Arsenal Women needed a late goal from captain Kim Little to see off Reading 1-0 in the Conti Cup quarter-finals at Meadow Park. Tim Stillman caught up with player of the match Lisa Evans post-match exclusively for Arseblog News.
On the relief of securing a late win…
Certainly a big relief for me personally because I missed two golden opportunities to score in the first half, so I was hugely relieved to see the net ripple when Kim put the ball away at the end, definitely.
On adapting to playing without Vivianne Miedema…
We know how important Viv is with her goals and her assists, she’s one of the best players in Europe, there’s no doubt about it. We still created a lot of chances, especially in the first half, it was a bit different playing without a number 9, but I still think we attacked well and caused Reading problems. We just weren’t clinical enough. The chances I had, Viv definitely would have put away!
On the game becoming scrappy…
We did try to play, we played out from the back and you saw a couple of times that that was a bit risky. Reading made it very difficult for us, they were going player on player, so we had to be more direct at times. I thought that was quite effective, especially down the right hand side where we got a lot of joy chipping balls into the channels and getting them turned. That’s something we can work on more, having that diversity in our game. We always want to play attractive football, but you can’t always do it. Credit to Reading they made it really difficult for us, but this was good preparation for the Chelsea game nd the physical battle we had will prep us well for that.
On getting joy going down the right hand side…
It’s not something we spoke about before, but we played Reading a few weeks ago in the league and we knew that they were going to press high. We still tried to play out from the back, but we had the option of going in behind more quickly. We are good at recognising what the game needs, especially midfielders like Kim Little, playing great balls through and Beth too played some lovely cross field passes. It’s just about us recognising where the space is. It wasn’t really on for us to play into feet tonight, so we went in behind them instead.
On Kim Little scoring the winner on her 200th Arsenal appearance…
Credit to Kim because she goes under the radar, but she’s such a quality player and she’s such a professional day in day out, I see her train and she’s always at the level and I’m delighted that she scored the goal tonight. She scores for fun anyway, but she had the legs to get forward in the last five minutes of the game and score the winner.
What better way to mark your 200th appearance for The Arsenal ?
Congratulations, #CaptainLittle ? pic.twitter.com/wKQkWE6fll
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) January 15, 2020
On Tabea Kemme’s retirement…
All of the girls are gutted for Tabi, she’s done everything in her power to get back on the pitch but it’s just not happened for her, bless her. She’ll start a new chapter in her life and I know she’ll do absolutely fab because she’s a great person. She’ll do more big things in life, we feel really sad and it’s a blow for the team but she’s really contributed here, she’s a massive character nd it’s been great to have her around. She’s a top professional and a really good friend, so it’s sad to see her end her career. But she’s won everything, she’s one of the most decorated players in the game, so credit to her.
What happened to Miedema? Missed that. Is she out long?
She’s not out, they just rested her for most of the game. She came on for the final fifteen minutes or so though, so she’s fine.
Gotta be fresh for the Chelsea game at the weekend, 2 of the best striker’s up against each other, could be quite the game
Viv’s one touch lay-off to Jordan from Katie’s ball forward in the lead up to Kim’s goal and her no touch dummy for Jordan’s on Sunday, both sublime bits of football skill & intelligence.
Her personal goal “drought” might be two games but if she can be party to two goals from one touch on Sunday i think she and us would be delighted.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Kim Little is the captain of this great club.
Well done to Lisa Evans and the whole squad and congratulations on getting to the semi final. This is one trophy we need to take back.
Great interview. Thanks, Tim.
Thanks Tim for keeping arsenal fans across the pond fully informed on the women’s team.
And for anyone not aware, sign on to fa player to watch our women’s league games.