Arsenal Women Arsecast Episode 141: Gunners stroll to victory against Leicester

0:13Hello and welcome to the Arsenal Women Askcastcast on Askblog.com with me your host Tim Stillman looking back on Sunday's 4-1 win away at Leicester City off the back of the international break. A nice little breakwater, I think, leading into a week next week where Arsenal play Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Spurs, which feels like scary hours. And this game took place on Halloween weekend, but turned out not to be that scary in the end for Arsenal. And here as ever to join me to talk about it is our co-host Jamie Spanger. Jamie, how are you doing? I'm good, Tim. It's nice to be here and talk about three points for the first time in a while.

0:51It's been a bit tough, though. I can admit the clocks have changed back. So the earliest kickoff for me right now is 11 p.m., which doesn't sound that bad. But by the time the game's over, it's 1 a.m., you're thinking about the game. So as an Australian, I am back to where I was two years ago. And I really do empathize because I kind of started saying, oh, it's not even that bad. What are they complaining about? But guys, any foreigners, I'm on your page finally. However, three points is three points. So it's much better than not going to bed after a 1-1 draw to Aston Villa. Yeah, true. And I think Leicester were very good opponents for Arsenal in this game.

1:25And we'll kind of break that down, which is not to take away what Arsenal did. But I think this was a game Arsenal really needed. And, you know, starting line-up dropped as ever. You know, Rene maybe wasn't 100 % straight with her injury updates in the press conference, which, you know, I think is true of most managers, by the way. Like, you know, we always think our own clubs are the only ones that are very, very vague about injury updates. But like Alex Greenwood is injured at the moment for Manchester City. And it's just a number of weeks. I don't even think they've said which part of the body the injury is.

2:01Like, this is just common practice, particularly in the WSL. So we had no lot of Wubham Moy because she'd been ill. And also, I think just because she hasn't played that much this season, they said they're kind of building her up a little bit. No Freedom Ornum came back from international duty with a knock. I asked Renee about that after the game. She said it's not serious, but they'll see about next week. Again, keeping cards close to the chest. I don't think anyone's going to know anything about that until that team sheet drops. Kyra Kuni Kros unwell. Emily Fox rested to the bench, which I think most of us expected, given the US played an additional game.

2:40Steiner up front, Laia Kadina in. the bench looked not quite latter days of Joe Montemoro, but not far off. What did you make of the lineup, Jamie? Yeah, definitely depth was different to a fortnight ago. However, I wasn't too surprised by a lot of the lineup. The thing that did kind of surprise me was it seemed that Russo was going to be playing in the 10 in this game. And I thought Victoria Pilova being on the bench was interesting because with this amount of injuries, this amount of outs, I thought this against Leicester City. This is probably the game that Rene trusts her to just, okay, get some more confidence in your body against a lower opponent on the table.

3:15Everything was better in hindsight because I thought Russo and Blacks in his were phenomenal. However, yeah, that was something that piqued my interest a little bit because it kind of feels like, all right, what is her role in this team, especially when players like Kuni Kros are there for the depth, they're not in the squad. And yeah, so it was interesting. That's the thing that kind of had my eye on. Yeah. And I think on one hand, you know, with Frieda injured, that takes out a potential number 10. But whenever Steiner starts, I always think they must think there's going to be either space down the sides or space in behind.

3:49And in this game, I mean, unfortunately, because all the WSL kickoffs are now synchronised, they just don't get to watch anyone else anymore. And they're so unbelievably slow at uploading full matches as well. So it's been really difficult to watch other teams this season which has kind of made this job a little bit harder. But I had a look at data. I had a look at the formations Leicester were playing. I could see they played a back three. And Jamie, I was expecting that to be a very tight back five, having not really seen Leicester this season. It really wasn't. It was a back three. There was loads of space down the sides.

4:27You could see why Arsenal had started Stina Blaxtenius. And Stina could have scored in under 10 seconds. The first thing Arsenal do is Steph Cately sends that ball into the channel. And I mean, Arsenal kind of didn't stop doing that all day. And I don't think Leicester had much of an answer to it. Yeah, I was really, I was really interested by this from Leicester, because I think I said last week that they don't play a low block. You kind of expect in the WSL, these lower teams in the table to play just a really dirty low block against these top oppositions, but they don't do that at all. And we definitely saw that play out in this game, especially in the opening 45 minutes.

5:01But I did think like they're a team that are really good at adapting. And that's what I took from their a really narrow loss to Chelsea. They were really good at kind of reading what Chelsea were bringing on to them and adapting that way. In this game, complete opposite. I thought they were so slow to kind of catch on to what Arsenal were doing. I thought there was so much glory in the channels in the opening 10 minutes. And Stina Black-Sinius is, of course, the player you're going to, you know, want in those positions. But I still was hesitant about it, Tim, because I think Rick Passmore is a good manager.

5:27Obviously, he's been in the WSL before. I didn't think that Rene would be able to be like, oh, Stina will have the space over Leicester City, and that was going to be the case. I thought they were going to correct. So from an Arsenal point of view, they were probably licking their lips because it worked. And Leicester were just so slow to adapt, so much space in the channels. But for Arsenal, it meant that the front four could just perform and really, really attack. Yeah, definitely. And I think, you know, a lot of the questions as well, and I agree with this, describe what Arsenal were doing as a bit more of a 4-4-2, with Russo very close to Steiner as a second striker.

6:00And I think you can see why Arsenal did that, because it was like a 3-4-3. Leicester play with two central midfielders, and I think Rene took the calculation that actually we think Kim Little and Mariana can match up against Sam Tierney, and the other central midfielder escapes me at the moment. But I think Arsenal kind of thought, we'll match our two against their two, and we'll probably be okay, and we can use Rousseau as a bit more of a second striker, which is how I think this really materialised. and that's where the opening goal comes from. Arsenal find easy space to play in midfield, really good low cross by Beth Mead.

6:39You know, Steiner, is it a touchback? Is it a miscontrol? I think I know the answer to that, but Russo onto it, 1-0 and it felt like there was no looking back from there really. Yeah, I think it was also very funny. It felt all of everyone watching on the stream, Stina in her post-match, because she got player of the match, the league player of the match, she got asked, did you know Alessia was behind her? And she said, to be honest, no. But it's good that she was. And I think that's just natural, Stina Black-Sinius and the brand we've learned to love. But yeah, it's funny, Tim. I think I've just been conditioned maybe in the last month or two to think Arsenal come out of the gates really, really strong.

7:18And they play really attacking, aggressive football for the first 15 minutes. They get a really early goal and then they kind of sit back. So I was still nervous because, again, I don't think Leicester City are a world-beating team and we saw that in this game. But I do think they're better than some of the teams that Arsenal have come up against already this season, namely probably West Ham. And I still think Aston Villa are struggling in areas. So I did think, yes, there's areas here where I'm worried that Arsenal are going to sit back like they have been in recent games. But there was something in the space where you look at the Aston Villa game, there wasn't space.

