On Friday afternoon, Arseblog News, Helen Joyce from the BBC and Jamie Spangher of this parish and the Halfway Line, sat down with Daphen van Domselaar ahead of Sunday’s game away at West Ham. The italicised questions are from Arseblog News. Here is a full transcript.
On how difficult it was not to play at the beginning of the season…
I have to say I was injured for almost all of pre-season so being on the bench and part of the squad was already a big thing, so I just enjoyed being with the team, supporting them and supporting Manu. I was quite happy where I was, obviously you want to play but I was happy with where I was with my injury.
On how easy it has been to settle in London compared to Birmingham…
They are similar, all the girls were lovely the first couple of weeks and took me under their wing and showed me around. I love this place, I love St. Albans and being close to London, so maybe I am enjoying more than last season to be honest.
On whether she has spoken to other Dutch players across London…
We still need to but it’s hard because we all have a busy schedule, especially with the Champions League. I was looking at how far away Chelsea is and it is still one and a half hours away but we are planning on it. It is definitely nice to have a lot of other girls from the Netherlands here.
On whether she moves on after matches or whether she is heavily analytical…
I am pretty hard on myself, I am a perfectionist. In a game, you need to focus on every moment so your focus has to be on the next moment. After the game, I am hard on myself, but we have so many games it is difficult to do it after every game but I think everyone here is like that, we need to be critical but also to keep on going for the next game.
In a game, as a goalkeeper, you don’t touch the ball that often, you need to be there in the critical moment, especially at a club like Arsenal. You are not touching the ball every minute, you just need to keep on focusing and I think you need to be critical of yourself.
On whether she had to think about moving to Arsenal with stronger competition for the no.1 position…
Yeah, sure. You need to know whether you are going to have opportunities to play. But for me, in the moment it felt right. The way we play at Arsenal felt like the right fit. I am up for a challenge, I am happy with my choice.
On the differences between playing for Arsenal and playing for Villa…
There is a bit more individual quality here at Arsenal so you can ask more from people, like the way we play out from the back. The playing style is different, we have the ball more often and higher up the pitch but, at the moment, we still want to play out from the back which is similar to Villa. We have some similarities but we need to focus more on the game because you might have nothing to do for 60 minutes, then you need to make a big save to win the game. That is the main difference, I am a bit less busy but that doesn’t mean I perform any less.
On working with Manu Zinsberger…
It’s great, from the first moment we met we had a great relationship and a great connection, we support each other no matter what position we are in. If she is playing, I am backing her 100% and when I play she does the same for me. I enjoy working with her and Naomi (Williams) and Seb (Barton, goalkeeper coach), it is a good group with good personalities, we can really push each other and that is really nice to work with people like that.
Our GK Union knew exactly how to celebrate 💃🤣 pic.twitter.com/r3qQHuaJEM
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) September 26, 2024
On a whirlwind 12 months for her in her career…
My preference is really to live in the moment, to live in the now. Last season I enjoyed playing for Aston Villa and playing in the WSL, there are still things I want to work on and I wanted to play in the league and see where I am in the league, because it is really different to the Netherlands. Then I got injured, so I was just focusing on getting back and then you get the opportunity to play for Arsenal. At that point, I was still focusing on my injury and getting fit. Between Arsenal and Aston Villa, we had an international break in the summer, so I had to focus on that, so I have to focus on what is ahead of me now so it is easy not to get distracted.
On starting her first game for Arsenal at Leicester…
I really enjoyed being back on the pitch, I had a lot of support from the staff and the players were all really happy for me that I could play again, so I felt that support. Going into a game was just like half a year ago for me, I didn’t think much I just went for it.
First appearance for The Arsenal, @DomselaarDaphne ⏳ pic.twitter.com/USvgtyJf1C
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) September 29, 2024
On playing at the Emirates and her experience playing against Arsenal for Villa there…
It is amazing, last season, the game against Arsenal was intense for us, especially the moment that Arsenal equalised, you were just overwhelmed with all the fans and the noise they make. But I love playing in front of them, they are so good, everyone would love to play in front of so many supporters.
COYGG
She is a 1st class keeper.