What went wrong against Chelsea Women?
The game against Chelsea Women for our Arsenal Women and our fans was a tough one to take, we knew what we needed to do and we let slip our chance to close the gap between us and the Blue’s for this season’s Women’s Super League Title.
For me, a lot went wrong, and it all seemed to happen so quickly. If It wasn’t for Manuela Zinsberger, I think we could have been really embarrassed at Stamford Bridge, but instead she somehow kept the score lower than they could have been with some elite saves. Here’s what I think went wrong.
Firstly, I think Jonas Eidevall got his line up wrong, we clearly had a solid team out there but for me, both Russo and Blackstenius should have started together, we needed that extra firepower up front and bringing on Russo for Blackstenius so early in the second half made no sense to me. Blackstenius wasn’t to blame for our lack of chances in the first half and as we’ve seen this season, when she gets a chance, she rarely stuffs it up.
Russo was then brought into a game that almost the whole team had lost faith in winning and she doesn’t normally thrive in situations like that. I think Eidevall went with what he knew had been working in other matches, but didn’t take into account that Emma Hayes has built this Chelsea Women’s side to be a very well drilled one and they would have been watching our patterns and figuring us out for a while.
I think we should have surprised Chelsea with different tactics and used our strengths to our advantage, but instead we looked very much the same as we usually do. As soon as the first goal went in, heads went down and losing Catley early in the second half hurt our backline and we then looked bent out of shape because of that.
Chelsea quick fired goals at us and out of nowhere we were 3-0 down with too much to do against a side who were clearly up for it and were feeding energy off the crowd. Our heads went down, and it felt like there was no belief we could get back into the game.
Scoring late, even if it was a deflected goal, made the game look a lot better than it was, but for me, we just didn’t fight hard enough. As I said above, if it wasn’t for some incredible and well-timed saves from Zinsberger, the game could have been really embarrassing but she somehow kept us looking respectable.
I also think the subs Eidevall made weren’t the right ones in the right positions, it seemed like he freaked out and just threw the kitchen sink at it, without considering what to do tactically.
The loss hurts because unless some kind of miracle happens, we look to be out of the race between Chelsea, Manchester City and us. It’s been a good season but again it feels like we should and could have done more.
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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No comment? Well, u won’t get any from me cos I didn’t get to see the game but, come on guys, don’t tell me y’all didn’t see it too. I’ve always had dis impression dat our ladies have been more consistent over the years than our guys.