Arsenal Women Arsecast Episode 140: October Mailbag

0:13Hello and welcome to the Arsenal Women AskCastCastOnASkBlog.com with me your host Tim Stillman. um we wanted to do uh an international break mailbag did kind of want to do it last week but i've had um domestic issues going on which have been um both stressful and expensive so it wasn't really uh wasn't really able to well i didn't know when i could definitely record a podcast so we kind of cobbled this together at relatively short notice but we didn't want to go the whole international break in silence and considering England just beat Australia 3-0, we thought, what better time now, Jamie, than to have a little chat?

0:54Honestly, Tim, I've been a very busy person today. I've spent a majority of my day blocking all my English friends who think it's funny to message me hate because my national team is awful. So, yeah, it's been a really good 24 hours, really productive for me, having dire thoughts about the Asian Cup and just never wanted to think about the Matildas again. So it's been good. Thanks, Tim. Alana Kennedy in midfield, that experiment works for you. Yeah, I want her to never be there ever again. And I'm glad it was short-lived. Thank you, Alessi Russo. Yeah, I actually went looking for a tweet, which I think Susie might have deleted.

1:30But it was a few years ago, Arsenal beat Man City 5-0 at Meadow Park, one of Jonas' first games in charge, and Alana Kennedy played centre-back that day. And, you know, as the scoreline suggests, didn't have her best day. And I think Susie Rack tweeted something like, I've got front row seats to the Kennedy assassination, which I went looking for. But I think Susie might have deleted it, which is a shame because it was a bit of a banger of a tweet. But anyway, we'll put that to one side. Kind of probably a mixed international break for England as well, but not a terribly important one. But obviously, I think, you know, talking about last night's game, what's probably freshest in most Arsenal fans' minds is what looked like a bad injury to Michel Ajimang, hoping that that doesn't look as bad as it looked.

2:24But I think when someone like Serena Viegman, who usually plays things with a very straight bat, says I'm not positive about what I've seen, unfortunately, it looks like I'm not really expecting good news on that, which is really, really bad for her. Manu Zinsberger as well, since the last time we recorded, did her ACL in training, you know, hasn't even played this season and preparing for the Benfica game. she's gone down with an ACL. I think there are five players in the Austrian national team at the moment out with ACLs. It really, I mean, it's always been rife in the women's game for many decades, but it just feels really, really rife at the moment.

3:01So obviously, best wishes to Michelle and Manu. But Jamie, before we kind of crack open the mailbag, as it were, with listener questions which were submitted on Blue Sky, I'm going to ask you a question myself, which is basically, you know, Arsenal are coming into a block of five games now before the November international break. Leicester, Chelsea at home, Bayern Munich away, Tottenham away. What a week that is, by the way. And then Real Madrid at home. And what's the biggest thing that you're looking for from Arsenal in this next block? Where's your mind at the moment? my mind is on the Chelsea game and I don't really know if that's just like from a fan point of view or from I really just want to know the level of this Arsenal team in comparison to Chelsea right now and I know it's obviously that's the big that's the big Derby game that's the game we're all looking at but I just think right now this Chelsea team at the start of season if you'd ask me to compare the two teams I think it'd be a really really even match up I think Chelsea were playing a poor football Arsenal probably in a little bit better form and now it's kind of gone backwards I think this Chelsea team on just under Sonia Bonpastor looked unsure at the start of season but in the last two games I do think they've found a little bit more footing in their new formation she's trying out so yeah that Chelsea game for me is a massive massive kind of one to look at just because I just want to know where this Arsenal team is compared to Chelsea and if it is true that you know Chelsea are just going to get jobs done over every team or whether maybe someone can go and challenge them especially what we've seen that happen at the Emirates before especially two seasons ago so yeah obviously that Chelsea game but Europe is so important like that first three points dropped to Lyon.

4:41That's the hardest game Arsenal play in the Champions League. So getting like in the league phase, getting that out of the way is so important. But it is crucial that you're now getting six points out of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. Real Madrid have been playing good football in the Champions League. They're a team that actually scared me a little bit more than Bayern Munich. And I think Arsenal need to win away at Bayern because they are not a team that are at full strength right now. Yeah, yeah. Some really kind of crucial games, like you say, with the three points already dropped, that's taken away a bit of a margin of error in the Champions League.

