Arsenal: Van Domselaar; Fox, Williamson, Catley, McCabe; Little, Wälti; Foord, Maanum, Mariona; Russo
Substitutes: Zinsberger, Codina, Mead, Kafaji, Hurtig, Kühl, Blackstenius, Cooney-Cross, Reid
Arsenal have taken a point away from Leigh Sports Village, drawing 1-1 with Manchester United. Arsenal took the lead through Alessia Russo, and were dominant in the second half but were pegged back by a late Manchester United goal, leaving the Gunners in 5th place.
Leah Williamson returned to the starting lineup, while Steph Catley retained her place at centre back. After playing as a 10 in Renee Slegers first two matches, Mariona returned out wide.
First Half
Manchester United started on the front foot. Arsenal had to defend a series of corners, and United kept the pressure on, with Ella Toone shooting from range. The shot, though, was comfortable for Van Domselaar. At the other end, McCabe took a quick throw, and Russo shot just wide from the edge of the area.
Russo would go close again from range. Maanum won the ball back and quickly passed to Russo, whose shot took a deflection, taking it over the bar.
Arsenal came close to taking the lead on 25 minutes. From a corner, Catley made first contact, but her goal bound header was cleared off the line. Arsenal kept the ball from the corner, and from the inside left, Wälti crossed for Maanum, whose header went just wide of the far post.
Bizet was in lots of space and found Terland with her cross. The forward headed back across goal, but Van Domselaar was able to save with relative ease.
The clearest chance of the first half came on 37 minutes. Maanum crossed from the left, and while the cross looked like it was for Russo, Foord came round the back. From close range, she couldn’t make clean contact and Tullis-Joyce saved.
Second Half
Renee Slegers made a change at halftime, with Beth Mead replacing Maanum.
Arsenal started the half on the front foot. Russo turned and shot after good build up play down the left and a smart dummy by Mariona. Mariona and Russo would be involved again, as Mariona pounced on a loose ball in midfield and crossed for Russo, who could only head straight at Tullis-Joyce.
Wälti would be the next to shoot from range, hitting the outside of the post after first Mariona and then McCabe had eschewed shooting. Arsenal, though, were keeping Manchester United penned in.
Arsenal were totally dominant , and finally took the lead on 63 minutes. Mariona played an inside pass to find Fox in the inside right channel of the penalty box, and she cut back for Russo, whose first time swept finish beat Tullis-Joyce. 0-1.
Russo, confident after her goal, would shoot from range and see her shot go just wide of the far post, as Arsenal looked to extend their advantage.
On 78 minutes, Stina Blackstenius replaced Russo.
Manchester United equalised on 82 minutes. From a corner, Williams won the first header, and Malard, right in front of Little and Van Domselaar, nodded the ball into the net. 1-1.
On 87 minutes, Slegers made a triple change: Kyra Cooney-Cross, Rosa Kafaji, and Lina Hurtig replaced Kim Little, Mariona, and Caitlin Foord.
In the first of six added minutes, Blackstenius collected a corner and crossed. Hurtig won the first header and Williamson had a chance to head Arsenal back into the lead but she headed straight at Tullis-Joyce.
Hurtig won a corner in the final minute of stoppage time. Tullis-Joyce came, but couldn’t get the ball and Wälti’s shot from the edge of the box went just over the bar.
What was that defending from Little for their goal?
This felt like a defeat
Got tired of Jonas persisting with her towards the end of his tenure (and mentioned it here.)
She has been a great servant of the club, a legend, and will always be adored by Arsenal fans. But surely, we can all see that she is no longer what she used to be. Passes backwards all the time now, etc.
It was an excellent performance, and the result could quite easily have been 3 or 4 Nil. Russo especially was once again outstanding, whilst Foxy & Foord were superb too. I felt that the “shoulder charge” on Leah merited at least a booking – it could have resulted in serious injury. Kim contributed significantly & as Rachel Brown Finnes mentioned, is still integral to Arsenal’s play. Let’s remember that Kim Little was FA Player of the Year in 2010 & 2013, BBC Player of the Year in 2016, MVP & Golden Boot Winner in her 1st season with Seattle Reign… Read more »
I like Kim and she has been and excellent servant to the club but you have to accept she is in the twilight of her career and to keep quoting accolades she won 10 and 14 years ago just emphasises that fact! Many players don’t even have careers that long! She maybe has another season as a squad player but we need to move on from this dependence upon her. Having said that the equaliser today was not her fault one of the taller centre backs should have been in that position protecting Doomslayer from the physicality of the United… Read more »
Yes, sadly. Kim should now be used the way Jen Beattie was used last season – sparingly, and for a specific tactical purpose.
Regarding the goal, whoever is responsible for organising our set piece defence should have asserted herself and made sure Malard was not being marked by one of our smallest players.
We dominated the game were far the better side and looked set to gain a well deserved win. Then on 78mins renee sleger, in her great wisdom, decided to substitute our best player of the match who was occupying the whole of their backline. Within 4mins of this appalling substition they were level. Now people will say oh we should have defended better etc. which is totally right, but that decision enabled the man utd defence to push up and freed them somewhat. Sleger managed to turn a win into a draw. I am sorry frustrated as I am, and… Read more »
Agree
Who pulled the hand brake after our goal? United were very poor but we are so ineffective. And why wait so long with the changes?
I didn’t think the changes made any difference, in fact we lost some of the dominance without players like Russo
I agree Russo should have stayed on. But I think after our goal, we dominated without threatening United. Seemed to be happy controlling it instead of killing the game. I always felt we would be punished.
Well a much better performance, we deserved a lot more. We dominated them for almost the entire second half, but we didn’t take our chances (admittedly against a very miserly defence) and we conceded from a set piece. Williams is one of the best headers of the ball in the league, and Mallard vs Little is no contest in the air. I’m gutted really, we played some very nice football at times.
Ultimately disappointing, but some positives. We were more enjoyable to watch and – apart from the goal – we defended well. I loved the fluidity in defence, especially on the left side – switching between 3 and 4 at the back, Catley, Walti and McCabe covering each other, and Fox slotting in as a RCB on the other side. We seemed – to me – to be playing fewer backward passes, especially Kim. I also liked that Maanum was replaced so promptly. She is a player who is either on it or off it and today she was off it.… Read more »
I mainly agree with what u say. But I feel KCC leaves such a hole in defence… Although the biggest hole in moving us forward quickly is Pelova sized.
We miss VP so much! Defensive nous is not KCC’s strongest point, true. But her forward passing, the way she drives forward with the ball is such an asset. Sort of fighting fire with fire.
Might well look like two points dropped but I thought we lost a lot of forward momentum when Russo went off. Stina did not quite take up where Russo left off. Strange defending at the equaliser but i thought the girls played well.
I didn’t have the opportunity to watch the game, now we’ll have to depend on the other results, Arsenal got a point away from home, is that bad? Well, if they won it would be even better, it didn’t work out this time and we have to think about the next game, third place is still up for grabs, now we have to fight for third place.
Although I don’t think the substitution of Lessi was a good call, it’s simplistic to think this is the sole cause of our losing two points. In fact, it was the arrival of Geyse, Williams and Malard that had a greater effect in turning things around.
Very true about MU’s subs turning the game for them. But the Stina-for-Alessia sub made life easier for them, and the other subs were just too late. The half time Beth-for-Frida sub was good, Beth Mead did well – could have had an assist.
And Mariona moving more centrally was a definite improvement.
Yup.