Arsenal Women continued their fine start to the season with a 9-0 victory over Championship side Lewes in the group phase of the Continental Tyres Cup. Hat tricks from Vivianne Miedema and Kim Little, as well as goals from Danielle van de Donk, Katie McCabe and Lisa Evans saw to a comfortable victory on the south coast. Tim Stillman caught up with Gunners defender Dominique Bloodworth after the game exclusively for Arseblog News.
On playing in defence this season after a long spell in midfield in the previous campaign…
I play for the national team as a defender, so it’s not hard to adjust for me. My favourite position is still in midfield, but at the moment we have some injuries in defence and I am happy to fill in the gaps where the trainer needs me.
On playing at the centre of a back 3 against Lewes…
Joe wanted to go with the back 3 to create more passing lanes into midfield because we wanted to create lots of chances today and have a lot of the ball. You can see that it worked really well today.
On the mental challenge of being 6-0 up at half-time…
It can be difficult, yes. You know you are winning and the game is pretty much won and there is not much pressure anymore. But it’s always good for the more attacking players to get on the score sheet, we had a couple of players that wanted to score a hat trick too and that creates a good feeling for the team.
Another week, another @VivianneMiedema hat-trick ?#WeAreTheArsenal ? pic.twitter.com/OMSyLIAh6o
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) September 16, 2018
On Lewes playing with a high defensive line…
We watched some clips of them this week and we know how they play, so we thought we knew where the spaces would be. There was a lot of space on the sides, so it was a good opportunity for me to get on the ball and try to hit those spaces. I really enjoyed that today.
On the form of Vivianne Miedema…
She keeps on scoring at the moment and that gives the team a really good feeling. We know that in an important moment she can score a goal at any time.
On Netherlands selling 19,000 tickets in less than an hour for their World Cup qualifying playoff against Denmark in October…
It’s true that we didn’t really want to be in a playoff, but it’s great for us to see that the fans are still behind us. We know we have another chance to reach the World Cup and we have to make it happen now, it’s going to be tough, but having 19,000 fans behind you is a big help.
Met z’n allen de schouders eronder! ??? https://t.co/dLFf6prGF3
— Dominique Bloodworth (@DominiqueJansse) September 14, 2018
When did she change to bloodworth? I have been wondering who is this new player we signed, when I read your articles.
She got married in the summer and changed her name
For this season, she got married during the summer.
How on earth are the Lewes ladies any good? I went to college up the road from that ground. It’s barely more built up than a local park. Funny old world.
It’s a lovely ground, very unique. Most women’s teams play at non league grounds, including Arsenal.
Excellent stuff, been really impressed with Arsenal Women’s start to the season.
Thanks, Tim.
The ground looks stunning from the photos.
I would have loved to see all those goals going in!
On another subject, I really hope the club do stick the women’s match on at least one screen at the Emirates on Sunday. I’m coming to London for the Everton game and being able to watch the Arsenal Women beforehand would just make the day perfect.
I’ve asked the question / made the suggestion to the club!