5:08I think obviously Leicester first this weekend, but I feel like the Chelsea game probably is a must win, but we can consider that maybe next week. And, you know, we haven't spoken since the Benfica game. Just, you know, to a 2-0 win, Rene herself said we didn't create the number of chances we wanted. We didn't have the number of shots we wanted. We got it done. it was a bit of an ugly 2-0 win but where did that leave you feeling after that game? One of the things that's really struck me Jamie is this is going to sound odd like I'm criticising our podcast, we didn't get that many questions today which I don't take as a comment on us the feeling I got was that people were ready for this break, probably the players but I think the fans it's actually quite a long block Now they've removed this September international break, which they should have removed, which is the right thing to do.

6:08You know, it's a long time together from the beginning of pre-season to the end of October. It's a long time before this kind of first international break. And the sense I really got from Arsenal fans is a little bit, I'm happy to put this on the back burner for a couple of weeks. What was your feeling coming out of that Benfica result? Yeah, completely that. I thought the international break could not be better time. To be fair, I thought that after the last WSL game against Brighton, it just felt like this was the exact break. Well, time that Arsenal needed to kind of regroup. But that Benfica game was just so tiring to watch.

6:45And I think it was just a bit of a deflating performance. And there's two elements to being a football fan. It's like, OK, you grab the three points away, like Benfica are an averagely good team. They have some impressive players. Grab the three points, take them home and just get the job done. But there's also an element of the fact that like there are maybe things that happened in that Benfica game that we've seen seeping in to Arsenal's game plan against Aston Villa a little bit. And then obviously we've seen a couple of games widespread across the WSL more often. So I think that's what upset me about Benfica is just playing the ball on the top of the area, not looking for the inward pass.

7:19Okay, who's making a run into the box? Is there actually any options going forward? Are we creating anything or are we just kind of playing around with possession? And that happened a lot in the Benfica game. So it was a deflating performance but again it's three points it's two goals and you grab them when you can however I just think it just felt like kind of like you know when a balloon get like a really big balloon runs out of air and then at the end it's just kind of like dribbling the last bit of air out that's what it felt like it was just get the three points drag me over just give me a break for a couple weeks from from this team and hopefully it's a new outfit after the break yeah I felt the same I you know I think um coming off the back of those four games without a win got the results against Brighton and Benfica, but I don't think the performances necessarily made you feel, oh, Arsenal are back, like the issues had been solved.

8:05And I hope the coaching staff have been able to, well, they definitely will have been able to take some time, but whether they're able to kind of put something into place really for this upcoming block, because there's no doubt that if Arsenal play like they did against Brighton and Benfica, they will drop more points. There's no question about that. They are going to have to raise the level. And that probably summarises the mood of a lot of our questions, and I think understandably so. How about, let's start with this one, not least because it kind of looks at maybe what a starting line-up could be against Leicester on Sunday.

8:42And this is from Shane Thomas at TokenBG. In the last two games, I think we looked more dangerous when Steiner came on with her movement disrupting the opposition defence and creating space. Should we seriously consider starting her against Leicester, albeit Leicester are likely to go into a low block against us? So, you know, Steiner starting on Sunday, would you do that? She was not started for Sweden during midweek, whereas Russo, because of injuries for England, Russo played quite a lot of football over this break. I think I probably wouldn't against Leicester City. I just think, to be fair, Leicester City aren't playing the low block that I think people expect them to because they're Leicester City.

9:25They're actually playing quite a mid-block this season. I actually am really impressed with them under Rick Passmore. They're really good with their ball movement. So I think there's a lot of scope for just Russo to be the hold-up nine, and I think that's how Arsenal should approach this game. But I do think there's a lot that should be said about maybe Russo's dropping into the 10. And something I've noticed a lot watching England this international break is that something that doesn't hurt Arsenal because it services Arsenal in a lot of ways, but there are so many moments where you just want her to be the lethal striker in the box and she's not there.

9:53And I think we've kind of, we've not complained about that, but we've mentioned that for the last couple of years being like, okay, sometimes you need her to be that out and out number nine that's just going to finish the chances. And I think it's interesting because I don't even necessarily think Steiner is that nine. They're just not, neither of them are kind of like the Bunny Shaw or like Erling Haaland. I just want to touch the ball and put it into the back of the net. They're both completely different strikers. So it's interesting to say, okay, if we take off Russo, should we play Steiner?

10:18because she's going to be more a direct nine. I don't think that's necessarily the case. And if we're talking purely Leicester, I'd start a Leicester. So I just think she's a player that's playing a lot of football right now and just keep her while she's hot. And she needs goals to boost her confidence, especially in the WSL. And Leicester is probably the best team that you're just going to say, go and please just score, get your confidence up and move on to the next. But I think it's an interesting proposition. Yeah, definitely. I think it's one of those things. Like Russo's hold-up play is so, so good.