7:48Like Aston Villa were set up so well defensively to kind of combat Arsenal and correct. And the goal came from a mistake. whereas in this game it was so open. So it did kind of feel like, okay, glory days. They're going to put a couple more in the net. But I just think this was such an intelligent goal. Like Beth Mead, again, like we'll come on to her a million times in this game because I thought she had a fantastic performance, but so intelligent to just drive that low and knowing that there's players in the box. And I think, again, that's something we don't often see when there's someone else in the 10, whereas Alessio Russo and Stena Black-Sinney's both box crash in this instance.

8:19That's something we need to see more of from these Arsenal forwards. So, yeah, really happy and just a top finish, like just a top top finish from a series so yeah I mean I you know again with with Beth you always just like look at her output and it's it's always always there regardless of how you think she's playing how involved you think she is end product is always there always has been um I do think she looked more comfortable on the right um than the left in this game and I think I saw so much and I thought she had a couple of really good games for England as well in the break I think the fact that England lost a couple of wingers and Chloe Kelly's still not really fit that knee is still very heavily strapped and I think we can you know when she came on she had 58 % pass completion that's not Chloe Kelly at all and actually I think that benefited Beth a bit as well the fact that England was so shallow during the break that she got both games and she got I think the full game pretty much in both of them and yeah I just think you know she was doing that kind of really pressing, snapping into tackles, winning the ball back up against Leicester's left wing back.

9:27And I thought she had a great game. I thought all the forwards did. But yeah, once again, another really good performance from Beth. And then, you know, another player who had a very good performance. You know, we had Taylor Hines at right back. We saw, you know, little tiny bits here and there, the end of the Benfica game, a bit in pre-season. and I was very much told during the summer that she was seen as someone who could do the job there. I think things have maybe become a bit clearer now with Holmberg looking likely to come in in January and it looks like the Hines right back thing might be just a bit of a tide over and maybe we're seeing why Jenna Neiswonger was kept for now to keep that complement at four fullbacks and I think you'll see that change in January.

10:13I think you'll see Holmbo come in. Taylor Hines probably won't play much right back after this. But for the second goal, we'll go into the own goal bit in a minute, which is very prolific. It's almost like Arsenal women's version of Arsenal men's set pieces. But the ball over the top from Hines, the fact that she takes it on her left foot as well, like really creates the angle. I thought she had a great game, Jamie, and this was a lovely goal. Phenomenal ball. just a nice visionary ball again like you said on the left foot curls it around and just like leaves no room for the defender um again though like I just think this performance from Taylor Hines is something that does excite me because there's depth there and I I don't think there's not been depth in years past but recently Emily Fox is just running ragged she has to play every game and it does like it casts doubt in your mind right because if she goes down what's the contingency plan but having Taylor Hines at least as a backup right back whether she's left back or not obviously Smilia Holmberg as well maybe on the horizon but I thought Taylor Hines in this game was so good and it wasn't just because of her product I think her just ability to know when she needs to take a big touch run past defenders that was really what impressed me in this game and I'm gonna I'm gonna fully admit like I didn't actually know Taylor Hines was as quick as she is and I didn't realize it until the Australia England game where she caught up with Ellie Carpenter and won the ball back and Ellie Carpenter's a rapid player she's one of the quickest in the league.

11:38So this is a player that that is something she can use. And that's something I think Arsenal can really, really get a benefit of, especially against teams like Leicester City, where maybe their wing is as fast and clinical and Taylor Hines knows how to exploit that space. And Beth Mead knows when to come out and give her that space down the wing. And I think they're really working something well together. And I thought that paid off a lot in the first half. Beth Mead knows, okay, Taylor Hines is going to take on this player and take a big touch. I need to get out of her way so that there's a passing lane.

12:05And I thought that was really intelligent. So I think me helped Heinz a lot in this game but yeah no I was very impressed with this cameo I still think like that's like not I think that a lot of fans see a good performance and think she is the future and she is who we need like is she gonna I saw someone say maybe she's gonna dislodge Emily Fox I still think her level needs to improve against the top oppositions but it's a brilliant brilliant plan for these kind of teams against Leicester City where you need to trust a player you know they'll get the job done and I think yeah this Taylor Hines signing is paying off a lot more than I thought it was.

12:34Yeah, and I think that England left spot, left back spot is open for her because I think England are shallow there. England are shallower than Arsenal are in that position. So if she can, you know, even game share a little bit more with Katie McCabe. And again, Katie McCabe, we saw her come off on 60 minutes in this game. And I think that's sensible, you know, she's 30 now and she's another player who's just played 90 minutes of every single game for years and years and years. And I think it's absolutely fine. to have that as a little bit more of a timeshare situation. But yeah, fantastic goal.

13:08Loads and loads of own goals. Over 2025, actually, Freddie Cardi from Naguna asked Rene about this after the game. It was quite an amusing exchange. And he kind of said, do you know why Arsenal get so many own goals? And she just said, yep. And he said, can you expand? like is you know is is like what what yeah yeah it was just like what are you aware of like why this is happening is it intentional and she's like yep and that was it nothing else but um I think what's kind of really interesting about I'm going to do when I've got 10 minutes I'm going to do a little twitter thread on this because they're all identical like nearly all of them are identical it's byline low cross um across the box defender running back towards their own goal kind of nudges it in the net and that is a good position that Arsenal take up quite a lot but yeah own goal turning into a very prolific scorer of goals for us.

14:12Yeah honestly it's kind of like in the Premier League right now where Man City it's like Erling Haaland has scored 13 goals and their next high scorer is a Burnley defender who scored two own goals. Yeah no I think it's like look it's funny to laugh at and I think Opta posted something after Olivia Smith got that deflection goal recently and a lot of fans were being like this isn't a good thing Arsenal on is um like they're not as prolific in attack I just think they're forcing it in the wide area and it's something that's so so important to to just like having a kind of aggressiveness and I think it often it will always come to that right wing I happened in the Champions League final as well just got ruled offside like Parade is put in the back of the net but it always comes from that right channel so I have no problem with this I think it's Russo in this instance that puts in that cross I was very happy because I made a fantasy captain um but she yeah so I just think yeah no it's really important and of course Renee is not gonna elaborate however it's also very obvious to everyone why that's happening and how it's happening so yeah keep it up because a lot of teams can do that and the difference in Arsenal and Chelsea right now is they're getting their goals from the same areas but Chelsea just getting the cross onto a striker Arsenal hitting it onto defenders so yeah I don't think there's anything wrong with it and yeah set piece again own own own goal again let it happen yeah exactly like they're all like it's not like people are they're not free cone goals it's like if the defender doesn't touch it there's an attacker there with a tap in it's it's that kind of thing so I do think it's it's as you know whether it continues to be own goals or whether it's just an Arsenal player tapping it in the chance creation element is sustainable and it's probably something to consider at the end of the season when we look at stuff like xg because own goals don't show up on xg so for example in this game i think arsenal ended it with 1.9 xg but i mean that own goal really is like a 0.8 chance it just doesn't show up so um yeah something for the data heads to crunch there and it really felt like it was a matter of time before the third goal was going to come it felt like a matter of time before Steena Blaxtenius was going to score a goal.

