit the half-century of goals scored for the Arsenal. These are a forward’s numbers, not too dissimilar to Alessia Russo’s or Stina Blackstenius’.
Truth is, Frida Maanum is probably neither one: she is Frida Maanum, and she will continue to divide opinions. On one side, those who appreciate her willingness to score and drive the ball forward with her bulldozing style, on the other side those who would rather see a more skilful player, someone who can knit the play together and provide the “WOW!” moment with a laser pass that sends a teammate through on goal, or a piece of trick that leaves the opponent for dead.
Either way, Frida Maanum will continue to be a pivotal figure for the team, and the unique player that is impossible to push away from the ball, and whose powerful strikes can change a game in the blink of an eye. She can be frustrating, at times, but she’s the ultimate shadow forward capable of finding the back of the net at any given moment.
TURNOVER v CHEMISTRY
This is not as old as the “egg v chicken” thing, but it is just as complex: how much turnover is too much turnover?
Renée Slegers is yet to pick the same starting XI this season, and that is partly because we have so many options that it is hard to resist the temptation to rotate and surprise your opponents.
Against Aston Villa, she named a front three of Beth Mead, Olivia Smith and Alessia Russo, with the former Sunderland striker unusually deployed on the left-hand side of our attacking trio instead of her preferred right-wing spot.
It didn’t work. Well, it sort of did, but the fact that we didn’t win the game means that many are questioning the choices made by our head coach; had we won, instead, everyone would be happy and would probably applaud Renée Slegers for her squad management.
I think it is important to recognize that we had 19 shots against Aston Villa, but not many were high-quality shots, and we rarely threatened to score more. That is not down to the quality of our forwards, though, and it has more to do with their intent and purpose. As mentioned by Renée Slegers during her post-match interview, we subconsciously slowed down after scoring early in the game and lacked the edge to put the game to bed, especially in the first half. Eventually, we paid the price for that.
Of course, Chloe Kelly could have been substituted in earlier, and maybe Renée Slegers could have given some minutes to Stina Blackstenius, but any coach will tell you that you don’t shuffle your attacking unit for the sake of it, because forwards live off confidence and taking them off always dents their confidence.
It is a tough balancing act between trusting someone like Alessia Russo to score or replace her and give Stina Blackstenius her chance to impress – and hopefully put the game beyond Aston Villa. Same goes for Chloe Kelly, Caitlin Foord, Olivia Smith or Beth Mead and any other attacking player.
Also, players build chemistry and understanding while being on the pitch together, so you have to give them time to find the right connections and get their timing right: for someone like Olivia Smith, for example, all of that is new since she just joined from Liverpool – and it’s equally new to long-serving players who never played alongside her before.
Up until the 93rd minute, we were winning and had a decent chance to take home the whole three points, so I can see why Renée Slegers waited before introducing Chloe Kelly, or why Stina Blackstenius remained on the bench.
I second Renée Slegers when she says that we should not over-analyse this result, and hopefully the players learned a valuable lesson for the next few games – starting with the away trip to Manchester City.
NEXT’S UP
Saturday, lunch time, City Football Academy ground or live on Sky Sports.
We travel to Manchester to face the blue half of the city and take on two of the most dangerous attackers in Europe in Vivianne Miedema and Khadija Shaw.
Manchester City are currently on nine points in four games, and have only (narrowly, probably undeservedly) lost to Chelsea in the opening weekend.
Since then, they won three games out of three and scored eleven goals, while conceding three. They are yet to register a clean sheet, though, which indicates that they are not yet air-tight at the back, and we might get our chances.
With four points already dropped this season, we cannot afford many more slip-ups hence the importance of returning from Manchester with three points in the bag – or Chelsea might already be too far to be caught. For context, they only dropped six points in the whole campaign, last term…
We will catch up after the game, as usual.
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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