AWFC vs West Ham match report
Jonas Eidevall and our Arsenal Women made the short trip over to Dagenham yesterday to face off against West Ham United Women in what should have been a some what easy game for our Gunner women, but turned out to be one of the hardest games we’ve faced this season, walking away defeated in a must-win game and has left me personally feeling very deflated. In a weekend where everyone around us on the table took away three points, we left with nothing after a hard shift from our women, but West Ham looked like they wanted it more. Here’s a run down of everything that went down.
In the first half Arsenal came out looking good and were on top of play, dominating possession and were creating chances. West Ham were sitting deep and letting Arsenal have a lot of the possession and were playing somewhat of a low block. Arsenal had a few chances early, with the ball hitting the hand of at least 2 defenders in the box but wasn’t given as a penalty.
Just before half time we managed to get on the score sheet after a lovely whipped in cross from Catley from a set piece corner landed on the head of Kirsty Smith who could only clear the ball as far as the back post where Alessia Russo was waiting to dive and head the ball into the back of the West Ham net to make it 1-0. A great striker goal, in the right place at the right time and buried it home.
The second half started a lot like the first with Arsenal having a lot of the possession, but west Ham started to come into the game and were creating a few more chances for themselves and it didn’t take long for them to get a big chance when Catley brought Riko Ueki down just inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Viviane Asseyi stepped up and buried the ball in the back of the net back Zinsberger to level up the scores.
West Ham then looked like they had gained a bit more confidence and Arsenal were on the back foot trying to defend but gave away a soft free kick in a good position. Whipping a ball into the box Zinsberger was seen coming out the punch the ball away but only as far as Hawa Cissoko who straight away fired the ball toward the goal, catching Zinsberger off her line and putting West Ham 2-1 up. A silly mistake from the keeper and could have probably been prevented if she just took a hold of the ball.
Arsenal continued to go for it but couldn’t break down the West Ham defence and walked away defeated for the first time this year. Three points lost that we needed in the battle for the title and a big set back for Eidevall and his Arsenal Women.
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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Punching for a keeper is a last resort.
Manager sends out same team unless it’s a cup game.
No game plan at all.
For team set up as a block you need box runners, Lacasse and KCC , as a retired full back I hated the player who runs at u in the 18yd box, so easy to bring them down.
Once again Arsenal completely dominate a first half, should be 4 or 5 goals ahead, but fail to take advantage, then concede a goal as soon as the opposition gets a half-chance to score, and go on to lose a game that should have been won in the first half hour.
The lack of clinical finishing and poor performance in the final third, and the vulnerability to counter-attacks, are alarming for a team crammed with big-name players. To me this is indicative of a fragile mentality under Jonas Eidevall’s leadership. It’s hard to even imagine what he said to the players at half-time today, but the transformation from total domination to sudden inferiority was hard to believe.
As I said after the disastrous start to the season, when they were still being talked up on here, the sad fact is that this will be another season for the club without silverware. I just hope they have what it takes to remain in the all-important Top 3 but I wouldn’t bet on it.
The last time I doubted Jonas Eidevall on this site, I was told that a few years ago Arsenal were unable to compete financially in the WSL and Eidevall was largely instrumental in changing this. I tried to point out that in the 7 seasons before Eidevall took over, Arsenal never finished outside the Top 3 and in 2018-19 they won the league by 7 points. However, repeated attempts to post this were blocked, presumably because my critical and objective posts were disrupting the blissful tranquility of the blind faithful.