Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur Women 2-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday thanks to goals from Kim Little and Vivianne Miedema in front of a record WSL crowd of 38,262. Tim Stillman spoke to Gunners forward Danielle van de Donk exclusively for Arseblog News post-match.
On ignoring the hype and getting the job done…
We just wanted three points and a clean sheet and we did it, but we know it wasn’t our best game today.
On Spurs playing two upfront and marking Arsenal’s centre halves…
Yes, that was a bit of a surprise to be fair, but we do practice to play against every system. But I must say they are doing very well, I think they have a very good team, quite a young team too. I actually really like how they play, they got their tactics right today I think. It was obvious that they were very hungry to get points against Arsenal.
On playing on the right hand side of the attack…
It’s not my favourite role, but that’s the ask of me for the team and I am doing the job. It’s still not a bad role at all to be fair, it could be a lot worse! I’m scoring some goals from there this season which makes everything better.
? It’s the north London derby…
? It’s Tottenham 0-0 Arsenal…
? Bragging rights are on the line…Step forward, #CaptainLittle ? pic.twitter.com/2KAZ4eUrzw
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 17, 2019
On the manager’s message with the score at 0-0 at half-time…
We had to work on how much pressure we were putting them under, he had a lot of things to say! He knew we weren’t quite doing enough that we were being a bit sloppy. He told us to forget about it though, that we had another 45 minutes to get the goal. Once Kim got the goal it all became a bit easier for us.
On being confident that the goal would come…
Yeah I was, I don’t know what it is but I stay relaxed and chilled, I don’t really get scared anymore I just know it’s gonna come. We’ve just got so many people on the pitch that can score goals so I feel comfortable….That sounded arrogant, I didn’t mean to sound arrogant!
On the WSL getting more difficult…
Definitely, the league is growing and the competition is getting harder and harder and everyone competes with one another. That’s what makes the league so special and I’m very intrigued by it and hope that it’s gonna grow and grow and grow.
with thanks to Jason Ilagan for the image.
? “Credit to Tottenham for the day… but north London is red tonight!” ?
Spoken like a true Gooner, @LeahcWilliamson ♥️ pic.twitter.com/OI3mvMS5IN
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 17, 2019
Thanks, Tim.
Well done, girls. I was v grumpy at halftime but they pulled it out of the bag, led by Captain Kim. Tough fixture, to play against a side who were really up for it and straight after the international break. But class told in the end. 1 point off the top, happy for now.
Sure is. Am so happy to have gone to this game. Good atmosphere. Hate to say it, the spurs stadium is impressive.
Inside maybe, but outside it’s one of the ugliest lumps on the planet.
Great day! 1st half we didn’t seem our usual selves but 2nd half was excellent & we looked great. Kim & Leah were the stand outs for me today. Was so pleased to just be a part of it all though. A really special game. North London is red!
Am I right that this means the first x2 goals scored by women in Spurs stadium were Arsenal’s? ??⚽️
Spurs really looked like a promoted side. No vision or awareness of the game and seemed to get all the calls, what’s with their last stoppage? Player blocks their teammates (quite good) shot on the volley, with their back, and the ref gives a drop ball just outside our box?
Still we showed who are the better side and ended up making them look amateur.
Unfortunately, the standard of officiating in the women’s game has not progressed at the same rate as the WSL players and coaching staff. I was flabbergasted at the decision you refer to where, to be fair to the Spuds player, she hit a decent shot at our goal only to poleaxe her own team mate. But then for the referee to award a drop ball 20 yards out and allow the opposition to create a good chance to score from that uncontested drop ball when the play had quite clearly been stopped when the ball went out of play on… Read more »
The standard of officials in the WSL again moves to the top of the debating list. The unopposed drop ball on the edge of our area for a shot by a Spud that deflected off a Spud for an Arse throw. Baffling. I give the Spud who had the ball dropped at her feet the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps she didn’t hear the ref tell her to punt it into touch where it went out in the first place !!! That one aside, it seems that Casey Stoney is rightly kicking up again on this subject. I do like… Read more »
No wonder Casey Stoney was spitting feathers at the referee over the penalty that gave Chelski the points yesterday. The geezer should be taken off the WSL panel straight away.
Thank heavens we can rely on the ladies to keep winning and keeping clean sheets ?
On a side note isn’t Danielle a pretty lass!
She is definitely not ugly! Quite Befitting the way we play!
Old men making comments about young ladies’ looks, should stop that and focus on the only thing they can do without messing up: drinking beer. Get a grip and stop embarrasing yourself.
