Arsenal Women opened their WSL campaign with a thumping 5-0 victory over Neil Redfearn’s Liverpool side. Among the goals was captain Kim Little, who spoke to Tim Stillman immediately after the game, exclusively for Arseblog News.
On laying down a marker for the league season…
Before the game we spoke about the importance of three points and a good performance and we did both of those things today.
On the difference Lia Wälti has made to the midfield…
It’s a really good balance in the middle of the park. We all have different attributes and Lia balances us out and gives us structure playing as the number 6. But she is also very dynamic in the way she moves and moves the ball and it worked really well today. We still have lots of things we need to work on, but this was a great start.
On playing a fluid formation…
Joe has come in and made it clear that this is what he wants and he has implemented his philosophy on all of us. As well as applying his own style, he has also used the skills of the players he has and what they are able to give him and you can really see now how those two things are interacting together. We are all footballers, we all want to play, we want to move, we want to create and play good football and I think we did that today.
On her goal….
I love scoring goals but I especially love scoring good goals, it was great interplay in the midfield and a really nice combination with Jordan [Nobbs] and Viv [Miedema], we’re happy to score 5 goals, but happier that they were all really good goals.
??? This is superb from Kim Little and @ArsenalWFC…
The hosts lead Liverpool 4-0 in the second half!#FAWSL pic.twitter.com/JSH3ThStJn
— The FA Women's Super League (@FAWSL) September 9, 2018
On Scotland’s qualification for the World Cup this week and missing Euro 2017 through injury…
It will be a huge honour for me to play in the World Cup, but there are things you can’t control, like injuries and I’ll prepare myself by playing the season in the same way I usually would and by focusing on Arsenal until then.
On refocusing on club duty after Scotland’s midweek triumph…
Myself, Emma and Lisa are humble people, so we certainly didn’t brag about it when we came back to Colney, it’s always interesting coming back to club football from international games, especially when the games you play are so significant. We’ve taken a little bit of time to come back and adapt again because it was a big week emotionally for a lot of us at Arsenal playing for our countries, but I think you saw today that we are all focused on Arsenal and the season ahead.
Nice win! And the way the ball just sticks to her feet when dribbling, how she holds off the defenders and a cool finish under pressure. ???
Cracking performance today & the gulf in quality was obvious from the start.
Such a boost to have Kim fit and ready for the start of the season. Hopefully she can stay fit, as she is truly world class. I don’t think I’ve seen a better player in the women’s game in England.
Comprehensive. Very nice!
Thanks, Tim. Kim was tremendous and I was so happy for our Scottish contingent for qualifying for WWC2019. Also pleased for Shelley Kerr. I think she’s an excellent coach for whom the Arsenal job came maybe a bit too soon. I saw the Liverpool match online. Great game, terrific performance from all the girls. I love the tempo, the combinations and the intelligence with which we play when at our best. Miedema got POTM but any number of other players could have. I’m still a bit worried about us standing p to some teams physically – seems that it’s too… Read more »