The Volkswagen Arena was the end of the road for Arsenal’s Champions League journey, bowing out to Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals.
We hear Tim Stillman’s post-match thoughts, what head coach Jonas Eidevall made of Wolfsburg’s tactics and Arsenal’s reaction to them, Lia Wälti’s absence, plus Kim Little’s takeaways from the campaign.
Arsenal are simply not good enough, lack creativity and predictable. Eideval has coached it all out
Agree with silentstan .Eidevall is tactically inept & at times looks like a rabbit caught in headlights.I think the job,to be Frank,is too big for him.With that squad of players they should pretty much be swatting all before them.Watch Chelsea nick the title.Why? Because they have intensity & desire as well.
Absolutely disagree – don’t forget it’s his first year.
We had significant player omissions last night, plus Wolfsburg are a strong team. To say we should be swatting all before them is absurd – and we are pretty much even with Chelsea, who also have a strong squad & with an effective, and long-term manager.
Also, Stina & Rafa January signings demonstrate excellent managerial planning.
And he has very smartly moved Viv into midfield.
Miedema is first and foremost a center-forward. If we are playing her in the midfield, to me it simply means that we don’t have the proper group of midfielders, which I think is the case. What exactly have we accomplished with Viv at the 10? Are we scoring more goals? No: Had 1 goal in two legs against Wolfsburg–and that off a free kick. Miedema got pushed off the ball quite a bit yesterday–everyone did. I’m not suggesting that Viv at center-forward would have made a major difference yesterday: Arsenal couldn’t get the ball out of its defensive half, and… Read more »
And of course the wonderful Chelsea with super squad and stable management lost 4-0 to Wolfsburg. We only lost 3-1 over two games!
What disappointed me was that, especially in the first half, Blackstenius, Miedema, and Heath were unable to take the ball under control, when played up to them it seemed to bounce off them. We know that Miedema is much better than that, so why? Was it nerves? Second half was a little better, especially with Caitlin Foord replacing Tobin Heath, but even then too many passes were either backwards or went astray. I exempt Little, Williamson and Wubben-Moy from this. At least they look comfortable with the ball at their feet, and have a decent passing range. But Kim Little… Read more »
Stina & Viv didn’t shine as normal but were up against strong defenders plus Viv was fouled a few times. And we very much missed Rafa, Lia and Beth Mead.
Yes, our Kim is a class apart but she is somehow still able to run the length and breadth of the pitch like a youngster.
Agree also perhaps Leah could move to midfield, it’s worked very well for Viv.
I agree with your last point. Arsenal’s midfield hasn’t worked against top competition for a while, and one reason, IMO, is that we are not physical and tough enough. We know Williamson can play in the midfield, and I wonder if Wubben-Moye could be effective playing in the midfield as well. She’s got a good body and skill set for centerback–but a change might be worth a try. She reminds me a bit of the Portland Thorns Finish defender named Kuikka, who played a lot of centerback in college and for other clubs and maybe the Finnish NT (not sure)–but… Read more »
I could see Leah moving into midfield. It’s how she plays for England so there’s no guesswork involved she has shown she can do it. Problem is we then need a good partner for Fafa. Can Lotte do it? Has anyone seen how Anna is getting on out on loan? Is there another great centre back out there that none of us have heard of?