Arsenal Women got back to winning ways with a 3-0 win over Reading Women at Adams’ Park this afternoon, thanks to a second minute goal from Vivianne Miedema and late goals from Kim Little and Katie McCabe. Tim Stillman spoke to Arsenal skipper Kim Little immediately after the match, exclusively for Arseblog News.
On getting back to winning ways after the Chelsea defeat….
It was extremely important to get back to winning ways off the back of the international break and after losing to Chelsea, with the City game that’s 2 defeats from our last 3 before today, so we had to win and we were pleased with the clean sheet too. We had to show a lot of resilience and fight against Reading, who always compete, but we came out on top.
Things are heating up ? pic.twitter.com/DX23zx69lp
— The FA Women's Super League (@FAWSL) January 27, 2019
On manager Joe Montemurro’s absence from the game due to ‘flu….
Joe has been in bed ill all week so we’ve been taken by Aaron (D’Antino- assistant manager) and our goalkeeping coach Leanne (Hall). But it was all very smooth because of the way we all work as a team and everybody knows what they are doing. It didn’t really affect us, even though we want Joe here, but we were happy to get the three points for him and hopefully we can see him next week.
On Reading turning the screw in the second half….
I think it’s just the way these games go. We were winning and Reading have really good players, so naturally you tend to sit a little bit more and they’re going to go for it. We became a bit disjointed, we haven’t all played together that often. In the second half, they had a bit more time on the ball. But I thought we kept our shape really well and we kept them out of our box and made sure we didn’t concede.
That clean sheet feeling ? #WeAreTheArsenal pic.twitter.com/yuMgOOMHsL
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) January 27, 2019
On being spared from international duty last week…..
I only just came back from my injury [a broken fibula] in January and we had three big games in a week. So having that rest and the opportunity to recuperate after that was important for me to just get back into the swing of things in the league.
On playing in a slightly deeper role today….
It was a little bit due to the absence of Lia Wälti to help dictate the play from deep. We changed the formation a little today and played 3 at the back and that means the midfielders have a bit more defensive responsibility. As the game went on, with the early goal we naturally didn’t want to concede, so we fell back into our shape a lot. I’m happy to play any role in the midfield so long as we get the three points.
LITTLE CONVERTS FROM THE SPOT! ?
How does it feel to be back on the scoresheet, Kim? ?
? 0-2 ? (81) #WeAreTheArsenal pic.twitter.com/ARZ1io6kJe
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) January 27, 2019
Great game from Kim, good to hear her thoughts. What a tonic for Joe! So proud of the girls again, crippled by injuries but finding a way to win is what champions do. Another terrific showing by Leah Williamson, in fact our defending as a whole was very good. More energy and aggression about the side today, but still lacking fluency, so I hope this lineup gets the chance to bed in for a while (with DvD in for Kuyken, of course) I like Veje, haven’t seen Schnaderbeck and Kemme, but Waelti still looks the pick of our recent signings.… Read more »
Doesn’t take much to make Emma grumpy!
Yes Leah had a great game today and Veje grew in confidence as it went on. I cannot believe you have not seen Tabea Kemme in a German shirt. She is world class when fit which we hope will be soon as she only has two years over here!
If I knew anything about physio I would patent a knee brace for women players that prevented ligament damage. I simply cannot believe how a quality squad like the one we have has been decimated by damaged knees.
The players absolutely rave about her on what they’ve seen in training, they are all really looking forward to her playing.
Thanks as always for the great writeup Tim. Weird old game today, seemed quite flat but also quite narky between the teams. Was glad we’d got the 2nd goal, Reading gave it a good go the last few minutes. Onwards and upwards!
Great result just what the doctor ordered. Better still did not appear to be any injuries today despite the niggly last half hour or so. I think the referee contributed to that a little for perpetually stopping the game to issue yellow cards. It was not that sort of match! Shame Kuyken couldn’t get herself on the scoresheet she seemed to do everything right until the effort got cleared off the line. New girl Filis looked good too with that assist!
The future is bright. The future is Arsenal Women!