Arsenal Women Arsecast Episode 144: November mailbag

0:12Hello and welcome to the Arsenal Women Askedcastcast on Askedblog.com November mailbag edition. if that intro sounded quicker and smoother than usual that's because it's the fifth time I'm doing it had some technical issues this morning recording and fingers crossed it looks like just rebooting my laptop was the answer all along and strangely that was the last place I went so fingers crossed that this sees the light of day and gets to you but we wanted to wait until a couple of days into the international break to let things breathe um and uh so we'll take your questions on blue sky as ever um there was a report in the athletic uh that was released on wednesday morning um and i kind of had a hint that that was coming and we'll discuss that at the top of the podcast and here to discuss with us as ever is jamie spanger jamie i've asked you how you are this morning five or six times by now, but for the benefit of our listeners, how are you doing this morning or this evening your time?

1:18I'm not too bad, Tim. I'm not too bad other than the technical difficulties, but they haven't affected me. I always love to look at you, try to figure out how to work this platform, so that's good fun. It's been a great weekend as an Arsenal fan because obviously the men decided to turn up and absolutely destroy Spurs in N5, which was beautiful, and I didn't have to watch the Arsenal women fall down a slippery slope. I'm actually in high spirits, to be honest. Yeah, there will be one fantastic day where they're both brilliant at the same time, but it never quite seems to happen. But there was that weekend where we won the Conti Cup and the men beat Bournemouth 3-2 in the same weekend, which was great.

2:02But yeah, it would be nice if they could both just be amazing at the same time. But Jamie, let's start with the report that was released by The Athletic this morning about Arsenal women, primarily by Megan Fringer, with some additional reporting from Charlotte Harper and James McNicholas. And for those who aren't subscribed to The Athletic or haven't read it, there's some talk in there about some dressing room tensions between senior players and younger players and a lack of pathways for younger players. a lot of stuff we've spoken about on this podcast that we can see with our own eyes about players who just can't get minutes and don't really know what they're meant to be doing some kind of talk about whether there's kind of enough join up between departments again all stuff we've discussed some of which I've heard some of which I've not in the report but what did you what did you make of it reading the story Yeah, this story kind of just solidified everything we've been saying for a long time.

3:07And I think everything that Arsenal fans have been seeing happen and transpire. So it's fantastic reporting as always from Megan Fringer at The Athletic. She's a really, really amazing journalist. So I'm not surprised that this story came from her. But I think for Arsenal fans, this is a bit of a confirmation that we're not going insane and things have been going wrong and they've been going wrong for a long period of time. And I think something that struck me in this piece is it is a systemic issue. It's not just, OK, we get a new manager in and they're not the right fit and maybe a new manager is going to fix everything.

3:39It's the fact that success in the form of trophies every season, no matter if it's as big as a League Cup or a Champions League, they paper over the cracks of something that's been an issue at Arsenal for a long time now. And I think there's so many important things. The best thing I think I took from this piece was the line about Arsenal women being the boat that steers itself. And it feels like there's a lot of, like there's not a lot of direction and a lot of self-leadership by maybe some of the players in the playing group. And I think this just is a wider discussion we've spoken about for a long time, Tim.

4:11It goes into recruitment. It goes into squad building. It goes into the amount of players that have been playing under almost four managers now, which is just insane when you think about it. And I think, yeah, there's a lot here. There's a lot of meat on the bone here and a lot of things we've been really privy to. I think something that struck me as well is in the piece it references a former player, a former young player's family saying they were concerned that there was no kind of pathway into the senior team for academy players at a high level. I think we've seen that very recently with someone like Freya Godfrey, who's gone to London City, really excelled there, has a place in the England squad.

4:45Not saying, yes, she's an immediate starter at Arsenal, but there's a lot of players, I think, at Arsenal right now. And I said a couple of weeks ago that are very comfortable with being Arsenal players and the club allows them to be comfortable. And then I think there's a lot of shortcomings and success. And something that really struck me in this article was I was thinking about two seasons ago when at the end of two. So there's been two full seasons since. But when Fran Kirby left Chelsea and a lot of Chelsea fans were kind of like head loss at one of their best players, essentially, of their club history.

