Hello, Arsenal Women aficionados!
When Caroline Weir scored her wonder goal, mid-way through the first half, everything looked lost. The game, the trophy, the season. All gone.
Arsenal Women weren’t playing particularly well, but didn’t necessarily deserve to fall behind Real Madrid, so the Manchester City former midfielder’s thunderous volley from the centre of the penalty area felt like the ultimate sucker punch.
To take such a hit, for a team that is clearly struggling for confidence, could derail the night and the whole season, yet the players found the mental strength to fight back and take the much-needed win to keep their European hopes intact.
It took two Alessia Russo’s headers to turn the game around, and lots of focus and determination to come out with the three points, so I can’t do anything else but laud the players’ character and applaud their courage.
Nights like this one could change the course of a campaign, and while the WSL title is gone, a deep run in Europe could ignite some belief and swagger into the players and help the team’s aspirations to secure a top-four finish in the league and ensure that the Arsenal will keep playing for the major European prize.
LESSI TO THE RESCUE
Restored at the centre of the attacking line, with Stina Blackstenius dropping to the bench and Frida Maanum in the attacking midfielder role, the England international proved to be the saviour in the team’s most difficult time.
By far the most lively in a very direct and pacey line, Alessia Russo showcased her finishing skills with two superb headers and a fierce shot that went whistling over the far post, few inches away from the post.
She didn’t have many chances, but she made the most of those: she scored a brace despite registering only three attempts, and while this level of efficiency (36% conversion rate) is impossible to sustain, the Gunners need this kind of ruthlessness and reliability in the box – especially in high-pressure, intense games like this one.
In contrast, Stina Blackstenius is yet to score a single goal in the UWCL – although she only played 120’ over four games – and typically needs several chances before hitting the back of the net. In the WSL, she already missed six big chances and while she bears a similar conversion rate compared to Alessia Russo (16% v 17%), she takes almost twice as many shots on target per game.
The Swede is a great attacker because she generates a high volume of attempts through smart positioning, intelligent runs and nous for where the ball will end up, but needs to improve her finishing to become an elite forward, simply because chances are usually scarce in tight games, and a forward must convert those few ones.
A TIMELY AWAKENING
Last season, the most impressive trait of character associated with this squad was their resilience: the tougher it got, the stronger the players would become.
It was attitude that got them out of troubles against Real Madrid, Olympique Lyonnais, Juventus or Bayern Munich, more than their strength, technique or tactical setup.
To put it with Alessia Russo’s words from the post-match interview, “in tough moments we always rise” and that’s exactly what they did against Real Madrid, on Wednesday: when everything seemed to be falling apart, the players found ways to fight back and turn things around.
This season, though, things looked different: individual (and uncharacteristic) mistakes, lapses of concentration, lack of intensity and aggression all contributed to a disappointing start of the season and pushed the team outside of the title race in the league, and on the brink of elimination in Europe.
Against Real Madrid, the players managed to summon some of that resilience, and showed how much fortitude they have within themselves, and hopefully this will be a turning point for a team desperate for confidence and momentum.
GOING WIDE
Two headed goals are quite the rarity, for the Gunners: since the beginning of last season, they scored only twelve headed goals, and they never scored two in the same game.
Scoring two headers against Real Madrid didn’t happen by accident, though, as the team specifically targeted the space behind both full backs the same way they did when the Spanish visited the Emirates Stadium, last season.
On Wednesday, they sent 28 crosses into the box (excluding corners) and last year they sent a whopping 37 crosses into the penalty area, both being the second-highest tally of each season. And guess what? Four out of five goals we scored against Real Madrid in the last two games came from crosses, plus another one that was disallowed for an offside, and two big chances missed by Mariona Caldentey at the Emirates Stadium and Frida Maanum at Meadow Park, this week.
Renée Slegers and her coaching staff clearly did their homework, while their counterparts might not have…
NEXT UP
The next game will be played in two weeks, once players return from their international duties around the world.
On December 6th, we will host Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium, hoping to grab the three points and consolidate our place in the top four. With the title now gone, the team must start creating a gap with the teams behind, so they can focus on the final two games of the UWCL league phase, against Twente and OH Leuven, and enter the winter break either with an automatic qualification for the knockout phase, or with a favorable position for the playoffs.
We will talk again once actual football resumes!
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.
Congratulations!!!