10:47and I don't want to lose it. I think for me, I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater and I don't want to say just stay in the penalty area. I do want her doing that, but I want people running beyond her, knowing when to run beyond her when she does that. And I think because we weren't having this conversation a couple of months ago about Russo, we have this conversation with Russo every time we're not playing well. And I think a lot of that's midfield dysfunction and midfield dysfunction means she ends up dropping deeper and deeper. When that doesn't happen, I don't think she does it as much.

11:20So I think there's a wider thing there. I wouldn't be adverse to seeing Steiner start against Leicester. That said, there is no midweek game, so there's a week afterwards. So, yeah, I think that's an interesting conundrum, and it's just one of those things when we don't play well, it comes up a lot, and when we do, it doesn't. Do you have a question for me? I do. this one is from Sarah JK Official. I know you speak about Kyra a lot, but this is the first international window where the lack of playing time with Arsenal has been obvious, but despite that, she still provided the game-winning assist against Wales.

11:55What are your thoughts on how she'll be used moving forward in this next block? And then Rebar said, thoughts on Kyra in an advanced role in these international games. So for the Matildas, she played more as a 10. What were your thoughts on her this window, Tim? Yeah, yeah, and it was someone asked, was it Fionn who asked who covers Wales who asked Joe Montemore a question about Kyra after the Wales game and Joe kind of said because he spoke before the game as well and he kind of said it's good for Kyra she's at a top level club she's competing for her place that's what happens and then after the game he was asked and he kind of said yeah you can tell at the moment she's maybe just trying to do a little bit too much um probably because she's not playing and she's not in that rhythm and she's trying almost too hard to impress i did watch her play against wales thought she played uh thought she played very well but obviously they you know australia have katrina gory there who sits deep anyway so there's there's a very obvious player who kind of sits behind her when she kind of goes forward um and then and then uh joe tried alana kennedy there which lasted all of 10 minutes.

13:05And I think this is, again, this is just going to be an ongoing discussion about Kyra, about what she is and where she fits in at Arsenal. You know, she strikes me as like a very like quarterback type player and she can carry the ball forward. So I prefer her kind of starting in a deeper position. But as to this upcoming block, I think this upcoming block is critical for her. I usually try to stay away from quite definite statements like that, but I think it's critical because she got very little in the first block of the season. She came out of the team as soon as the season started, could barely even get on.

13:45She starts against Benfica and then comes off after an hour, which I was slightly surprised by. It's a bit like, are you protecting the player there because she hasn't had many minutes or are you just not happy with the way she played? And a lot of this as well goes towards like Rene's rationale for things like are you rotating or are things not working and you're just trying loads of different players to try and solve problems? And I feel like sometimes some of these players like Kyra, like Lotta, it's like, right, our ball progression is not working. We're going to put one of you in. And if you don't solve it all by yourself in 55 minutes, you're not playing again for three weeks and I don't I don't think that's been a good way of handling it and ultimately for me if Kyra doesn't get more football in this block then I think we have to ask the question as to why she wasn't sold and moved on like if the manager doesn't want to use her doesn't want to use Victoria Pilova or whatever else like fine like whatever we think of those individual players, fine, that is the manager's decision.

14:55But make that decision, sell them and bring in players you do want to use. I think if we go another block with Victoria Plover and Kyra Cooney Cross cutting oranges and playing single digit minutes, then I think it's really time to question why on earth they weren't sold and what on earth we were doing in the summer. you know it's like it's not it's not I'm not so much saying that from a place of Kyra has to play she'll solve all the problems I don't know that but if the manager doesn't think that she shouldn't have stayed at the club and she should have been moved on and someone should have been brought in that that does do those things so I think there are real squad building questions at the moment which are questions but by the end of this block they might not be questions anymore they might be firm statements if that makes sense um how about this one well yeah let's let's let's home in on that a little bit more we had a lot of questions about rotation i think there's some really interesting ones about like simultaneously not having enough and maybe having too much in different sections of the team so um this one um is from i think it's pronounced sure say 14 what are your thoughts on the rotation strategy or lack of it in some positions before the break we saw injuries to players who haven't been rotated or rested much in the last block while others areas of the pitch seem to be over rotated which I take to mean the attack do you think the balance is right and a nicks clip 72 also asked in the first block there wasn't enough rotation in midfield even though it wasn't clicking and too much in the forward line that didn't allow them to click.