16:16I so nearly tweeted, Steena is definitely scoring in this game, but I didn't want to jinx it. And it's another lovely, lovely move. And once again, with Steena as a finisher, I think when it's instinctive, I think she's a very, very strong finisher. We saw that in this game. I think sometimes if she has a bit of time to think, less so, but great move, great goal. I mean, Arsenal had forced other situations as well. It felt like a matter of time before Arsenal and Steiner were on the score sheet. Certainly. She could have had about five in this game. But I think when Steiner's on, that always is the case.

16:50She could have at least five or six goals. Seven shots in this game she had. There you are. It's the instinct. If she's so good at finding the pockets of space as a number nine, it's just the finishing that she needs to work on. When she has to take a touch, I don't want to bet any money on it. When she's probably blindfolded and faced away from goal, I've got my money on the fact that she's going to hit the back of the net. But I just think Listeena Blackstani's performance was so, so good. I thought she was so impressive and it wasn't just from the goals and the makeshift assist, we'll call it intentional.

17:19I just thought her presence was really, really good. And I think that something that I noticed, I watched the second half back because I thought the second half was a drop-off. So I wanted to watch the second half and whether it was a Leicester thing or an Arsenal thing. But something she did a lot in the second half when Arsenal were kind of struggling a little bit more in terms of their just being clinical is she stopped making the overhead runs too much and she started dropping in like Russo does, getting the ball to her feet and then tapping it back to either Alessia Russo, Mariona, Pilova or Kim, whoever was there at that time.

17:47So it was a good performance from Steen. I think that's something that frustrates me a little bit historically about her. She can't really adjust too much. She almost kind of tries to do the same thing over and over again until she scores. In this game, it felt like she was able to adjust and I saw that in the second half. So yeah, I thought this was a wholesale performance. I thought she did a lot around the pitch, something that Alessia Russo usually does in that nine position. And I think maybe working with Russo higher up the pitch helped her as well. She didn't feel like she had to be the one on the end of every single ball.

18:14So, yeah, I was really impressed with this. And, yeah, I just love seeing Sina Black senior score. It's well-deserved. And, yeah, she's just, yeah, she's such a beloved cult hero. Yeah, Renee was very effusive about her afterwards saying, you know, we were really happy for her. Because obviously it's such a weird spot where she isn't the first choice striker. She doesn't start many games. She always comes on. and obviously you look at her contribution over the last three and a half, nearly four years and it's immense, it's absolutely immense it's such a weird situation for such an important clutch player to actually not kind of be a member of the starting XI that often she's definitely like player number 12 really, which I'm sure she doesn't always like that but you never hear anything out of her You never get any kind of suggestion of anything.

19:06Maybe over a weekend where there are some players who have suggested that not being first choice is a massive, massive problem for them. But we'll say no more about that.

19:20So at halftime, Leicester make a triple change. I was quite surprised. I was expecting to see Emily van Egmond up front, to be honest, that they drop her into midfield. They bring on Naomi Mouchon. Rick Passmore must be kicking himself for not starting her because she caused Arsenal some problems and actually she is exactly the type of player that maybe Arsenal do have problems with. But I haven't watched the game back yet. Please upload these games faster, guys, please. But I did think Leicester came out much more aggressively. I don't mean that pejoratively. They were pressing a lot more. They were engaging a lot more.

20:05You know, it was too little, too late at that point. But I did think that was part of the reason for the drop off, as well as Arsenal making changes and some of their fluency going a little bit. But yeah, the game kind of petered out. We did have that channel quite a lot. Steen are in the right channel. Emily Fox came on for the last half an hour. but you know Leicester get one back through Naomi Mouchon who who kind of just dribbles through the centre of the Arsenal defence something she did a few minutes earlier and Daphne van Domsala saved it I mean you know it's how I guess how concerned were you about that because that was a bit of an Achilles heel last season or how much do you just kind of think the game was done we'd made a load of substitutions there.

20:56I think if that's a centre-back partnership that has played together at all, that's a different story because one of them knows when to press and one of them knows when to cover the space. So I'm not really concerned about this goal because I actually don't think we've seen that be really... There's a lot more issues with this Arsenal team in the last month than just that transition. So, yeah, no, that didn't really worry me. I think, look, I think, like I said, at this second half, I thought Arsenal did drop off. I think Rick Passmore will be kicking himself that he didn't start with the team he started with in the second half because I think he went far too attackingly aggressive.

21:26Like Jota Rantala and Shannon O 'Brien are both players that just want to go for goal. And you can't have both of them when you're playing against a team like Arsenal. And I think that's something you learn very quickly in this league. You can't always play the style of football you want to. Like Dario Vitisic learned that at the Emirates last season and then came back and corrected it at Broadfield Stadium in Crawley. So I think that's something Rick Passmore is probably kicking himself about because I did think Leicester looked a lot more compact. They looked a lot more. They just were trying to take a little bit less risk and then they were a lot better in possession because they weren't just hanging the ball long.

21:55So I do think Leicester adjusted really well in the second half. I think Arsenal came out of the gates, not sluggish, just maybe you're 3-0 up, you've got a very hard block coming up, you don't want to be absolutely killing yourselves to try and get goal difference up at this stage because the game is to bed against a team like Leicester City, no disrespect, but it's true. So I do think it's nothing to be worried about. I don't think the second half was bad by any means. I still think it was an okay performance. it's just something that kind of happens ahead of a good block but yeah it was interesting one thing I did find interesting I thought the midfield dropped off a little bit when Mariona came off and Vick Pelova came on which was something I thought was a little bit alarming because how trustworthy is the rotation especially when you're playing against a team like Leicester City how can you do that against tougher oppositions that want to control the ball more than Leicester City do like how do you correct that when you're out of possession so that was something I think maybe led to the goal as well.

22:45Less compact in midfield, really vulnerable on transition, less so the fault of the defenders. But yeah, I just think it's a good performance all in all. And I do think Rick Passmore made some good adjustments at halftime to just at least let Leicester leave the game with a bit of dignity. Yeah, and I think that's maybe an issue around squad usage in the first block of the season where you're then asking Pilova to come on. You know, it looks like she's lost her place in the Netherlands starting lineup. I never like it when that happens, not least because I think it probably makes a player think about their future a little bit at their club.