5:14being kind of cut off or just like your time's done now. Like we appreciate your service, but that's probably enough. And that's not something we've really seen at Arsenal. Leah Volte left on her own accord because she kind of wanted a new challenge and Arsenal do tend to just hold on to these players and don't really like to upgrade or strive for success. And I think, yeah, this article just summed up a lot of things that we're not dumb as fans and we've seen for a long time, but I do think it's nice when it's reported on and you can kind of get the bigger attention, eyes on it all. So yeah, interesting, Tim, but not surprised.

5:45Yeah. And the other thing to say, again, I really don't think many of our listeners would contest or be surprised about any of this anyway. But obviously, stuff like this is very, very well sourced. Like I say, some of it I've heard. Some of it I might have heard from one or two people, but not enough to report on. Some of it I haven't heard. I do think on the Academy side, there have been changes there over the last year or so with a view to kind of getting a better pathway from the academy. Obviously, it remains to be seen whether that works or not, and we won't know that for a little while, but I do think there have been quite solid attempts to fix that.

6:23And like I said, a lot of this is stuff we can see, right? Like, why is Jenna Nyswonger signed in January and the manager just does not want to use her in any way, shape or form? why is a goalkeeper signed in the summer and we're still playing our first choice goalkeeper on one leg like this is all stuff we can see and again I've referenced a lot on this podcast the last one of the things that Jonas said just before he joined San Diego he said I think the phrase was something like no one ever asked me how I was which I think was you know not primarily about like mental health and well-being although that's an important part of it but more I think about I guess a lack of oversight between all of these departments at the club and I think people can see that but like you've said a lot of this is stuff we've discussed anyway but let me let me take the fan part out and try to give reporting insight over 2025 Jamie it's been really difficult it's probably like the most difficult year I've had and I'm not asking anyone to cry any tears for me or sympathy or anything like that that's not where I'm coming from but in terms of reporting on Arsenal and one of the reasons for that is the messages keep changing is what I would say so you hear something from more than one person from multiple sources and you know i've heard a lot of stuff at the beginning of this year cultural reboot stuff like that i'd also say with in terms of the culture stuff it doesn't have to be because people are bad apples or people are work shy or bad people or bad like just over time in any workplace you ever work in over enough time like you know sometimes just things go stale it just happens it's just part of being human I've been in workplaces definitely where it's happened where you go somewhere you think I'm going to stay here forever this is amazing and then after four or five years maybe you don't get the promotion you want I'm speaking very personally this all happened to me didn't get the promotion I wanted lost my motivation a bit and I had to move on just because that's part of being human and humans working together but I'd say like from a reporting standpoint this a lot of the signals have been noisy you know a lot of this player not necessarily this player but like this is going to happen oh no it's not happening anymore this is going to happen oh no actually this isn't going to happen anymore and you know a lot of messages change over time i'd say that you know quite plainly about the goalkeeper thing over the summer as well and i have to take a step back from that and say well okay is that the quality of my information or is that does that point to something inside the club and I'm not infallible my sources aren't infallible and all of that but it's a bit like okay I've got several people telling me the same thing but it might be me that might be because of me and the more time goes on the more I'm thinking no I you know the risk of like not self-reflecting enough it's like no I've been getting a lot of mixed messages and and I'm beginning to think that yeah maybe that is just like a representation of what's what's going on inside um you know like I was told things about the goalkeeper situation some of them materialized some of them didn't and now here we are in a situation where like Daphna van Domsalaar has is now going to miss a second consecutive international camp because they don't think she's fit enough and we've got a goalkeeper we bought this summer who the manager clearly, and again, this part is my speculation, not my information, just doesn't want to use, like doesn't want to use in any way, shape or form.