16:40Do we need the stability of a settled starting XI in this block to re-establish ourselves? So I think it's really interesting. I think it's really right that we almost have those two simultaneous issues. What's your take on that? Yeah, I completely agree. I think in the sense of the forward line, especially, like we'll speak obviously about the wingers because it's very certain that Alessio Rousseau is the preferred nine. But I think like heading into this season, there was a lot of excitement around Arsenal fans because there's four, you know, really high class wingers. We can rotate them when we want to.

17:10They can make their impact. We're in four competitions. And I think there was a lot of buzz around that. But then you kind of need to strip that back and look at the logistics of it and the fact that almost all of them are right wingers. How do you kind of integrate them into new positions? Olivia Smith is a new player into a new team. And she's not a player you're going to play on the bench and just bring her on in the 80th minute. Like that's not why you go and buy Olivia Smith for a million pounds. So I think that there was always going to be a bit of a transition period with these four players because how do you fit them all in the side and allow them to kind of integrate themselves at the same time?

17:41Chloe Kelly is still new and she did a job. She came in as a lone player last season. She was the impact player. She became the starter. She had her role, but this is a completely different season at Arsenal for Chloe Kelly. So I do think those wingers could benefit from more stability and I do think, like I'm interested by the fact that Renee really prefers Beth Mead as the left wing rotation option. I think that's quite interesting because I thought it would be Chloe Kelly off the back of the Euros. She was fantastic coming on for England in that left wing position. She picked up like game winning assists.

18:08So that's what I thought. I still think Beth May is doing a good job. She can cut back on her right foot, which helps. But I just think that area of the pitch right now, because of how much change in turnover there was in the summer and the ability to rotate in the channels is something Arsenal have not had. It needs a little bit more of an integration period. So maybe this block is an opportunity. Okay, playing some really good sides. Who are the two wingers that if you were going into a Champions League final tomorrow, would you start and see how you can then integrate them with the ones coming on?

18:34Because I think they all have a role to play. In terms of the midfield, I think we've spoken about that. We've waxed on as much as we possibly can. The area that interested me in the last couple of games was Renee benched Katie McCabe for that big Leon game. And that was really surprising to me because I think she was used as a massive scapegoat after that Man City game, their loss, where I think it was one of the goals she got blamed for because it was a turnover. And then it was when Kasper I crossed it into Bunyshaw and she headed in when Caitlin Ford should have been tracking that. And then Taylor Hines is, I just think the gap between Taylor Hines and Katie McCabe is still too wide to be making that kind of like big, big personality shift for a game like Leon.

19:12And I think that comes back to what you said about Renee earlier, Tim. It feels like a lot of her substitutions aren't kind of like, okay, this is the idea of what we want to play. This is our philosophy. It's like I want to make a big change because I hope that it either wakes a player up or makes it look like we're making a really big change. And that Katie McCabe one really summed it up for me because I just thought, I just don't think this is the game that needs to happen. And I do think Arsenal will punish because of it. So I think there's areas of the pitch right now where I completely agree with you, Tim.

19:40Like there's some of the substitutions and especially like you're bringing on someone like Lota. She has an average game where City win and then you're not going to give her another chance. It just feels like, OK, what's the actual game plan for these players? And I'm not slating Renee because I still have full belief in her. Like she's a great manager and I do think that there is something there and there was something there last season. But right now it feels like, OK, the players no longer have their roles and they're kind of there's a select five or six players that are used as an example.

20:07Like you're making an example out of Katie McCabe. If you have a bad game, you're a player I know who's going to play well in the next time. So I can bench you so everyone else knows that that's what's going to happen. So I just feel like maybe the treatment of players isn't as equal right now. And it's a bit interesting for me. But at the same time, like there's a lot of talent in this squad, so you can understand the rotation, but then why are you so stiff on it in other positions? So yeah, there's definitely questions around that. I just think this whole big personality changes that she sometimes makes just feel almost performative management rather than like, okay, this is the game plan.

20:40This is what we're trying to build. Yeah, I'm okay with the rotation in the wide positions. I kind of think that needs to happen, and I don't think that changes the mechanics of your team too much. Like you say, Russo starts pretty much every game. It's the 10 position for me, and I asked René this in as many words a couple of weeks ago. I kind of said, are you rotating the 10s because you're rotating and because you've got lots of different options, or is it because nothing's properly working there? And, you know, obviously she answered it's the former, but I didn't really believe that. I do think it's just like nothing's properly clicking in that position and we're looking for something.