23:22And so, you know, you're asking players to come in who are quite rusty. And we've already seen Lotta, like, because she's not playing very much, things like illness and not being able to track, like she's not in a physical rhythm, basically. And so it was nice to see players get on in this game. And I think there was, you know, a context to that. We even got Jenna Niswonger, the lesser-sighted Jenna Niswonger, on the pitch towards the end. And straight away, Arsenal go up the other end and score in the channel. Stina Black-Stenius absolutely roofs it in the back of the net. But one of the things I asked Rene after the game, Jamie, was about the confidence of creating a lot in this game because it's been a while since Arsenal have been in a game and created a lot of chances, a lot of situations.

24:14And how much, and obviously with the games coming up against teams like Chelsea. Chelsea, who, by the way, play quite a similar system, I think, to Leicester. And I know we've got some questions about that in the second half. I've got some ideas maybe about the kind of team I'd like to see next weekend. But I think regardless, it was clearly very important for the confidence of the players to have one of those games where it's like we've won 4-1 and 4-1 was the right score. But how reassured are you by that? Or do you lean more on the side that Leicester are possibly the worst team in the league and they were very pliant for us?

24:54Where are you on that spectrum? I think I'm somewhere in the middle. I think, look, I just think it's a bit different because, look, when you've got two teams like West Ham and Liverpool that are that bad. It almost like, excuse me to think Leicester aren't even that bad. And I do think Leicester are outperforming their squad right now because I don't think they have a very good squad compared to everyone else in the WSL. Maybe Liverpool have probably on par. West Ham certainly have a better squad than Halle. Liverpool with their injuries in particular, I think, yeah. Yeah, exactly right. So I think it's like this game has, this result has to happen in this game.

25:30Arsenal need to come away with a big goal difference and they need to come away with the three points and emphatic performance where they're creating a lot. However, it doesn't really make me think it's going to be like we're out of the woods. The reason I think that is because the problems we saw against Benfica, the problems we saw against Brighton and Aston Villa, where Arsenal were just so wasteful on the edge of the area, they didn't know how to create. And those are three teams that don't play the way Leicester do in the defensive block. So yes, we know you can beat teams like Leicester.

25:58Arsenal have historically beaten teams like Leicester. I think they have their best win record out of any team in the WSL against Leicester. Leicester have never beaten Arsenal. So they know they can play this brand of football against Leicester City. So I'm not looking at this performance in isolation and thinking it has a knock-on effect to everyone else. I still want to go into games like against Spurs in particular. Okay, how do you navigate that game? Because defensively, they're completely different. They're not going to give you space in the channels. They're going to make you just play the possession around the box.

26:24And that's what Arsenal have been struggling with. So I think, yes, good result, but it needed to happen. And it doesn't kind of get rid of the worries I've had around everything else and the problems that have been plaguing Arsenal this season. Yeah, I think Chelsea and Bayern in particular, they're just going to be, like I say, Chelsea been playing a similar system. So maybe there's some usage in that. And I know Sylvain Jamey, he actually asked Rene about that afterwards. Obviously, Rene giving nothing away in the answer, but he'd been at Chelsea LCL the day before as well. and he talked about Chelsea, like, I think they'll bring Germer in against us, don't get me wrong, but he was saying, like, they went with a back three of Bronz, Bright and Bjorn, the three Bs, and he kind of said that's quite a slow back three, and if LCL, you know, had used someone like Nikita Paris, for example, a bit better, they could really have exploited some of those spaces, so we'll see on that um okay let's bring an end to part one there and we will come back in part two with your questions submitted on blue sky and by our patreon subscribers on discord because i have to get better at asking for questions there so we'll be back right after this

27:44okay we are back with part two of the arsenal women ask cast looking back at sunday well a A little bit looking back at Sunday's 4-1 win over Leicester. I think in the questions, there's going to be a little looking ahead as well to the big game against Chelsea at the weekend. And before we kind of crack into those questions, let's just do a quick, let's address how scary this game is. And I'm just going to ask you a question very quickly. Is this a must win for Arsenal in your view? Certainly. I looked at the table yesterday and I saw a little bit on Pottnum.

28:21And none of that is okay. Yeah, it's been a slow start. And this becomes more of a must-win game because last two seasons, Arsenal haven't lost against Manchester City away. So that already puts us behind the league. And we're already behind the league in the last two seasons. So it's not just a we must beat Chelsea so they don't win. It's we must beat Chelsea so we can get three points against a top team because United draw, City loss. Like you need to get three points out of one of these teams. And that is how Arsenal managed to get Champions League qualifications. So, yeah, this is a must-win game.

28:48And it's at home. members of the Emirates, it's, yeah, go and beat them because they're not playing heroic football at the moment. I think they're playing better, but they're not playing heroic six-time champions. So, yeah. That's what annoys me, actually. I have been able to see a bit of Chelsea this season, and they haven't impressed me really any time I've seen them, but they've got the results. so yeah let's let's start with a question here then there was one I had from Adam Salter but about the nature of Leicester's goal but I think we covered that okay how about this one from at Ndmw on Blue Sky Russo plus Stina from the start has had mixed success but after a strong showing in this game do you believe that's the setup that would give Chelsea's backline a greater challenge or do you think it potentially leaves us too short firepower from the bench?

29:46I think that the last point is interesting, especially because there's knocks in the squad right now. Like the depth isn't great. So if you play this starting 11 and it doesn't work, okay, then what's your contingency plan if Chelsea go up 1-0 and you don't have that kind of super sub coming on? So I understand that. I think that there is so much room to exploit Chelsea right now, just like there was Leicester there. Obviously, they're trying to play a back three, back five right now. They've kind of learnt from their nightmares against Barcelona. I think Sonia Bonpastor is just putting that in place at the start of the season.

30:15They've obviously got Ellie Carpenter and Lucy Bronze now. So how do you fit both of them in the squad? So they are playing a back three. And I do think it'll be the Triple Bs playing. I think that they will. Like Sonia's really decided that those are the players she wants in the squad right now. I think that Ellie Carpenter will play right and Sandy Baltimore on the left, which is interesting because that leaves a lot of room in and behind. They're very attacking full backs. So I think that it is kind of the lineup. I would probably say yes. I think that if Steiner plays, there is room in both the channels for her and Alessio Russo to kind of exploit, but it does leave a lot of onus on the midfield.

30:53And I think that Russo's not going to be able to play as high as she did in this game because she's not going to have the kind of freedom in behind her where she just knows Mariona and Kim Little are going to pick up the space. I thought Mariona was fantastic in his first half, by the way. I thought it was one of the best opening 45 minutes of the season. I thought she actually did really, really well out of possession, which is something I've been a little bit concerned about. But that's not going to be the case against Chelsea. She's not going to have that kind of space to just roam, pick up the pockets.

