Arsenal moved within one win of the WSl title with a 2-1 victory over Everton at Meadow Park on Sunday. Gunners defender Louise Quinn forced the opener- an own goal by Abbey Leigh-Stringer- and the Ireland international caught up with Tim Stillman post match exclusively for Arseblog News.
On whether the opening goal was hers or not...
It didn’t come off me, it hit their player so it was an own goal. Now I’ve said that you probably don’t want to interview me anymore!
On the importance of an early goal….
It was massive to score early, it settled us right into the first half. It’s just so important to get on top of teams early on and stop them from settling into the game and perhaps feeling comfortable and raising their game.
We need to get on top of these teams and keep playing our football and not take out foot off the gas, which I think we did in the second half. In the first half we did our job, even if we could have tidied up a few things, but in the second half we have to be better, we all know that.
It was a hot day and we have to let the ball do the work and we are usually so good at that, but we just put ourselves under a bit of unnecessary pressure in the second half.
? The gunners are gunning early! @ArsenalWFC #FAWSL pic.twitter.com/JQ9EFgaF3r
— The FA Women's Super League (@FAWSL) April 21, 2019
On refocusing after the recent international break…
Sometimes having that gap is nice, because every game is a pressure game at Arsenal and expectations are high. So to be able to switch off from that just a little bit can be quite useful too focus on our national teams.
But we came back and had ten days worth of training together, which was essential for us. It gave us a chance to work on all the things we wanted to. We are professionals and we’ll take each training session and each game and that is another one ticked off the list today.
On playing quite direct with a rotating front 3...
There were times when we probably could have kept the ball a bit more, but we know Everton play with a high line. What’s great about our attacking players is that they can all go everywhere.
Joe encourages that, he wants us to be flexible and versatile and if one player roams, someone else comes in and fills in the gaps. It’s important to our game to have that flexibility and as a defender against those girls, it’s very difficult. I know because I have to deal with it in training every day!
⚠️ Dink @VivianneMiedema @ArsenalWFC #FAWSL pic.twitter.com/kZeunf2xAG
— The FA Women's Super League (@FAWSL) April 21, 2019
On Louise having the highest pass completion rate in the WSL...
I was definitely a straight eight defender when I came here, I had a traditional way of defending. But since coming to Arsenal I have been able to tick off all these other attributes that you need to play here.
Trying to be a ball player has been a transition, trying to circulate the ball, get it wide or to the midfielders. I almost don’t want the ball, really, my job is to move it on to our attacking players to let them do their thing, but I have to be available to receive it so I can move it on.
I try to keep it simple and tee players up, but it’s something Joe has really encouraged me with too because that’s how he wants to play. I am putting a lot into it in every game and training session so I can give the team what it needs.
On a nervy ending to the game…
We gave away a silly goal out of nothing, just by being a bit lackadaisical. One of us really should have given Sari a bit of a signal. We could have defended the indirect free kick better too, but it’s over now.
It made the game tighter and more interesting than we wanted and this is where we need to put games away. We had chances to score more before their goal too, but it’s one of those games where even if it’s not all going your way, we can still grind it out.
? @EvertonLadies @ChaneyBhlorkah
Watch live ? https://t.co/7xGvptco8e pic.twitter.com/TurZOorLTU
— The FA Women's Super League (@FAWSL) April 21, 2019
On being one win away from the title…
We’re cool and calm. We are a very professional squad and we have so many players who have been in this situation before, either at Arsenal or elsewhere. We have a lot of experience of pressure games.
The squad has a really good mix of youth and experience and we want to just keep going. Brighton is another game and it’s a game we want to win so we don’t need to approach it any differently. Everyone here knows how to handle pressure.
Such refreshing honesty from such a lovely lady. Well done Louise……it definitely looked like you got your head on it first!!!
Well done, the Ladies. They’ve been in blistering form at times, this season and it’s a good feeling to know you can win it with another 3 points (one game) with 3 (?) to go. Nice work, Tim, with the interview.
Goodness me but the last 15-20 minutes were tense (though once we got the ball in injury time we played out the last 3 minutes very professionally). Really please to win and set up the four point gap! Also, if anyone doubted that Miedema isn’t just a goalscorer, today was a great demonstration of buildup/holdup play by her. I was pretty unimpressed by “that” tackle on Mead though. It’s happening too much (the Little injury against Chelsea springs to mind) and it would be nice if referees properly punished such challenges to make players think twice about doing it. The… Read more »
I think there’s an unconscious bias from refs in the WSL. I don’t think they take it seriously as a competition and think it’s just a bit of a kick around, which is why they don’t properly punish bad tackles. That was an absolute text book red card, I’m not sure how the ref will explain to her assessors why she didn’t think that was reckless. That said, DvD was probably lucky not to be sent off for shoving the ref- not a great reaction.
Referees will need to up their game next season with Barclays sponsorship arriving. This is a professional league now for professional players AND officials!
Can we throw a wig on mustafi and swap one of these ladies for the mens side? Pretty sure she will do better than mustafi
Bit unfair to handicap the women they have far better players than Mustafi, and, they are used to winning home and away.
Totally agreed. The women’s line-up at the back is fine as it is! The best thing we can do for Mr Mustafi is to wave goodbye on a free transfer if necessary.
COYG. It’s a pity there is no stream to watch the last 2 games.
The Brighton game is on BT so there will be some sort of stream available. Be surprised if the City game isn’t on somewhere, esp. if it did become the title decider.
I would hope that the BBC will red button it if they cannot find time in their schedule on the main channels after all it is the top 2 WSL teams in the season finale.
It’s going to be on BT Sport 🙂