21:20So, yeah, I think really interesting about that. And obviously something else we didn't mention at the top, Olivia Smith took a pretty painful blow on the hip. I say this as a person with bad hips. I am still like it could still be a bad injury I still think we're going to do that for a period of time but I'm glad it wasn't her knee but we'll see on that so we're probably not going to have Olivia Smith for a few games at least we'll wait and see a little bit more on that how about oh no sorry you owe me a question don't you I do I do okay give me a second And it's just escaped me. It's escaped me.

22:08Okay. Okay. This one is, again, I just want to come back to, oh, no, this one's from Teague. Teague Dwyer. It says, how much has double Euro fatigue played in the slow start for Arsenal? Five crucial players played all the way to both finals and with extracurricular commitments running right through preseason, it feels like the team fell behind on season preparations. To me, they've looked physically behind. Tim, what do you think about this? because you look at a team like Chelsea, for example, and they've also had this, but why does it seem like Arsenal are maybe suffering more than other teams?

22:41Yeah, I had this question. I think this is a really interesting one. I think the case with all the players is different. So with Beth, Beth was a sub, but a sub that came on in most of the games at the Euros. Maybe that's had a little bit of a toll on her, potentially. Chloe Kelly has not been fit. Basically, she missed the second game with a knee injury and she's been a shadow of herself ever since. I think that was the case for England during this break as well and she didn't start the second game. I think she's managing something there, a little bit like Daphne van Domslaar, who didn't go away with Netherlands.

23:19I think that answers a lot of questions about some of her early season form. Lotta didn't play and still isn't playing, so I don't think it's had a massive effect on her. The biggest obvious impact it's had is we lost Leah Williamson, who literally got injured in the final. And that has had a massive impact on the team. Don't think it's had an enormous impact on Russo, maybe a bit. Maybe if she'd had the summer off, she'd be a 10 and a 9 at the same time. I haven't looked at her and felt that, to be honest, but it could be. So in short, Beth and Alessia Russo, possibly. Lotta, no, and isn't playing anyway.

24:03Chloe Kelly, I just don't think we know because she's picked up an injury. Leah, definitely, because she literally got injured playing in the Euros and that's had a massive impact on us. So it's kind of yes and no all at the same time. But I do think it would have been interesting maybe if all of those players had come back and they'd all been fit. I think we'd have a much better idea of the impact. of the Euros, let's say Leah had been playing in all of these games, would it be like, oh, she looks a little bit below it? Whereas others, I think it's harder to tell because of other issues. But I do think it's a very interesting thought.

24:40And yeah, I look at Chelsea, who have they got really? Aggie Beaver-Jones didn't really play that much in the Euros. She started fine. Millie Bright didn't go to the Euros. Who else? I must be missing several players. Niamh Charles didn't really play that much. It doesn't feel like Chelsea are as affected, particularly because Millie Bright, maybe Kira Walsh, she started the season very well, hasn't she? So she doesn't look like she's been impacted. So Lucy Bronze got injured. So again, we haven't really seen her. So I think there's probably a bit of that. Yeah, definitely. And I think the tournament as a whole has probably cost us our goalkeeper at her top level as well, which would have been helpful, really.

25:27But there we go. How about this one then? There's a couple about the January transfer window, which I'm also very interested in as well. The first one from at Lucy 566. what do you think is necessary for us to do in January, both in and out? Personally feel like we need to get it spot on, but we haven't exactly been known for that lately. And this one from Diem and Dave, I feel the need for speed and physicality. Do you think we need more in midfield in January? So what are your thoughts on the January window? In a dream scenario, fantasy world, I would love a backup right back that's happy to kind of sit behind Emily Fox because she's had some scares recently.

26:13She played for the USA. They've also got another game against New Zealand tomorrow. I don't know why they need to play three friendlies, but of course they do because they're America. But that is just something that worries me. Like when she went down in that Benfica game, I was just like, okay, what happens now? You're going to have to play your left back out of position. And like, what is happening with Jenna Naiswonger? Like that is the age old question. But right now I just think right back, backup is so important for Arsenal. Look, I think there's a time where Leah Williamson comes back and obviously she's going to need a bit of a transition period.

26:44I'm not necessarily worried about centre-backs. I don't think people are a little bit like Katie Reid once she's fit, if she's fit, by the way. Obviously Steph Kelly and then Leah Williamson. I think there's rotation there. For me, I think it's interesting with Arsenal because it always has been. And I remember when I wrote, like I did my little section on our blog about the summer transfer window. And it feels like there's so many midfielders, but none of them are like doing one job that maybe we actually need them to do right now. So it kind of feels so unproductive. Okay, you bring in a midfielder, but then you've got six or seven then, and which one plays, who doesn't play?