31:20Alessio Russo is going to have to sit back and defend. I still think I would say yes, because there is a lack of speed in the central areas for Chelsea, even in their midfield. They don't have a player that's going to come back and kind of sweep the ball. So I think that's the best way to go about it. Then you play two wingers, whether it be Beth, thought was probably going to be Ford and Meade because of Smith's knock and obviously Chloe Kelly she just like looked like she was kind of hobbling when she came on against Leicester but yeah I think that's the best way to go about it purely because of personnel and purely because Chelsea keep pressing high and like I got so much flack in the preseason for saying this about Ellie Carpenter from Chelsea fans but Aggie Beaver Jones took her for an absolute rinse spin like she took her to the laundromat because Ellie Carpenter pulls up so high and Aggie Beaver Jones against like obviously against England, their teammates, was just absolutely rinsing in and behind.

32:07I think that's something Arsenal should look to exploit. And we saw what Caitlin Ford did against Ellie Carpenter, against Lyon, both legs, basically. I think she played both legs. So, yeah, I think Steena playing a high line and maybe Russo just a little bit deeper than she was against Leicester City. I think that's the go against Chelsea, not the go against every opposition. It's definitely dependent. We saw what it did against United just wasn't good enough. But I would do that this weekend. I didn't think I would, but yeah, I think I would do that yeah I think there's so many interesting knock-on questions as well and I think a lot of it will depend on who's fit as well like is Frieda back is Olivia Smith able to be on the bench Kim hobbled off towards the end uh that did look like a knock I wasn't I just had my eyes down briefly I looked up and she was on the floor um so I don't I don't know if that was impact or whether it was muscular I really didn't see it didn't look too bad yeah yeah Yeah, she walked around the side of the pitch a bit gingerly, but she did walk off.

33:06Do you have a question for me? Well, we're on that topic of kind of who would you play? So I'm just going to jump straight into the big question. This is from Pullover21AWFC. Who is your ideal lineup for Chelsea if everyone is fit? And can you talk about how you think Chelsea will set up and how they'll approach the game? Yeah, I can't see Chelsea doing anything other than what they've been doing. the kind of back three with Bronze and Baltimore pushed on as wing-backs. You know, in terms of up front, I don't imagine they'll want to start Sam Kerr in this game. So I think it probably will be Aggie Beaver-Jones.

33:40But I think in terms of Arsenal, again, a lot of it depends on availability. If Kim isn't available, then I think we need to beef up that midfield a little bit because a lot of it depends on, again, Chelsea kind of play with two central midfielders and it depends on, do you gamble on matching Kim and Mariana up against them and say, we back these guys to take your two guys so that we can have Rousseau and Blaxstenius both forward? I think if Kim's not available, I don't think we can do that. I think it would have to be more of a midfield three. so you know I would ideally I'd like Lotta in this game not least because I'm not entirely sure how fit Katie Reid was and I think ideally they'd like to have not used her yesterday but our options were set and in fact they tried not to until it was kind of impossible when Kim had to come off so you know I'm not sure how fit she is at the moment so I'd like Lotta and I did get that impression that you know building a back to fitness that they've got their eye on this um probably so yeah fox and mccabe uh as fullbacks definitely kim and mariana in the center i'd definitely play beth and i'd definitely play on the right not the left uh this time like as i i don't think chloe kelly's fit so i wouldn't start her i'd start caitlin and yeah and then it comes down to that who's the 10 and who's the nine if kim is okay i would go russo blackstenius and I would look for Steiner to perhaps exploit some of those exact spaces she did against Leicester.

35:23At the same time, maybe that's a bit telegraphed. Maybe Chelsea will see through that a little bit, particularly having had a chance to see it this weekend. And maybe it would be better to, if she's fit enough, start Frida or someone like that. But I think there are just so many knock-on effects because even if you don't play Steiner, the way Beth is playing, I think she can run in behind and exploit those channels You know, Caitlin obviously knows Ellie Carpenter very, very well as well. And that could be an advantage. I doubt Olivia Smith will be fit to start the game. You know, if Frida wasn't fit for this game, she probably won't be fit to start the game either.

35:59So I think maybe some of those decisions are kind of made by fitness as much as anything. But I'm with you. It's a must win. It really is as simple as that. Okay, let's kind of continue on that vein a little bit. and this is from at koflec-28 on Blue Sky. If, God forbid, Kim isn't available for the Chelsea game, who would you play in midfield? And for the purpose of this exercise, let's assume that Kyra will be available. She'll be fine. Let's assume that Kyra and Frieda are both available. Okay. Okay. I don't even want to think about it. Okay. Well, I would play Kuni Kros in the midfield pivot with Mariona And I know that that's something like, I just think that's a hand forced.

36:47Like there's just not the depth there right now. Like had this maybe been last season, maybe Leah Volte plays if she's fit. Like that's, that's more, that's probably the conservative option and probably the safer option. Kyra Cooney Cross and Mariona would be the pivot. And then I would probably put Pilova in the 10 only because I just think that like that pivot is far too vulnerable to Chelsea's midfield and Chelsea's press. And I think Freedom Ornum just doesn't offer enough defensively. And I don't think Pilova particularly is a defensive player, but she can play more of a natural eight than Friedem Ornham can.

37:19So maybe you just play Pilova. You put Russo in the nine. You kind of have to sacrifice Russo's box playing ability. She has to drop back, collect the ball higher in the midfield, and then just really rely on those wingers to get in behind Chelsea. So I think I would go Cooney cross Mariona Pilova. A bit of an odd one because it feels like there's three eights in that midfield, but it just seems like against Chelsea, probably the best because you still have a bit more of a defensive, like you have some sturdiness in the defence, but then you still have an attacking out there. I just don't think Freda Mornham would be the right call if you don't have Kim Little there to kind of steady the ship.

37:52Yeah, I think what this illustrates is that we just don't quite have that balance in the midfield without Lea Volte, that balance between, shall we say, sixes and eights like Kim, it's very much a six. Nowadays, all of her, if you look at her touch data, for example, it's all much deeper this season. She's very much in that kind of six area. We saw in this game against Leicester, Mariana again was pushing really wide to the left, particularly because they were looking to slip that ball in behind. So you put your best passer over there if you're looking for that. I think what it also illustrates, you know, the way the question is phrased, God forbid Kim isn't available.

38:31I think Kim's been outstanding this season and she remains such an important player, both because her performances are really, really good, but also because she's kind of the only kind of player we have in that mould at the moment. And I think it would be a massive problem to be without her for a game like this. I think for, let's say we've been without her for Leicester, I think we can get through games like that. But a game like Chelsea without Kim kind of doesn't bear thinking about to me. I think we saw this last season as well um by munich she was patched up for that game chelsea she needed surgery on her hand which she broke but they got her through the chelsea away game and then had the surgery afterwards which which shows you her importance and again uh you know not to make this a crusade and talk about it every week i wish people would look at the player and not the age more with Kim.