10:24So what's going on there? There's definitely some stuff around that. And it's been difficult reporting-wise because I always really hesitate. I'm very anxious about putting information out, and I always want to make sure it's unbelievably like copper plated and all of that. And now it's, I feel that anxiety more than ever because it's a bit like, what if the message changes again? You know, so yeah, I, you know, I think I'm reasonably hopeful though Richard Garlick has become the CEO of the club in the last couple of months. You know, you've had Tim Lewis leave. There is some stuff going on in the background and I can only hope that like, you know, what needs to happen behind the scenes at the women's team, whatever that is.

11:13And I don't know. I don't have 2020 clarity on that kind of happens. So, yeah, but interesting. And like, you know, I think in women's football, Jamie, now we're beginning to see a bit more of a push for this type of reporting. And it's difficult because everyone knows everyone and you've got to face the people you're talking about and stuff like that. But like, you know, I guess like a story like this coming out and it's not unique. We've seen stuff like this about Manchester United. Like we do need to push women's football reporting. And I include myself in that in this direction, I think. Certainly.

11:52I think that is so completely true. And, you know, the last couple of weeks we've seen a couple of instances with women's football being almost, well, women's sports in general, just being like pigeonholed as these like fun things. And you can't offend the players and you can't offend or critique like the management or the clubs. of the systems that those clubs operate in because why would women want to care about like the you know the nitty-gritties of sport in the audience and the truth is with women's sports the audience aren't just women and I think when you talk about football and why pop how popular it is globally it's because we all care about the same fundamental things and that is the sport itself and in order to treat you know the women's game as a fully professional model you have to be able to criticize you have to be able to kind of pick apart the nuances of the sport and I think the athletic probably the best at doing that in terms of mainstream media in a way that's professional and not clickbaity but they actually want to ask the questions because they value the sport and I don't think there's enough of that in women's football I think we're too shy from you know asking the hard questions and also just not not abuse just criticism like what's the story here and why is this happening because at the end of the day fans want to hear that so yeah I think it sucks that it's your you know your club when you're on the receiving end because you don't want to hear those things but you know I think there's a big thing for women's football more of this needs to happen, start asking the questions so that just the product and just the entire football industry can improve because of it.

13:12Yeah, and I kind of, listen, people can read this stuff and come to their own conclusions and stuff like that. I hope it doesn't get battered away as, oh, it's just unhappy players because I think there's stuff in here that probably needs addressing. And if you've got unhappy players anyway, then there's an issue there that needs sorting, essentially. So, yeah, I'm sure internally Arsenal probably know that. I kind of hope they know that. But yeah, like I said, I think it's all stuff we can see. Arsenal are fourth in the table. like nobody we shouldn't insult anyone's intelligence that anyone is sitting there going oh things are fine actually like everyone wants to see the club do well people are invested like like i said you can see this stuff you can see it on the pitch you can see it on the bench even if we don't see everything on the training ground then i don't see any of that or anything like that but anyway this is a mailbag episode um so let's uh let's let's maybe do one or two questions do a bit of a break and then do four questions after the break um but let's start with i'm gonna ask you well though we might as well carry on on this um on this kind of uh vein anyway um sorry i'm just trying to find the question because it was something to do with the goalkeeping situation doesn't look like I have copy pasted it here so I'll ask you another one this one's from Alex at AW Lodge on Blue Sky what are your thoughts on the disappointing TV viewing figures for the Chelsea match as reported in the Guardian so the Guardian reported only 71 ,000 people tuned in to Arsenal v Chelsea at the Emirates which is not much more than was in the stadium on the day.

15:18Do you think it's likely to lead to changes to kickoff times this season? So again, this relates to the heavy reliance on early kickoffs. Yeah, I think the 12pm has so much to do with the way the league is functioning or not functioning to its fullest potential. And it's so disappointing because we're coming off the back of a summer where England won the Euros and Arsenal won the Champions League. And there's naturally supposed to be, at least by trend of Euro 2022, a bit of a boom. And I think it is something that in general frustrates me about the way that this league is being run right now is after Euro 2022, when the Lionesses won the Euros, there was a massive boom in the popularity of women's football.

