On the form of Jordan Nobbs after her third goal in three games…
She’s finding a good rhythm and she’s training really well, she’s happy. Let’s hope she continues in the same fashion but all credit to her, she has worked very hard to get back towards her best and hopefully she’ll just keep getting better and better.
On Miedema’s movement creating space for Roord and Nobbs to score goals…
Her movement is so important. A lot of teams would prefer for her to stay in central areas because that would make her easier to mark, we encourage her to make those movements to make way for others to move into those areas. Today was a very good example of that where we were able to get others into those areas because of her movement.
On getting into the game slowly after Thursday night’s game…
All credit to Bristol, they were very compact and very difficult to break down and we had to be patient and pick our moments. When you don’t get that result like we didn’t in midweek, sometimes that emotion can take over but I am really proud of the players because they kept their heads and controlled their emotions and continued to do what needed to be done to break down a very organised team.
Another game, another goal from @JordanNobbs8 ?
What. A. Performance. ? pic.twitter.com/fhtVlrfxgR
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) October 4, 2020
Updates on the fitness of Kim Little, Lisa Evans, Jordan Nobbs, Steph Catley and Lydia Williams…
Jordan was just a case of load, she was feeling a little bit tired and she’s fine. Kim should be right for midweek [against Chelsea in the Conti Cup]. With Lisa Evans we are just waiting for scan results to come back and we’ll let you know when we know more.
Steph and Lydia are rehabbing very well and we are aiming towards the international break for stepping them up and hopefully having them back straight after the international break. All is going well and we’re erring on the side of caution with both of them, we’re giving players a little bit more time than they need because it’s a long season and there’s lots more difficult games to come.
On Malin Gut not starting a game yet…
We’re setting little targets for Malin at the moment but her opportunities will arise. She needs the confidence to get on the ball a lot and we’re just keeping her away from the pressure starts of some of these games at the moment. It’s an easing in process but we saw her qualities when she came on today in the role that she plays.
On some sloppiness in the first half…
Obviously their goal came from an error and a really good finish from their striker. Those things happen in football, we all make mistakes, but I was happy with the reaction to continue to look for the openings and to continue to be patient and we took the opportunities when they came. It was always going to be difficult to break down a very well organised team. We just needed to change the tempo at times and have that patience.
On the half-time teamtalk…
There were some positional elements we worked on, there were areas where we thought maybe we could find some spaces and we spoke about that. We all knew the speed of play had to be lifted at times but it was more about being professional and patient and waiting for our opportunities.
Goal number three ✅@VivianneMiedema wraps it up for @ArsenalWFC ?#BarclaysFAWSL pic.twitter.com/NFDOZQPCJa
— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) October 4, 2020
All credit to strive for a comeback win, but I think the mid week Man City match drained a lot from the players. Playing against the worst team in WSL and barely winning, I wonder how Joe is going to rotate against chelsea
It wasn’t a great performance at all, but I expected the slow start given Thursday night [it’s just that we conceded a stupid goal in that period]. Joe said a few weeks ago that the big scorelines would decrease in October once teams were up to full fitness and had new signings settled and I think we’ve seen a glimmer of that today. Chelsea only beat a very tired Birmingham 1-0.
Well done Bristol for not rolling over. Well done Arsenal for digging deep and coming through a very disjointed first half performance.
What about Jill
He said 2-3 weeks last week.
Lord give me strength. But at least we have some depth. As long as there are no multiple long time injuries it should be comprehensible. But she was just cruising through midfields at the start. I am very excited to see her return.
If we lose to Chelsea on Wednesday I just want Joe to get sack to be honest. And today game is not that fantastic.
What has happened with Manu? Every shot on target at moment is a goal… I can live with giving a odd goal away from playing out from the back when we are leading 11:0 or 6:1, but every other goalie in the league would have saved yesterdays goal or one against West Ham. Lydia can’t get fit fast enough or give Fran a run in the team. Her form puts too much pressure on our defence, our gameplan includes taking risks, that need goalie who can help out from time to time.
Yeah she hasn’t been great with long shots during her time at the club but she seems to be getting worse. This was similar (but worse) than the West Ham goal.
I think Manu should have saved Steph Houton’s free kick on Thursday too. Her starting position was all wrong. As soon as we saw who was lining up to take the kick we all knew exactly where it was going but Manu still gave her 2/3 of the goal to aim at and she could not get across in time to get a hand to it.
100% agreed… specially because she is THE slowest goalkeeper moving sideways. I understand the playing out from the back goalkeeper thing but we are giving away a goal per game at moment. We have to find some middle ground here between good distribution (I would argue that even that has dropped a level this year and she is too slow to get the ball out of her feet and moving) and actually saving shots. Goalkeeping levels are increadibly high in the league at moment. Baggely had great game yesterday, Arnold at WHU had great game, despite 9, and I am… Read more »
I also think teams have worked her out in terms of short distribution. Teams tend to press her now and she has to go long. Long term Fran is very much earmarked as the number 1 but I think Manu will come under big pressure from Lydia. Manu just doesn’t seem to push off her feet well- as we saw with the Steph free kick. It’s little shuffles across the line, there’s no strong push off from the legs.
A win is a win but it wasn’t convincing against the perennial whipping girls of the league. That said, the Bristol striker took her goal really well and as a team they nullified our play effectively for much of the game. Even now WSL has 3 Champions League spots a place cannot be guaranteed with the emergence of Man Utd. and the resurgance of Everton to contend with. We cannot afford wobbly weekends! Tim, perhaps you can find out from Joe why he thinks Caitlin should be deployed wide left. She doesn’t strike me as a winger and she seems… Read more »