I’m sure some Arsenal Women fans would want to see Stina Blackstenius and Alessia Russo leading the Arsenal attack as a front 2. Blackstenius is a merciless goalscorer, a threat to opponents, whereas Russo is a #9.5 striker who both creates and scores goals.
On paper, the two may work well together, transforming Arsenal’s offence into a fearsome force. However, we must acknowledge that the front two will never function effectively don’t we?
Frida Maanum’s form declined last season, according to reports. After a stellar 2022–23 season, where she was the talk of the WSL due to her exploits in Arsenal’s attack, and her influence being compared to Granit Xhaka for the men’s team, Frida Maanum unexpectedly lost her form last season, not helped when she collapsed off the ball. Well, some Gooners believe they know why her form dropped.
Maanum effectively collaborates with Blackstenius, who eagerly awaits opportunities, while Russo’s active participation in the buildup leads her to occupy positions Maanum should ideally occupy as a playmaker. Maanum needs room to dash into, which she does well when Blackstenius occupies the defenders, but not when Russo comes deep and shuts that space.
This season, Arsenal need results more than performances, and if that means benching some players to make room for in-form players like Frida Maanum, who scored the winning goal against Leicester at the weekend, albeit from a perfect assist from Russo, so be it.
Frida Maanum has scored 2 WSL goals in Arsenal Women’s 2 games played in the new season, with only Brighton’s Kiko Seike and Aston Villa’s Rachel Daly scoring more so far.
What are your thoughts Gooners?
Susan N
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Some strikers are better suited to how the opposition defends and some strikers keep scoring when they are on a run of games playing well and inform.
All three strikers have different tactical playing styles as you have mentioned with some more inform than others.
So I would say regarding striker selection decisions, here is the dilemma.
There is the tactical striker selection verses the inform striker selection. I think the inform selection should take priority against lower teams with the tactical selection against tougher or better teams. Sometimes you can have both if your lucky and then selection picks itself.