Lia Walti made her 150th Arsenal appearance during Wednesday night’s 4-0 win over Aston Villa in the Conti Cup semi-final. Lia spoke to the press post- match, the first three questions are from Arseblog News.
On making her 150th appearance for the club…
Usually I don’t pay much attention to these types of numbers but 150 is a big number for a really big club. I have been having the best time during the last six years here at Arsenal, I am really enjoying my football with so many good girls around me. It is a moment to be proud and good things have happened in the past but there is still so much to go for.
On her midfield partnership with Kyra Cooney-Cross tonight…
It is all about building relationships and me and Kyra haven’t been on the pitch that many times this season. It was mostly her or me. Today she put in a really good shift. Attacking wise, she has big qualities for the team and especially driving with the ball. Defensively is more my strength and I try to cover her so she can be a bit more attack minded. But it is all about building that relationship and when she gets more confidence, she will have even bigger performances. It is good to have that competition, I think you can see that with all of us, that we are pushing each other to a high level.
On keeping the energy high from the start today…
We always say after the international break the focus needs to be double high as usual because we often dropped points after international breaks in the past. We came to the Emirates and put on a good performance even though it was only 1-0 and tonight you could just see the fresh legs in the team, we have so much competition with Stina, Frida, Kyra, Leah coming in, they are great players and they are going to push us to a better performance and I think you could see that today. We didn’t give Villa any chance today.
On giving advice to Pelova and Cooney-Cross on the defensive side of the game…
We have all been at that point when we were younger, I think most players put more into attacking than defending when you are young. Mine and Kim’s role this season is to cover a bit more for them. For me, it is about having to sprint backwards as fast as you sprint forwards. Sometimes young players make more effort sprinting forwards, so you just have to react quickly, get into a good position for counter pressing. Vic has been huge this season in that part of her game and Kyra as well, you see that she is doing that so much better.
On the evolution of the midfield this season…
So many things have changed, in the last six years often I have been the only six we’ve had, maybe for two or three seasons. Now we have competition and that is the challenge I wanted when i decided to stay here last season, to have the possibility to improve my game even when I am staying at the same club. That is exactly what is happening, everyone is pushing each other in training. I have to improve my game to be able to start, there is no better environment to be in.
On blowing Aston Villa away in the first half…
We watched the men’s game a couple of days ago and we all said we would like to be more comfortable at half time. We said we wanted to be on them from the start and run them over. Today the ball went in at the right time and we took the momentum from that. Villa didn’t have the best day and we took the spaces they gave us and we were efficient in front of goal and that made the difference today.
On getting to back to back Conti Cup Finals…
That is where we want to be with Arsenal. We belong in finals with the team and squad we have. It is going to be a big day and a big game and I hope we are going to have a lot of Arsenal fans in the stadium.
As much as it pained me that Bayern bought Oberdorf, at this juncture, Lia Walti is still one of the best, possibly the best, #6 in the game.
First name on my lineup….bar none.
Definitely one of the best, but it was a scary situation basically having no one else who could do what she could and we really felt it in the games she missed, but now we don’t have to worry so much
Always felt Wally is the most underrated midfielder in Europe. She does what she does seemingly without effort and goes under many people’s radar. It is only when she is not in the team you realise how valuable she is! If she played for the USNWT, Spain or Germany she’d probably be a global superstar! Big boots to fill when she finally does hang them up!
BBC reporting today that we might trigger the £200k release clause for van Domselaar. What is it with buying keepers and how many do we need? Personally I believe she would be an upgrade but then why give Manu another contract, bring in Sarah rather than bid for the Villa keeper, where does that leave Sabrina when she returns from North America and Naomi and presumably Kaylan is out of the door once her ACL is healed.
Well summarised, Peter – personally, I feel that Sandy McIver would be worth considering though. She’s shone for Scotland recently, and rarely gets a game for City.
Yep, I consider McIver worth a stab and Ellie Roebuck is still floating around I believe. City just seem to be blinkered by a teenage wonder at present. She’ll make a great goalie one day but she is still prone to teenage mistakes like the one last weekend while they have decent players warming the bench. But whoever we consider it would require a clear out of our dressing room first and you have to ask if the current crop are not considered good enough was due dilligence applied before signing them up?