27:19It feels like none of them are actually fitting Renee's system other than obviously Kim Middleton and Mariona, who she obviously prefers. So it's interesting because coming back to like the summer and the interest in Geraldine Royter at the time I thought was bonkers. Like I just thought it's just another player that you're going to bring in. She's going to be in the squad. what's she actually going to achieve? She's a fantastic player. Don't get me wrong, but you've got a million of them. But I think you've said a couple of times on this podcast, you can kind of see it a little bit more under Renee now, why Geraldine Rotella would work.

27:48And I think it's true. She's very fast. She's very physical for her stature because she's not very big. She's quite small, but she's quick and she's very strong on the ball. She's kind of like, she doesn't really get pushed over, almost like Urien Timber with the way that he can. She's got a bit of van der Donk energy. And I like it because she's versatile as well. And I know Arsenal have a lot of versatile players. and it's like, okay, just pick a position. But I do think she adds a little bit to that midfield as well, especially if that's the role that Renee sees her in. So, yeah, I would be really interested in Arsenal and see if they repursue that Geraldine Wojtyla Avenue.

28:19And, yeah, for me that would be business done and a right back would be great. I just think like we've made a couple of Band-Aid signings in January recently and I'm sick of the Band-Aid signings because like last season, this time last year, we bought Jen and I swung. I was excited about that. There's no place to run the squad. So I don't want Arsenal to go in the window and just buy players for the sake of buying players. I want there to be purpose. So those are the two I would prefer. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, with Geraldine Reuteler, I know she gave an interview to the Swiss press recently where she kind of talked about, I am ready for something else.

28:54I have no idea whether that interest will rekindle at all at any stage. I don't know anything about January at the moment, which actually gives me quite good license to answer this question, or at least to give my view on the question, I wouldn't mind going back for her, testing Frankfurt's resolve. Let's see what happens to them in the Champions League. They go through or whatnot, because I increasingly see the vision there, as it were, and it looks like Renee's got some midfielders that she doesn't really either know how to use or want to use. I'm with you on backup for Emily Fox. I think Jenna Neiswonger needs to go.

29:32I'm certain that will happen. maybe on loan, maybe in the WSL or something like that. I don't think she'll want to leave the league yet, having not really experienced it. So I'll give you a prediction there, a loan to a WSL club, a nice one. I think that needs to happen. And that clarifies things at fullback a little bit as well, because then we're back down to three fullbacks and I'm with you. Like someone who can play right back, you know, will be needed because having Taylor Hines cover both sides without someone else feels, feels a little bit risky to me. We risked that last season and we got away with it, but I don't think you can risk it for too long.

30:14So yeah. And, and look like Adina, you know, I, I find it kind of odd how many people wanted a new center half when Leah got injured in terms of, if you're going to bring in, I don't know, like Naomi Gurma or something. Yeah. Cool. Like go for it. Like that, that is not, you don't, like for me wanting a centre-back depth signing ludicrous don't understand it katie reed's come through like adina's played about four minutes and they're in the last game like arsenal have redundancy there they don't have a gap they have redundancy they're five centre-backs it's one too many so i don't know about someone like laia cadena um again just speculating like she's not getting any football i don't think she would like if she can't get on the pitch when leah's injured it's probably not going to happen.

31:02So maybe a couple of those defenders move out. Let's get another one in. Maybe a versatile player or something who can play across the back line. But yeah, I'd like to see the midfield reinforced. And look, if Olivia Smith's bad and that's like many months, Arsenal have got stuff to do out wide next summer anyway. Maybe expedite some of that because they've got a couple of wingers in their 30s. You know, maybe something's going to happen there more definite next summer. I don't know at the moment. But, you know, if Olivia Smith was to be out for a long time, I'd definitely like a winger. So all in all, I think, and look, we might, you know, did they want another goalkeeper?

31:46Because they wanted three goalkeepers by the looks of it and we've lost one. Does Naomi Williams get recalled? Is that really the best for her at the moment? So I understand those questions. I think there's work to do in January and I think there's work to do in January because there was some work that wasn't done in the summer that we've kind of kicked into the long grass and the long grass has suddenly got a bit short. So, yeah, I think there's plenty to do there. This will be a slightly lopsided podcast because I was meant to do a break about 10 minutes ago and got carried away. So let's take a little break here and we'll be back with not quite the second half, but maybe like the second small half, which I appreciate is an oxymoron right after this.

