Swiss midfielder Lia Walti opened the scoring in the Gunners’ 2-0 win at Liverpool on Sunday. Lia spoke to the press post-match. The first two questions are from Arseblog News.
On whether she expected to be the beneficiary of Arsenal’s set piece routines…
(Laughs) Yeah, we worked on that the whole week, we wanted me to be the target! No, I think I am never the target in those situations but maybe that’s the reason I had a little bit of space compared to the other girls. Their focus was probably more on Lotte so that gave me the space I needed.
What a way to score your first #BarclaysWSL goal of the season! 🔥
Take a bow, @liawaelti!@ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/GPYYwvyOvc
— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) October 23, 2022
On Frida Maanum coming into the midfield and scoring in consecutive games…
We have a really good depth in our squad in midfield, Frida, Viv, Mana and Jordan, they are all such different players I was so pleased for Frida on Wednesday, the performance she put in is not something you can take for granted when someone hasn’t played many minutes, that shows a really good quality in her. She really deserved to stay in the team and play that position again today. That’s the good thing about having such a deep squad with different players, you can use it to surprise players. Maybe against teams who sit deeper we could use Mana a bit more because her abilities suit those spaces. It is great that we can use those players today to help us to win games.
On tiredness kicking in for Arsenal today…
We never expected this to be an easy game, we played them here last year and won 4-0 but I think it was not a 4-0 game. We struggled with their man-marking system. We knew this would be a tough away game, Chelsea lost points here. We had to be focused and we really were. Not everything worked perfectly today but we stayed compact in moments where we had to stay deep in our half, then we took our chances. I think a lot of teams will struggle here.
There were tired legs today, definitely. Most of the girls said they didn’t feel great today (physically) but in these moments it’s even more important that you focus for the 90 minutes and that we defend together and then take your chances. Today I think it was a really experienced performance from us.
On whether she has seen her goal back…
Not yet but I didn’t know how to celebrate, I thought ‘I don’t know what to do now!’
On whether the team talk about breaking records…
It’s not really our main focus. There are so many games back-to-back and we just want to keep winning and the games we have coming up are must-win games. Last season we lost the league because of the result at Birmingham so the focus needs to be as high in the WSL as it does in the Champions League.
On adjusting to a new centre-half partnership behind her in Wubben-Moy and Catley…
My role in the team is to help our defensive line, I try to close the gaps between the defensive line and the midfield line and I really try to stop counter-attacks. Manu made a great save today and two of our centre-backs got injured and now we have two new centre-backs and they have come in and done exactly the same job. That shows we have a good and really deep quality in our squad.
It’s always different and you need to adapt your game a little bit but I think from game-to-game now they have become more confident in their positions and it allows us in the midfield to step forward a little bit more. The first games are more about protecting and helping them to find the rhythm, but they have great qualities so it’s not a big problem.
Steph Catley, known for her wide left performances, now shows herself to be really cool in the centre of defence! A female Eddie McGoldrick!
Agree, pleasantly surprised about Catley. I thought she would take longer to adapt because she is such a forward-thinking full back, but she has taken to the position really well.
Frida has certainly grabbed her opportunity. She has been phenomenal. So too Lotte, such Polish. Good to see Jordan increasing her time. Next up Mana.
Oh…..and Noelle. Solid as always.
Good to see Lia Walti vocally advocating for Frida to deservingly start and also for mana to get some more game time against teams that sit back. Hopefully there is a lot of rotation against Zurich.
So funny that LW didn’t know how to celebrate a goal! Very happy for her. She is a wonderful player who was great when we recruited her and has developed even more since, also showing great adaptability. World class.
A wonderful player indeed, and a key “contributor to the cause.”