I don’t drink, nor am I an old man. You can’t pay anyone a compliment without someone piping up these days. Her looks didn’t get her into the Dutch national team, nor did it get her a new long term contract this year. Was her footballing ability that did that. Even from today’s game where she was out on the right (unusual) she was playing some great triangles with little nobbs and miedema. Giroud isn’t handsome, arteta didn’t have Lego hair and don’t dare comment on auba or heccys fashion choice. Objectifying and abusing women is something to be tackled… Read more »
No Goonerink, you are not allowed allowed to say anything about the other the other non-gender in this ❄️ society. But ladies can talk all day about how handsome Giroud was.
Well it’s a fucking sad state of affairs when a *gay* 51 man cannot pay an innocent compliment about a member of the opposite sex without people assuming I am dirty old man. Danielle is a pretty lass, she is also a fantastic footballer. The only person embarassing themselves is you for making assumptions.
Well, I found the comment offensive initially because I read it fast and thought you wrote ‘ Isn’t Danielle a pretty ass!’
It was in the second reading that I realized you had written ‘lass’ which, obviously, changed the tone and meaning of your comment completely.
Not sure if some of the other people misread it too because I don’t see any other reason for all these downvotes.
The down votes are simply because this forum is for the discussion of professional footballers at a professionally run club playing football.
We had a similar incident when we signed Jill Roord and someone commented about her physical appearance rather than her football ability. That got many down votes and no up votes at all.
I enjoy the female form as much as the next red-blooded male but this is not the place to talk about it; here we discuss football.
There’s a lot of nasty, soul-crushing shit in the world today, largely thanks to the internet, the last thing we need is people fearing to compliment one an another. Her talents put her in the position she’s in, which is ultimately the reason we discuss her and other footballers, adding a side note that someone is attractive or intelligent or funny or any other positive is no bad thing, and the more you muddy the waters and try to speak for others then you run the risk of adding to a game that has lost a lot of it’s heart… Read more »
There’s a lot of nasty, soul-crushing shit in the world today, largely thanks to the internet, the last thing we need is people fearing to compliment one an another. Her talents put her in the position she’s in, which is ultimately the reason we discuss her and other footballers, adding a side note that someone is attractive or intelligent or funny or any other positive is no bad thing, and the more you muddy the waters and try to speak for others then you run the risk of adding to a game that has lost a lot of it’s heart… Read more »
In that case you’d better send the message to arseblog that he’d better stop burbling over the dreamy looks of his beloved Robert Pires, as he’s known to do from time to time.
Or we can all lighten up and quit waiting to be outraged.
Here I was just waiting for this issue to bubble up. But I suspect Peter Story Teller was, too, for a different reason.
This isn’t the Guardian where “off-topic” comments on the women’s game are banned. So how about a quota instead? One “DVD is pretty”-type comment is permitted for every 10 comments from Arseblog himself, in print or in pod, for every reference to “HFB” Giroud or “Dreamy” Robert Pires. And numbers are tallied retrospectively. Do you think we’d hit the complement cap before she retires from the game?
Great win! Alwys a good feeling to beat Sp*rs. Somehow it feels like only the Arsenal ladies gives you that real Arsenal feeling nowadays, when the men’s team is struggling so hard. COYG.
Fabulous game and 2 excellent goals. Well deserved win.
With respect to Boreham Wood FC, their ground is not exactly easy to get to for many Arsenal supporters. Not all of us live in Finchley, Barnet and Whetstone. The home NLD should definitely be at the Grove. Back in the day all reserve games were at Highbury. That was when the club was run properly though. That aside, great result and performance, time for the men to replicate it. Charlie, Hammersmith.
The “red button” is indeed easier to get to than Borehamwood or anywhere else these days!! Lovely stadium, Spuds but couldn’t you have done a “Herbert Chapman” and got TFL to move Seven Sisters tube station a tincy-wincy bit closer……the same distance as Borehamwood’s Thameslink to Meadow Park would be handy.
You are right, it is a 250 mile round trip for me! If they played all home games in Norwich I’d buy a season ticket! 🙂
What a way to celebrate my 67th birthday! My second visit to WHL after a 48 year gap. May 1971 and the original “We won the League at WHL” and yesterday’s incredible event. Well done Spuds for providing a nice venue for my party and to the Women (best not say Girls, dont want to be labelled a dirty old man ffs!) for the fantastic entertainment.
That was football at the very best level – passion, amazing skill and the right result of course.
Had you down as a much younger man, mate, until you started talking about that double night in 71!
I think “Girls” as a collective noun for players is ok since even HAO used the term on the BBC WSL highlights show but I don’t believe this is the place for people start singling out particular players for their looks.
Perhaps I’m just a grumpy old man because I didn’t get my second visit to WHL in almost half a century yesterday!
Or maybe quit policing when we all know there was no harm meant.