Arsenal qualified for the Conti Cup semi-finals where they will play at home to Aston Villa after a 4-0 win over London City Lionesses in Dartford on Wednesday night. Goals were from Cloe Lacasse (2), a Kim Little penalty and Alessia Russo. All of the questions are from Arseblog News.
On whether that was the challenge he expected from LCL…
It was, I said to the players it was a difficult night we made look easy and that was the biggest compliment we could get as a team. LCL is a hard working team, it wasn’t the easiest pitch to play on and we managed the game with good control, good focus and good energy and scored some good goals.
On keeping the intensity up in the second half…
It is important for us to constantly push for development. It changes a bit in the second half when you go from playing against a low block and you need to score and that is a different game when it’s a low block and they need to score. The fourth goal is a really good example of that, we keep the ball and keep the ball and we wait for them to jump out. Because they will need to jump out at some point and we create a really good crossing situation and Lessi is great in that whole attack and has sixty seconds of perfect positioning as a 9. She only touches the ball once and that’s when she scores.
On playing against deep blocks…
We have to be able to do that but I think we can see development, there is no doubt that the performance against West Ham playing against a deep block was two steps backwards. Apart from that we have been developing and progressing and the spells against City when they went into a low block, we looked dangerous and created a lot of good opportunities and there was a variety of ways we created goal scoring opportunities. We have been developing on that and it was nice to continue that tonight.
On the importance of the Conti Cup and beating Manchester United on Saturday…
These three games in six days are really important for the season, it’s three competitions and that really sets up how the spring looks up. It was important to go to the semi-final, the game on Saturday will take care of itself, we are longing to get out on the pitch with the supporters and create something together, to be honest that is where our head is at. Everything is about the performance, in the league we are going to take one game at a time, there is a lot of football to be played and we will keep our focus on our performance and making sure we are ok and then we will see what happens.
On Cloe Lacasse scoring a brace…
It was extremely harsh on her that she didn’t come on against Manchester City and we would’ve needed her to come on as well but we didn’t have six subs. If we had six subs we would have put her on. But she is stocking good training sessions on top of each other and good performances and we need that.
On Vivianne Miedema and Caitlin Foord’s knocks…
We need to assess Caitlin. I don’t think there is a big problem and we took her off as a precaution. Viv has had a slight knee irritation and she is definitely in contention for Saturday which is why she was called into the Netherlands squad. She is by no means written off for that, today came too early but there are a lot of hours until Saturday.
1.Zinsberger; 15.McCabe (53.Lia ‘83), 3.Wubben-Moy, 27.Codina, 7.Catley; 21.Pelova (32.Cooney-Cross ‘53), 13.Walti; 24.Lacasse, 10.Little(c) (12.Maanum ‘53), 19.Foord (9.Mead ‘53); 25.Blackstenius (23.Russo ‘70).
Unused: 6.Williamson, 14.D’Angelo, 61.Earl, 86.Bouhaddi.
Well done ladies.
LCL were indeed solid. I was quite surprised that they had had such a poor run of games. Until they had to get a goal and it turned out that their entire attack was Dan Carter! She did well on her own, though. It was really clear that she and Emma Mitchell had a pedigree compared to their teammates. (Mitchell’s error for the penalty notwithstanding.) That first half was very hard going and shows how important it is for us to get more goals out of our set pieces, especially corners. We lumbered about – still too slow, too many… Read more »
Meant to post most of that on the match report thread, sorry!
I know our centre backs were not troubled in a defensive capacity but Codina, and LWM actually, seemed to want to play in the opposition’s half for the entire game. I hope before the big match at the weekend Jonas gets the whole team to practise shooting from the edge of the penalty area. It was evident again last night that we easily get to the box and then we pass it half a dozen times sideways across and then half a dozen time back again. Someone has to take responsibility and shoot! How many minutes per game do we… Read more »
Except for Frida Maanum, obviously!
Frida would even try and shoot from the changing room! 🙂
And it’s not just in or around the penalty box. Generally we seem to dwell on the ball and it slows our play up and gives the opposition time to organise.
Seems bizarre to have played Walti and Little last night and not against City, where for me it should have been the other way round. Good to see Lacasse on the score sheet, she should have had more minutes this season than she has. Big game Saturday, nothing more than 3 points. I don’t want to be reading comments from Jonas about how it went wrong post game, see the problem and fix it during the 90 minutes
I like to look at the pitch in quarters rather than thirds. We spend a lot of time in the third quarter (centre line to midway into the opponents’ half). There are so many times we approach the fourth quarter and then turn back towards the centre circle. Against a low block it is difficult to advance and there are no easy answers. Speed, both of thought and in running behind? The defence-splitting pass? Dribbling right through the middle (almost brought off by KCC and Vic)?
All of the above, but speed is key. As is varying the approach.
I think his description of the fourth goal is so, so telling. ‘Lessi is great in that whole attack and has sixty seconds of perfect positioning as a 9. She only touches the ball once and that’s when she scores.’ We know she is great at dropping deep and connecting play but I also think it happens too much and quite a lot of the time she can leave the build up play to other very capable players and get into the penalty area, especially as we cross so much and she’s such a threat in the air. Half of… Read more »
I can totally get on board with that. Current form aside, we are stuffed with players who can create opportunities. It was the bane of my life last season – so many chance-creators and no finishers. Is this a coaching issue for Russo? She does love to get involved and that has been a constant since she joined us. I find it hard to believe that she has been playing like that *against* JE’s wishes all this time. So it’s an odd comment from him. The Viv-esque style of centre forward play has been a revelation and shown what a… Read more »