Hello, Arsenal Women aficionados!
Renée Slegers and her players completed a remarkable week with three wins in as many games to book a place in the knock-out phase of the UWCL and the quarterfinals of the FA Cup.
To use the head coach words, the team “finished the block” in a stylish way and are currently on a seven-wins streak that started with a magnificent performance away at Chelsea and included the Women’s Champions Cup triumph and the home win against league leaders Manchester City, who were unbeaten in the WSL since the opening weekend.
If we throw in five clean-sheets in seven games and an average of 3.14 goals scored per game, it makes a wonderful moment for the Arsenal Women.
Will the international break ruin it? It is always hard to tell.
While it is not ideal to break the rhythm of a team that is on a roll, surely all those high-pressure games took a toll on the players, the coach and the staff, so perhaps getting away could be a good medicine to avoid a burnout. There is still a lot to play for in the season, and more games coming, so a breather is necessary or the players might lack the mental and physical sharpness to play at their best.
GOALS GALORE
Since we last spoke, the Arsenal Women team dispatched OH Leuven with a 7-1 aggregate score and advanced to the FA Cup quarterfinals with an emphatic 3-0 home win against Bristol City Women, showing glimpses of their offensive potential.
During those games, the Arsenal Women team had six different goalscorers and showed a penchant for quick, incisive cutbacks from wide areas – duly converted by the players crashing the box.
Out of ten goals scored across three games, five came directly from a cutback pass, with another one originating from a cutback and finished by Victoria Pelova with a first-time shot from outside the box. One player who stood out at tormenting her direct opponent was Caitlin Foord, who gave two assists away at OH Leuven, won a penalty in the return leg and another one at home against Bristol City, before getting involved in Victoria Pelova’s goal via another smart cutback.
Among all the attacking players, the Australian was the most threatening and effective, despite not getting into the scoresheet. She would have deserved a goal, at least, but her performances were simply marvelous, and her ability to play off either wing or with any full-back made a real difference for the team.
THE LESSI SHOW IS BACK!
She might have missed a penalty against Bristol City, but Alessia Russo was spectacular in the last three wins: on top of scoring three goals in as many games, she created multiple chances thanks to her skillful movement and touch inside and around the penalty area, and she delivered a masterclass at rolling the defenders while being back to the goal. In the return leg against OH Leuven she opened the score with a beautiful movement around the defender, before rifling the ball to the near post, the repeated the trick towards the end of the game, when she received the ball in the box under pressure from the defender, held her off and quickly turned before unleashing a fierce shot into the bottom corner.
Despite moving between the center-forward and attacking midfielder positions, she managed to connect seamlessly with players around her, linking up the play in the final third and holding up the ball at will, with poise and elegance. Once again, she reminded everyone that she has a unique profile among the attacking players currently in the squad, since she is the only one excelling at playing with her back to goal, attacking the space and linking up play between midfield and attack. Although not being the tallest or the strongest, she is incredibly effective at using her lower and upper body, and while not being the fastest, she can run the channels, and she often manages to win an extra yard of space to shoot or pass.
With the Club likely to move on from Stina Blackstenius in the summer, it will be interesting to see whether they move for a like-for-like replacement or pursue a different type of player, perhaps someone more akin at playing between the lines, and make Alessia Russo and Olivia Smith their strikers for the foreseeable future.
As long as Alessia Russo is in the starting lineup, I will be fine.
NEXT UP
The international break in onto us, and as many as twenty members of the Arsenal Women team will travel the world to join their respective national teams. Emily Fox and Olivia Smith will participate in the SheBelieves Cup, while Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley and Kyra Cooney-Cross will be involved in the AFC Asian Women’s Cup.
The Arsenal Women will be back on the pitch on March 15th, when they will travel across town to play against the London City Lionesses and hopefully continue their winning streak. Currently fourth and 13 points off the top, the Gunners have two games in hand and could go as up as second in the table, if they win against both Brighton and Leicester City.
We will talk again in the aftermath of the away game against the London City Lionesses and check whether the international break was a good or a bad thing for our beloved Arsenal Women team.
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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