32:33Okay, welcome back to part two of the Arsenal Women Arsecast, which will be shorter than part one, because I got too into the weeds of the discussion. and Jamie, I am going to ask you this question from at the-fantom-dennis, the-fantom-dennis and he asked a provocative question, I think. Here's a question for you. Would Arsenal be better if they went out and recruited a pure goal-scoring number nine or force Rousseau to be disciplined as a striker rather than trying to do everyone else's job, especially the number 10? Um, I'm going to say no, Arsenal would not benefit from that. I think they have, coming back to the discussion we had earlier, I think they have two phenomenal number nines that service the team in two different ways.

33:23I think that, yes, there needs to be more, not discipline, I just think there needs to be a game plan in which the number nine against certain opposition is more of a box nine. And I think that by doing that, you do eliminate a lot of Russo's benefits, right? Her hold-up play is world-class, is second to none, probably the best in the WSL in terms of strikers. However, there are games where she doesn't need to be doing that. And I completely agree with what you said, Tim, earlier. It's a midfield problem. It's something that needs to be. There's a lack of responsibility right now. I don't think there's a lot of ownership of midfield.

33:53The midfield is doing the defensive work or maybe just the ball carrying work as much as possible. So right now, completely happy with Alessia Russo. Would not trade her for another striker in the world as much as I can see the frustration. But honestly, I just think with Alessia Russo, you have to take September and November, not think of September to November, not think about it, right? You're not going to get a lot. And then from November to May, you will think she's the best striker in the world and you'll say, thank God she plays for my club. So you've got this. There's only, what, two more days of October.

34:23Once we start to hit the Christmas period, Alessia Russo will be good again. It's just like she needs to shake off. She does this every single season. So, yeah, no, I wouldn't trade her at all. Yeah, well, also Arsenal have given her a contract, so that's who they've committed to. So to me, they need to put the players around Russo that make her work better. And I think like Michelle Ajemang, again, fingers crossed and everything, but I'm sure she'll come into the group next season one way or another. So I don't think Arsenal need to invest in a nine. I think they need to invest in players around their number nines to make them as good as they can possibly be.

35:01Do you have a question for me? I do. This one's pretty simple, heading into the next block, Tim. We all have high hopes. This one's from At-Pachant. He says, do you think this international break will help Arsenal? We don't need to talk about that. But his final statement is, and what is one thing you would like to see us do differently when we return from the international break? Yeah, I did the newsletter on this this week. And actually, I kind of picked out three things. But there's one thing I think that I kind of majored on. One of them was contracts. I'd like to know where some contracts have got that the club were trying to get done, like Daphna and Emily Fox, the manager, her contract's up at the end of the season.

35:42It always seems quite slow going. It was very slow getting Rene in permanently. And this contract seems to be going very slowly as well. One of the other things I said was kind of just cleaner rotation as well. And I think we've talked about that. But the biggest thing I'm looking for is just playing in areas that hurt our opponents more. I think I did for our Arsenal Vision patrons, which is a much smaller audience, but did an episode at the end of the last international break with Clive. And Clive was talking quite well about how the personality of the team was like Beth Mead, right, until quite recently.

36:29That's high up the pitch. It was like Leah Williamson and Beth Mead, basically. It's like that's front to back quickly and that's someone on the edge of the box in the penalty area making things happen. It feels like the personality of the team now is Kim Little and Mariana, which is kind of fine in that they're both brilliant players, but they're both playing about 40 yards away from their own goal. And it feels like we need to get the impetus forwards. And I asked Renee about this before the Benfica game, maybe, maybe after the Brighton game. And she said, yeah, we talked about passing backwards less, going forwards with more intent.

37:07Everyone in WSL is pressing now. We want to stop playing so much on the edge of our own area, you know, to stop ourselves coming under pressure. But then at the same time, there's a voice in my head going, yeah, but if you're really good at playing under pressure, that's how you create space further up the pitch. That is literally why teams play out from the back. So I'm really fascinated to see how all that shakes out. but it just feels to me like the team needs to get the ball forwards more cleanly, more quickly and play in more dangerous areas, particularly when you're playing like a team like Chelsea.

37:44I don't want us to play Chelsea and for like Mariana and Kim Little to have 100 touches each and Frido, whoever's playing at number 10, have 13 and go off on 55 minutes. Like I'd like to see those two units of the team come closer together. I think that's kind of been our main problem this season. And I have to admit, I don't necessarily have a great solution to it. Otherwise, I'd be a coach myself, which I'm not, for very obvious reasons. How about this one then? I want to answer this one as well, maybe to finish. Well, unless you've got another question, because I think this kind of goes into a little bit some of our issues, but it's quite a fun question from Helen M, who is at HXM829.