15:58And a lot of those new fans were like young women who want to, you know, connect football, you know, maybe watch the Lionesses win the Euros and said, this is a sport for me. And we've seen the demographic grow in like younger females who want to then watch women's football and that has then I feel like that's kind of tricked not yeah deceived WSL football and the people running the leagues to say that is the only demographic we ever need to appeal to and like in order to grow this game we need to make sure that the young like women are watching the sport and appeal to them make it like Glastonbury do whatever you need to do because that's what happened in Euro 2022 and that's what worked in Euro 2022.

16:37And that's just not the case. That's not how we're going to grow the game. How we grow the game at this stage now is, okay, how do we unlock the other football fans? There is a massive demographic of football fans there. You don't need to convince them that they like football. You just need to convince them to like women's football. And we all believe we wouldn't be listening on this podcast or listening to this podcast, digesting any of this, if we didn't believe that women's football is a complete product that we want to watch and is entertaining, high quality and of great value. So how do we then tell other people that that's that?

17:05And I think the thing that WSL football, among many things, has failed to do is realise that the demographic shouldn't just be young girls that want to watch football or want to grow up to be a Lesley Russo. It's how do we get other football fans involved? And I think that they've completely squandered a really good opportunity to do that off the back of Euro 2025 when England, again, the women's team are the only team winning anything. They've passed that up. And that's frustrating just as a like a sports fan that is a woman, because I think that there's a missed opportunity there to just get the Arsenal men's fans to want to watch the Arsenal women.

17:37How do we do that? Because that's not what's happening right now. And I think the 12 p.m. kickoffs in general is just ludicrous. You're going to get so many people that aren't going to be able to watch that game. And if you're appealing to the younger demographic, they're probably playing their own sport on a Saturday at midday or they're doing other things and they can't watch it. And then, okay, you've got fans in the stadium, but it's not as big as an attendance historically over the last 24 months as Arsenal and Chelsea usually pull. And then you've not got fans watching on TV. So I just think, yeah, look, the midday kickoffs, I think, have a big, big thing to, yeah, they're a big, oh my God, I can't speak.

18:08They're frustrating. But no, it's a massive catalyst to why there's a drop in views. But I do think there's a wider conversation as how WSL football have kind of seen what happened three years ago and tried to replicate it without actually thinking give the broader implications of how we grow the women's game? Yeah, I think, first of all, I'd really urge people to listen to, I'm sure a lot of people do, but Counterpressed had Nicky Dosa on last week and they asked her about a lot of this. I think here's where WSL Football and the broadcasters have my sympathy. This is hard. This is really difficult.

18:42And I think there's an inconvenient reality that I don't think there is a good slot, basically because what you have is sky who lest we forget are pumping a lot of money into the wsl right massive investors in this they've massively backed this and they've totally i think revolutionized and and professionalized the coverage quite a lot i will say that with a lot of the simultaneous midday kickoffs some of the production values on some of the games aren't amazing. They're kind of YouTube quality. And I think that's kind of okay, given the money they're putting in. The inconvenient truth is I just don't think there is a good slot that works, really, because we have the Sunday 6.45pm.

19:32That's a brilliant slot for broadcasting reasons, but rubbish for fans. And that is, for me, an insolvable, incurable tension. But the other tension you've got is what Sky are trying to do as the lead broadcaster, who are broadcasting now like 80 % of the games. Again, they're massively backing it. But they don't want it on at the same time as men's football because they have the men's football as well. So they don't want to take away from their own audience. And that creates a tension as well. So the broadcasters in WSL Football, they have my kind of sympathy there. There's going to be a lot of trial and error.