39:28I do find it really frustrating. But I guess on that note, she does get a knock in this game. Do you have any issues with the fact that she was started or not subbed before that? It's hard. I don't think her starting is a bad thing. Again, I think this comes into the, just look at the players' performance. She didn't really have a pre-season. She didn't get to play those competitive pre-season games. She comes in, she probably wants a run in form. She's not gone away to international duty. She hasn't played a game in three weeks. So her starting against Leicester City, I don't think is a bad thing.

40:03I don't think her playing 90 minutes is a bad thing. I just think everything looks better in hindsight. Had she not gone down with a knock, it would be a non-conversation. She probably wants 90 minutes before playing Chelsea. So yeah, long story short, I don't really have any issue with it. If anything, I prefer it after a very long international break with no competitive games for her. yeah I think that's a thing people miss that she hadn't played in two and a half weeks so needs a bit of game time I think if Kyra had been fit she would have been off after 60 65 minutes but she wasn't um and they kind of decided to take Mariana off um instead it kind of had to be one of them and yeah maybe it was a coin flip it could just as easily have been that we take Kim off and then Mariana goes down with five minutes to go.

40:47It's just, I think we do just lack a player in there. And I'd like to see that addressed in January. We spoke about that in the mailbag last week, didn't we? We spoke about another midfielder. We spoke about the right back position. Well, that looks like it's getting sorted. Do you have a question for me? I do. This one's from at Tim D.H. Fowler. This one says, with Adjumeng's ACL, might this change the calculus on Steiner's contract situation so Tim more so just Steiner's role in the team long term because I do think that throws a spanner in the works yeah it does and I think the first thing to say is like that again we spoke about it on the mailbag before it's confirmed but I think we all knew what um what the injury was um quite clearly it's incredibly sad for Michelle, particularly at this stage of her career.

41:40I mean, the saving grace, I guess, is that we're a long way out from another tournament. So, you know, before the World Cup, she should be recovered and everything like that. But obviously, for the sake of her development, it really sucks. Like, there's no good time to get an injury like this, but it really, really sucks, particularly because she was starting every week at a good club like Brighton, playing with someone like Fran Kirby, playing under a good coach, I think, in a good team. And it just really sucks that she's going to lose that much development. But yeah, maybe it does. I don't know the answer to that at the moment.

42:20I'm not sure anyone really knows the answer to that. I think a lot of that will be dictated by her recovery and how they assess it. Because as it stands, she kind of should be just about back by the beginning of next season. but obviously at the beginning of the season the first couple of months she'd be a bit rusty anyway maybe she'd only have a bit part role anyway as a kind of super sub and maybe that can kind of work for her in terms of working her way back but then the question comes what if like at the beginning of that season Russo gets an injury or something and we're having to rush her back in What does Stina want to do?

42:55Would she want to extend for a year or not? Or would she say, no, actually at this point, I want to go back to Sweden or whatever. There's so much that's up in the air about it. I think there is a world where they can probably just plough on with what they were going to do anyway, which is bring Michelle back next season and Stina departs, like you say, a cult hero. But there might be complications. Look at Sam Kerr. It took her, you know, 18 months or so to come back. And unfortunately, you can't rule that out. A lot of it will be dictated by recovery. But yeah, I imagine those cards are a little bit up in the air at the moment.

43:34It will take a few months before we really know, you know, what's going on there. And not least because one of the reasons Arsenal sent Michelle out on loan is they wanted her to be a starter. Obviously, she had like a brilliant role for her at this stage of her career with England as a kind of Hail Mary Plan B. but that's not what Arsenal want her to be for her whole career. She's got more than that, I think. And I think they really wanted her to have a year as a starter, as a player that could really impact different game states across the game. And obviously she's lost a lot of that development.

44:11But like I say, not a tournament year. She's young as well. She's got that on her side. So fingers crossed for a speedy recovery there. But obviously that really sucks for Michel Ajamang. Okay, how about this one then, Jamie? We touched on this a little bit in the first half, and I think this is an interesting question, and someone else whose contract is up at the end of the season, Victoria Pilova, and this is from Callum at C. Tindall, how do you think Pilova best fits into the structure of the team at present? She's obviously had limited, mostly fill-in moments, so maybe it's a familiarity problem, but it doesn't feel like she's been able to have a big impact when she has been in games.

44:53Yeah, it's interesting for Vic Pilova because obviously Rene was a part of the squad when Vic was fit. But then she did miss a large chunk of last season when Rene's the head coach. So she's been able to solidify her midfield and also the depth of that midfield without Victoria Pilova in the picture. So I'm not completely unsurprised that there's been like a bit of a mulling period and, OK, how do we get Pilova into this team? But I am surprised that she's not getting opportunities against certain teams. Like in this game, like I said, I was surprised, even if in hindsight it worked out for everyone.

45:24I just think like her role is a bit unsure. And that comes from the fact that I don't know what position Renee wants her to play in and whether that contradicts with what the player wants to play in. And I think that that is the issue right now. And Renee is very set on her midfield, too. And I think like we often see like people really have a big like dog with a bone with this Kim Little and Mariona Pilbitt. And I sometimes understand it. but other times I think there are bigger issues that you can address in the squad so it's hard for Victoria Pilova because Frida Mornham is also a player that Renee Slaggers really likes in this squad and Frida is an out and out 10 so it's easy to kind of say okay let's play you there if I'm going to play the double pivot of Little and Mariona but then where does Vic Pilova come in because she's not Mariona in the eight she's not Kim Little in the eight and she's not Frida Mornham in the 10 so it's kind of hard when you have these midfielders that are so different but none of them none of them like not even a partnership of them are similar and I think Cooney Cross suffers from kind of the same thing, but in a different way.

46:19Whereas I think Cooney Cross can enter a game and just be like a crashing midfielder that kind of just disrupts a bit. And that's something I think she'll get a little bit more in her game. She's three years younger than Victoria Plova. So I'm less concerned about her than I am about Plova. But for me right now, I've watched Plova at Arsenal her whole career, obviously, in the last two or three years. I still don't really know what her solidified position within this squad is, especially with the managerial turnover. So yeah, I'm a little bit concerned about that one. I am concerned about Victoria Plover's future at Arsenal.

46:50And I think that it's a shame because she is such a good player and we know how good she is. Like two seasons ago, she was probably Arsenal's second best player, partnered with Lotto Wobbe-Moy. This season is just completely different. The midfield is completely different to the one it was when Victoria Plover was the best player in that midfield. It's like Mariana Caldente's in there now, Freda Mornham's more of a mainstay, Alessia Russo plays in the 10. So with that in mind, I just think when you have games where Russo's playing in the 10 and Pulova's not getting game time or she's coming on the 65th minute and she's playing in the eight.

