Arsenal: Van Domselaar; Fox, Codina, Catley, McCabe; Little, Wälti; Foord, Maanum, Mariona; Russo
Substitutes: Zinsberger, Williamson, Reid, Cooney-Cross, Kühl, Mead, Kafaji, Hurtig, Blackstenius
Arsenal have made it two wins in a week, with Mariona and Rosa Kafaji scoring in the second half to give Arsenal a 2-0 win.
Renee Slegers made two changes to the team that won midweek. Steph Catley came in at centre back for Leah Williamson, while Frida Maanum returned to the starting lineup for Beth Mead.
Arsenal created an early chance when Mariona intercepted Tysiak’s pass. She set Maanum up, but the Norwegian blazed her shot well over.
From a throw, Maanum flicked the ball around the corner for Russo. From the inside right channel, she aimed for the bottom corner of the goal, but dragged her shot just wide.
Mariona then slipped Fox in behind, who had her shot blocked by Szemik’s leg.
Foord did well to drive into the box, but couldn’t get the ball out of her feet to find a telling cutback. Arsenal would win the ball back, though, and Little would clip a ball over the top for Russo, who, from about the penalty spot would head straight at Szemik.
On 40 minutes, Wälti was found by Mariona’s smart inside pass. Wälti cut and shot with her left foot, but it was a comfortable save for Szemik. In a first half of little incident, it was, along with Russo’s earlier chance, one of the few moments of quality.
As Arsenal emerged for the second half, Mariona and Foord switched flanks, and in Arsenal’s first move of the half, Mariona slipped McCabe in behind but her cross cum shot was straight at Szemik. At the other end, Asseyi took the ball down and turned past Catley but dragged her shot wide of Van Domselaar.
Arsenal made a quadruple substitution on 58 minutes. Beth Mead, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Stina Blackstenius and Rosa Kafaji came on for Caitlin Foord, Kim Little, Alessia Russo, and Frida Maanum.
On the hour mark, Arsenal finally created a clear cut chance. Fox played a superb through ball to send Blackstenius behind the West Ham defence, but Szemik got a enough of touch on Blackstenius’ dinked shot to turn it wide.
Blackstenius won a penalty on 70 minutes. McCabe played a pass in behind for Blackstenius, who was bundled over by Tysiak. Mariona took the penalty and sent Szemik the wrong way to give Arsenal the lead. 0-1.
Mead had a good chance to make it 2-0. Mariona linked with Fox and cut the ball back for Mead, who got her effort badly wrong, with her shot going out for a throw in.
Kafaji drove down the left, losing the ball to and then winning it back from Gorry, and carried into the penalty box before shooting from a narrow angle, with Szemik parrying away.
Ueki had far too much time to cross, and Harries was unmarked in the box, but her header was straight at Van Domselaar, who grabbed the shot.
Blackstenius should’ve sealed the game on 85 minutes. Mead played a long ball in behind for Blackstenius, but the ball bounced awkwardly and Blackstenius’ touch was poor, and Szemik grabbed it, getting a kick in the head from Blackstenius for her trouble.
From a free kick, Brynjarsdóttir met the delivery and headed down, with Van Domselaar pushing around the post.
Arsenal added a second goal on 89 minutes. Mariona, collecting the ball from Blackstenius’ pass and tackle in midfield, sent it down the line for the Swede. Blackstenius crossed into the middle, and Kafaji met the cross first time and fired her shot past Szemik. 0-2.
After the goal, Katie Reid came on for Emily Fox, as the match entered 4 minutes of stoppage time.
Catley made a good intervention to deny Brynjarsdóttir in the 92nd minute, and Arsenal would deal with the set piece.
Made hard work of it but the second goal was a gem. Good substitutions by Renee. Still fail to understand the obsession in McCabe taking Free kicks and corners because they rarely go anywhere, achieve anything. CROSS THE BLOODY BALL instead of all this fart arseing around.
Russo ran around like crazy, had a couple of chances but was ultimately ineffective. Three valuable points, roll on MUWFC.
I think here delivery from corners is good, but not from free kicks, bizarrely. I’d like to see Catley taking those.
I wonder if Jover should spend some time with the women’s team. The crosses either land where we don’t have anyone, or where we have too many players getting in each other’s way. Maybe a bit more preparation is what’s needed.
Thanks, Aidan. For the first time in a while, I’m elated after an Arsenal game. The game was all about the subs, for me. Little was taking charge and orchestrating, but nothing was coming off and she was slowing play down and losing possession too often (by her standards). Maanum was having one of those games – a bit in and out, Russo was not quite on it and neither was Foord. So I was very happy with the subs. The energy and pace that Blackstenius, KCC and especially Kafaji brought was electrifying. We started to play a lot more… Read more »
Not sure what’s wrong with Meado although I have my suspicions. It might have done us a favour if she had been left out of the England squad. Remember what followed when that happened last time! I don’t think it is physical as she showed she was over the ACL but she perhaps needs some time away to get her head into gear!
Rosa is an awesome prospect why Jonas refused to give her game time only he knows.
Stina even managed to time her runs so she remained onside! Signs of improvement despite it only being a week.
Obviously, across the back four, you need the best defenders, but without Leah or Lotte there didn’t seem to be the option of the occasional accurate, long ball out of defence.
Well LWB couldn’t play today and to be honest in the last couple of games Leah has been bloody awful! If we want to win we need to be ruthless and pick the players that are on form and not just because of their reputation. The list of Jonas’ favourites has been torn up and it’s now competition for first team places (hopefully)!
I think maybe the “self-reflection” that Slegers keeps mentioning is playing a part for some of the players, at least.
Should be LWM of course, not long wheel base!
I knew soon as Kafaji came on it would make the difference. Why Jonas didn’t play her is a mystery to me ??
God, the first hour of that was agonising to watch