20:13I think we're seeing this a lot around women's football at the moment, the Sky Sports Halo stuff, for example, which I think that could have worked. But I just think the messaging wasn't clear enough in the marketing about who it's actually aimed at. You know, I think there's space for stuff like that. We saw the League Cup draw last night. I watched it. I had to, like, make a TikTok account to watch it. And, you know, it was a bit chaotic. it didn't really work but I'm okay with trying things and finding things out and learning lessons and I think there's an element of that with kickoff times and stuff like that I do think there's an inconvenient truth that we're not going to get a great slot like I don't think that Nirvana exists unfortunately and they're going to have to play around and find a bit of a happy medium you know the question asks about 12 p.m kickoffs this season I think they're here to stay for the season I think they have to give it that kind of time length they're trying to build something they're trying to give the WSL its own slot they're trying to kind of say this is like WSL time and and I get that I don't know if that can work but I'm not in a position to sell tell a broadcaster like Sky Sports that they're wrong about that that it could happen because I don't have that that level of insight my problem with the Chelsea I think Arsenal Chelsea should have been Friday night I think it should have been the beginning of like the men's international weekend I think for me the thing I've got the biggest problem with over Arsenal Chelsea is that it clashed with the Tottenham men's home game which obviously took away a lot of the viewing figures anyway because you've got Tottenham Man United on at the same time but for me it's an unforgivable security oversight you know that game is going to come close to selling out you know the demographic of women's football, you know people are going to be wearing colours and things like that, and to have Tottenham men kicking off at the same time, I think that's completely unforgivable doing that.

22:11That creates a lot of security issues that fans of women's football might not be immediately familiar with. You're going through London Bridge, Victoria, King's Cross, Euston in your Arsenal shirt and Tottenham are at home. That's not a nice experience, and a lot of women's football fans won't immediately know that. And I think that's the bit I find really difficult to forgive. And I think that put a lot of people in an uncomfortable situation. But the midday kickoffs, I don't love them. But at the same time, I'm not sure I have a better suggestion, to be honest. But why don't we take a little bit of a break there, Jamie, because we've cracked two really big eggs in 22 minutes.

22:54And we'll come back in the second half and we'll pick the pace up a little bit right after this.

23:06Okay, welcome back to the Arsenal Women Ask Cast on Askblog.com, November mailbag edition. Two massive subjects tackled in the first half, so we'll pick up the pace here a little bit. Now, this was the question I was fumbling for in the first half, but because it's kind of been submitted by two people who are at izzy awfc and at livy awfc so you can see why i struggled to find it in my document there but i'm going to combine their questions because they basically asked the same thing do you think another goalkeeper may be needed in january unsure if borba was signed to be second or third goalkeeper i'm unsure about that as well but dvd is still playing through injury and manu was making the bench ahead of borba prior to her injury.

23:53Borbett isn't trusted. It seems risky to not address goalkeeper depth with the current injury situation. DVD not going on international duty due to her knee. Does this raise more questions about recruitment? We signed a new goalkeeper in the summer, has not played a game yet despite DVD not being fully fit. So I've combined the two questions. The goalkeeper situation, it's quite confusing. Do you think it needs addressing in January? certainly I think this is just basically a symbol for everything else that's going on in this team right now in terms of the squad depth and why certain players have ever been recruited if the manager doesn't trust them I think we can say the same for Borba than we can for Naisonger it's like okay you've gone out and sought out this player but there is no spot for this player in the squad right now and there is absolutely no sign that the manager herself actually values these players or sees them as a piece of this squad or someone that can actually impact this squad so look I understand getting a third keeper that you don't expect to play as much you know that Manu Zinsberg is the number two like from that standpoint I can understand it like Manu Zinsberg is the number two we need a third keeper Naomi Williams goes out on loan okay what's what's the scenario she's not playing yeah which is just like again there is a another thing like hang on let me finish this question then I'll come off that um I think yeah no I do think that there is a scenario here where it's a freak scenario, Manu Zinsberg does her ACL and that's an issue in itself.