38:33If you could bring one player in their prime, retired or currently playing to the team, who would it be and why? Oh, wow. I didn't even see this question. I wish I did because I would have prepped better for it. Do you want to go first, Tim? Okay, yeah. I'm going to slightly change the spirit of the question and keep it to like an ex-Arsenal player. Otherwise, I'd say like 2007 Marta or something like that because then it wouldn't matter about connecting the defence and the attack. She'd just go and get the ball and dribble it forward and everything would be fine. But I want to keep it a little bit narrower and say a former Arsenal player.

39:12And for me, regardless of how Arsenal are playing, my answer to this probably would be the same anyway because she's one of my favourite players ever. But Jordan Nobbs, prime Jordan, because one of the issues I think we have about Russo dropping is no one really runs beyond her or makes a run beyond her and moves people around. And I think Jordan Nobbs would be very, very good at doing that. I think she'd be very good at connecting the areas of the team, very good at dropping deep and hitting those kind of long diagonals, Kyra Kuni cross style, but also good at crashing the box and basically just running up and down a lot and covering about 1 ,000 miles per game.

39:55I have a soft spot for Jordan as a player anyway. So like I said, even if we were all conquering, I might say that anyway. I like players that take risks. I like players that try the difficult things, that try shots, and Jordan kind of epitomises that. So for me, I think that would solve our number 10 issue quite a bit. What about you then? Yeah, that's a very good answer. I do almost regret letting you go first. I know I'm going to be completely contradictory in the fact that I said that we don't need a centre-back because we have all the centre-backs in the world. But I still think that if we got Jaffaella back in our team, we'd probably be the best team in the world because she's the best left centre-back, I think, in football.

40:40And she's had a tough couple of years at Orlando Pride with injuries and Orlando Pride not had a great season. But she is just like, I know, Tim, you're a massive fan of her, But as Arsenal fans, like she's just the unicorn player that we're never going to see again. And I don't think there's actually a centre-back like her in the WSL. And if you can get Leah Williamson back fit and just have that partnership for the next three, four years, that would be absolutely excellent because I think it just causes, it solves so many problems. Like Leah can play further because she can like further up pitch because she can progress the ball and she knows that there's a centre-back there that's going to do all of the hard work.

41:11She's quick, she's big, she's very good aerially, which is something that Arsenal have struggled with over the last two seasons. So, yeah, I just think that's probably one of the best players that have played for this club that played for no time at all. And it's like, yeah, it's something that it feels like it's almost like, did it ever happen or was it something that just happened inside of our heads? So, yeah, I'm going to go her. Yeah, that's fair enough. I mean, I had a dig at you for England beating Australia

41:42and half a, let's just say I heard from her on Instagram after Brazil beat England. We don't talk all the time. I don't want to make out we're best friends or anything. But, yeah, she commented on my story watching the game. So it was like, ah, now I hear from you. But, yeah, obviously I'd fully endorse that as well. Should we do one last question? I assume you have one. I actually don't have any. I've run out. Do you have any left? Let me just have a look. I think I have run out. Yeah, I have actually. Oh wait, no Tim, I've got one for you. Okay. This one is from at Aiden News 12. Looking forward to the trip to Leicester Tim Winky Faith.

42:34Yeah, well, because this is going to be a 12 noon kickoff, there definitely will not be the chance to visit the establishment. before the last game because I'm going to have to. Although, yeah, maybe – well, I think I'm going out the evening before because of all these bloody early kickoffs. So, yeah, maybe I will. Maybe I will revisit and wheel out the hits for that one. It's actually – it's a very, very good real ale pub anyway, where they – and I like that kind of thing. So even without the choice of bar snacks. So yeah, I might make a revisit. I'll have your post notifications on, don't worry.

43:22And hope for, I mean, I take the same result, not the same performance as last year, but it does kind of feel like we're in quite a similar scenario as last year. But Jamie, we'll talk about that game maybe Sunday or Monday in the next podcast. Thanks as ever. We shall. Thank you, Tim. It's been lovely. Excited for club football to be back. It's been a bit of a walking pace international break. So very excited for the WSL to be back. Yeah, particularly with that kind of weekend off before the international break, which happens again, actually in November, which I think is quite handy for Arsenal.

43:59But there we go. Yeah, we'll come back with a post Leicester podcast, which we will undoubtedly win 5-0. All our problems will be solved. We'll be flowing. We'll be good. We'll be playing like the champions of Europe. ready for Chelsea. When all that happens, you can appoint me as a clairvoyant. I've been Tim Stillman. Thank you so much for listening and we'll speak to you again next week.