47:21Yeah, I'm concerned. Long story short. And I think, yeah, I don't know about you, Tim, but I don't think I would be overly surprised if there's no contract renewal here. Yeah, it feels like we're losing a player here to me. And some of that is, again, poorly tied. Again, there's no such thing as a well-timed injury, but a very poorly timed injury at a time when she was very prominent under a different coach. If that injury doesn't happen, like this is all very sliding doors, maybe Mariana never plays as an eight because Pilova's just there and it's her spot. And you could, you know, if you're in a mind to negotiate and you deal with her at the moment, like you could say, well, look, we don't even know what Kim's doing next season yet.

48:06and you could be the long-term successor to Kim. I think she has a lot of those qualities, albeit in a different way. But if you're Victoria Pilova, do you want to wait? Or do you just go, well, actually, nearly 27 now. I'm coming into my prime years. I've lost, well, it's probably too early to say she's lost her place in the national team 11, but the national team has a new coach and she's not really able to show what she can do to him yet. at the moment it feels like we're losing this player which I think is a shame because I think she's a really really good player and yeah her and Cooney Cross they're both really good players but it is that question again that we've had for years about fit but also about what the future looks like and I still don't think we know what the future looks like I forgot to put it down but one of our kind of regular contributors questioners Lucy asked the question about like Mariana's deal is up at the end of the season, Kim Little's deal is currently up at the end of the season and I don't think she'll make any decision yet on her future.

49:13Pelova's deal is up at the end of the season. Cooney Cross, I believe, has a plus one until 2027. But there's a lot of players there who might come out of the squad and it still doesn't feel like the contingency plan is clear.

49:32which is perhaps a concern. We could lose a whole bunch of really good midfielders and have to start from scratch. Here's a question from our Discord at RDM. I think this is quite an interesting one. I'd be interested to get your take on this. When fit again, do you think it's worth trying Olivia Smith in the 10 position? Her best moments have come centrally, and I think she struggles to find teammates in the box from the flank. Do you think it would help midfield connectivity issues by having her as a ball-carrying 10 with more of an eye to score than assist? Interesting. I think that's interesting.

50:08To be honest, if we're talking about playing, I don't want to shut down the idea, but if we're talking about playing wingers centrally, like the first one I would want to see in there is Beth Mead. She did some really good work for England over the international break, not in the 10, but playing a lot and cutting into the midfield and playing behind the striker, which was mainly Russo, to be honest. So it makes sense why that works. So I think there's a couple options for that to be the case. I think Beth Mead would be the winger I'd like to see more centrally. I only say that because Olivia Smith is so good because she looks at goal and she's like run towards the goal with the ball.

50:45And I'm so good and quick at doing that that that's exactly what I'm going to do. And I think when we talk about Arsenal not having a natural number six and not having that kind of like anchor in the midfield, that just offers so much vulnerability because you're going to lose her. She's always going to be lost. Like Olivia Smith will be as high as the strike will almost always. So I understand. I think her cross output isn't quite there yet. I don't think she's particularly good at picking out players yet. Obviously, she didn't get an assist for Liverpool last season. I do think that's a personnel thing.

51:13She did get an assist. Like I think it was in her debut game for Arsenal. But yeah, I do think there's a product thing for her because she likes to run towards goals. And I think that's something she's just going to learn in her Arsenal career that you have players in the box that are going to do that work for you. You don't always need to be the one running towards goals and she'll learn that as she develops. Let's just pick out the players because they can also do the work. I'm not the only player in this team anymore like I was at Liverpool. So I can see the idea, but I think with the other personnel that Arsenal have right now in the midfield, just offers too much vulnerability.

51:41It's too much room to exploit. I think it almost means that there's just a double pivot and two number nines. So I like the idea, but I'm not completely. I don't really want to see it happen, to be honest. Yeah, maybe if we're chasing a game. I also think there's kind of a difference. Same with Beth, like drifting into central positions from wide, I think is different compared to starting in central positions. A lot of getting the ball with the back to goal and all of that. But I wouldn't rule it out chasing a game at the moment. I wouldn't rule it out entirely in the long term. Do you have a question for me?

52:15I do. This one's just a little bit of a throwback to the Leicester game. looking forward you kind of spoke about it a little bit earlier but this one's from map swift what questions did this performance solve i think we need to wait a couple more games for that one of the things that renee said because they didn't have it's been a long break in games but they didn't have a lot of time to prepare for this because it was like friday saturday and the game sunday because they're all coming back from international duty but she said something I think there are a couple of interesting things she said actually I asked her a question in the press conference on Friday about squad usage and uh and she actually gave quite a long detailed answer which she doesn't always do as Freddie found out yesterday when asking about the own goals thing but you know she said something interesting about um we can do things differently in terms of how we value players even when they don't come on I thought that was interesting, actually.

53:15But I liked hearing that just because it suggests there's been some reflection over the break about making players feel more involved, which sounds good. Obviously, the execution, we don't know about that yet. We'll probably never know about it. We only have the pitch to go on. So, you know, potentially there was something there as well. You know, the chance creation was very good in this game. It does have to be said, as much as Leicester aren't the strongest opponents, their defensive numbers are very solid. They're solid mid-table in terms of XG against chance. Their chance creation stinks.

53:58Before this game, they had 2.6 XG from six games, less than 0.5 XG per game. Like that's relegation numbers, but their defensive numbers are very, very strong. So, you know, we weren't, this is very far from the worst defensive team in the league and Arsenal created a lot of chances against them. I do think there are maybe things in their setup that we were well placed to exploit and we did. So I think we need another couple of games before we can say things are solved. But I think this was a step in the right direction. And like I said, I asked Renee just about the confidence it will give them.

54:40And she was very like, yep, that's exactly it. Because when you get rewarded for those behaviours, it motivates you to do them more when you can see it's working type thing. So I think cautiously, I think a step in the right direction. But obviously, things are so skewed by that Chelsea game because we have to win it by hook or by crook. to the point that, I mean, obviously the better you perform, the better chance you've got of winning. But to the point that the performance just doesn't matter, like we just have to win basically in whatever way possible. So that Chelsea game feels less of a performance game, less of a trends game, less of a what are we doing here?

55:20Does this look good? It's like, just win it, just win it. Even if you're rubbish, you have to win it type thing. So, you know, that will kind of, I don't say skew the analysis, but that kind of makes it difficult to analyse as well. But yeah, maybe, you know, hopefully some better squad usage as well. I think it was positive that we didn't start Emily Fox, even though I felt that was probably an obvious decision that Katie came off after 60 minutes, Mariana came off after 60 minutes, you know, and that we are kind of using these players. But yeah, I think that's where I go with this. And Jamie, before we go, So I think we didn't have questions about this, but I think we should discuss what Amanda Zaza reported.

56:05I mean, I don't need to do this when Amanda reports something because when Amanda reports something, it's true, put it that way. But yeah, there's a lot of truth in those reports about Holmberg. The interest does go back to the summer, albeit at that point, I think Arsenal were mooting her, will buy her now and loan her back to the end of the season, which Hammaby didn't want to do. But I think that clarifies things, like I said at the top, about the full-back positions and maybe why they didn't let Jenna Niswonger go just yet in the summer. I think she will go in January so that Arsenal keep their full full-backs.

56:41But, you know, obviously, you know, an international right-back, she only just turned 19 like two weeks, a week or two ago, which is just insane because she's kind of starting for Sweden. um you know so it's it's a big international signing but at the same time quite a young signing to sit behind Emily Fox what do you make of this one yeah I um she was really good at the Euros other than her penalty against England she was she was fantastic at the Euros I mean the fact she took that by the way like when she's 18 like incredible really I um I can't lie and say that I know that much about her just know her from watching her at Sweden I don't watch the Damers Venskin, although my good friend Liberty Simons is a massive Hammerby fan and has been saying for a long, long time how good Holmberg is.

57:27So that's good. That's always a good thing, you know, phone a friend. But no, I think this is important. But I understand like this kind of like preconceived, yes, okay, Arsenal can't play with youth and they don't know how to like incorporate youth into the squad. And it's interesting because the positions where I'd probably say, okay, you're not going to dislodge these players is probably Leah Williamson's spot, Daphna van Domstlaas' spot, Kim Little, Mariona's, Russo's and Emily Fox. So it's interesting because, okay, Emily Fox is a player that's proved that she can play back-to-back football.

57:58She's not injury prone. She's very, very durable. She's a massive athlete. Like she's American. They all are at the US Women's National Team. She's just a tank. But I think it's so important for her output that there is a backup and there's a backup that we can trust across all competitions, because I don't think we've had that where we can say, if Emily Fox gets injured, Arsenal are in deep trouble. And I I still think that's the case because I think if we have to play Taylor Hines at right back against Chelsea, for instance, that would make me very nervous. So I do think it's very good. There needs to be a succession plan there.

58:27I think that there is enough room for a player that is good. Like full-back's different to midfield, in my opinion, because I think it's easier to make a fix. Like it's easier to make a swap in games. And I think Arsenal men's team is a perfect example of that. Like the full-backs, like Timber, obviously Ben White's back now, but like Lewis Skelly, Calafiori, you can play someone depending on who you're playing and there's form involved but there's also opposition involved and I think that is something that we maybe need to cast our minds away from when we're thinking of Arsenal women because those changes always come in midfield we get nervous it's harder to dislodge a midfield it's easier to dislodge a right back and a left back so I think I'm very happy that there's depth now and I think had Holmberg come in Nicewonger goes out I'm still really annoyed that they paid a big like not a big fee it wasn't a big fee by any means but a fee for Nicewonger like you went and bought her like that kind of is annoying because like what a waste like that could have gone somewhere else um but like the women the 100k what is that right when you're looking at premier league um however i just think yeah this is really good because heinz for mccabe fox for holmberg that's an unbelievable back like that's that rotation fullback rotation is excellent partner that with feet uh feed ford me kelly in the wings like there's really good channel rotation there so in all i'm not worried about oh she's going to rot on the bench because i think it's completely different with full backs.

59:42And yeah, that's something that's exciting across four competitions. And it means Fox will play better and to her better abilities, because there have been games this season where she looks gassed and she's still playing well, but she's not playing to her best potential. So yeah, I think I would be very happy in short. Yeah, definitely. And I think there is that potential to do perhaps what we're beginning to see in the left back position now where Heinz and McCabe are game sharing, basically. So it's not KT 90 minutes every single week and we're looking after her a bit and same with Emily Fox she has a lot of travel as well for these international games and I think like this would have been like a perfect example right she's been playing for the US we're away at Leicester we've rotated the right back we've played Taylor Hines there but that's the sort of game that Holmberg would get she'd get I think it's easier to give her like half an hour at the end of games for example like you say so I'm enthused by it I think also and I haven't checked in on this yet I think the fact that she's coming from Sweden which is obviously a league that Rene knows very very well suggests that hopefully suggests that Rene's had some big input on this signing whereas you know the nice one thing just has some red flags to me when you sign a player that that your manager so clearly doesn't rate or want um that that that i find that concerning i found that very concerning it's not it's not a case of i think jenna nicewonger is amazing and solves all our problems i mean i haven't seen enough of her to be honest but and solves all our problems it's not that it's why have we spent a lot of money on someone that the manager clearly doesn't want so hopefully that's a step in the right direction um there as well in terms of like i know renee likes to devolve a bit on recruitment sorry, delegate a bit on recruitment.

1:01:32But yeah, and obviously like the Damos Vansken and to the WSL, I think is a pretty rich pipeline. I think, you know, we've taken a lot of players from there, not just Swedish players as well, but you can see across the league, it's a good league to sign from. And I think, you know, if you're just turned 19 and you're starting games for Sweden, who are a very, very strong national team, I think that says a lot. she can play centre-back as well, which I don't expect to see her play centre-back very much, but I think that suggests that, like Arsenal's other full-backs, she will be comfortable coming into central areas.

1:02:09We saw that with Taylor Hines yesterday when Arsenal were over on the left. Taylor Hines was in central midfield, and that's very much Rene's type as a full-back. So, yeah. But then again, that was true of Jenna Neiswonger as well, who can literally play in midfield and and just still doesn't really want to seem to play her so yeah um I do think you know January there will be uh there will be things going down but um Jamie I was uh contemplating bringing up the the kind of Mary Earps thing but to be honest I you know it is what it is and um I think we've all had our say on that one and this is an Arsenal podcast so I think we'll leave it there I'm so happy that the drama doesn't it doesn't involve I'm staying far far away from it don't want to be involved I will watch and listen to the neighbours fight intently especially because I'm not even English so not myself it's been nice getting three points this weekend yeah yeah and you know look um it's a bit of drama a bit of soap opera isn't it and uh yeah um I think that story will go on during this week in the build-up to the Chelsea game.

1:03:18We will obviously, we'll come back with another podcast after that. We might have some other kind of content during this week, which I'm trying to thrash out at the moment. But Jamie, thanks as ever for joining us. Thanks, Tim. See you next time. And yeah, we'll come back with another podcast next Monday after Arsenal's terrific victory over Chelsea, which will put them back into the WSL title contention. Until then, thanks so much, for listening so thanks so much for your questions um and everything like that please do leave a review wherever you get your podcasts that really helps us as well bump us up the algorithm and but until next week take it easy