25:19Had she not done her, maybe there's more, maybe there is more rotation in terms of the goalkeepers. But right now, I just think that Borba's situation sums up exactly what's happening in terms of, we spoke about this last episode, Renee Sagers, and yes, it's the recruitment team, we can criticise the recruitment team, but the manager needs to know what players she wants in the squad. Otherwise, you're wasting money, you're wasting transfers, you're wasting the times and very valuable years in these players' careers because the manager doesn't trust them and the development's not there. So in short, the answer has to be if Rene doesn't trust Bourbon, yes, they need to sign a goalkeeper.

25:53Because if Daphne van Domslaas is injured, then what happens? Because we've seen that before. We've seen so many situations where she'll throw in a player that's maybe unproven because she's not given them the chance and then maybe scolded them because they've not played well and performed well. So as a fan, you want to see a goalkeeper that the manager trusts. And I think it's absolutely ludicrous. The other thing with the Naomi Williams thing is there seems to be such a disconnect with the way that the recruitment team or I don't actually know who's in charge of it the athletic article actually spoke about how there's like a team of five full-time people at Arsenal right now but there's such a disconnect with the people at Arsenal and the players that are out on loan and what their roles are on loan and Arsenal don't pull players that aren't getting minutes it's like they're not even watching them and the Naomi Williams one seems exactly that like she's not getting minutes where she is right now and that seems like it's been kind of historic.

26:41Okay, that player's maybe not making as much impact at that club. Maybe we need to assess that situation. I just feel like the recruitment is so short-sighted and it goes for lone players as well. Like she needs to be brought back and training in the environment. If she's not going to play, that's fine. But I don't see the benefit of her being at Bristol City and not playing right now. So in short, I think the goalkeeper situation just sums up the recruitment. The manager doesn't know what player she values. And then why did you sign her? Why did you sign her? Same thing goes for nice wellness.

27:07So yeah, I think the goalkeeper situation raises several questions and not just for playing time if DVD is injured. Yeah, absolutely. Look, ultimately, there are two backup goalkeepers there and Rene Slagers, as we saw at the end of last season as well. Rene Slagers prefers injured Daphne van Domsala to both of them. So it does need addressing because mistakes have been made. I think it's that simple. Do you have a question for me? I do. This one is from at NDMW. Looking ahead to this next block of four games that Arsenal really should take maximum points from, that's the two Merseyside teams and the two Champions League games, are there any particular things you'll be looking out for as key indicators of improving performance in preparation for tougher runs in the new year?

27:53Yeah, and actually a lot of them are the same things. I kind of did an article, I think, before this block of games in the October international break, like things I'm looking for. And to be honest, I think I could just repeat it. to be honest with you like okay so what are kind of big things here um do we have better plans for when players are injured so for example Kim Littwell comes out and they put Victoria Pilova in to do a job that is not her natural job I don't think she's ever really done before they do it in two massive games against Bayern and Chelsea it doesn't work Kyra comes in that works better victoria pullover now unused sub for the last couple of games like this is symptomatic of what's been going on right it's like hi you you haven't been playing at all come and solve this massive problem oh you can't do it out you go again like you know that i i just like to see a more fluid joined up use of the squad um and that doesn't mean you can only play 11 players you can only make so many subs, but I'd just like to see a bit more of that.

29:03I think the other thing as well is I think we're going to reintegrate Leah Williamson in this block. How do we manage that? For example, I think we're in a position where we can manage her minutes a bit. Lotta is going to be perfectly fine playing at centre-back and having some of those minutes as well.

29:23the goalkeeper thing again, is Daphne just going to come back in and have loads of injections to play again, can Anika Borba get on the pitch in any way, shape or form even in the Conte Cup quarterfinal against Crystal Palace, I think the selection for that game will show you a lot about what Rene really thinks of some of those squad players and maybe we can start to make some inferences for January because there are some players who, if they don't get into that starting line-up, should leave the club immediately, quite frankly. So I think more joined-up use of the squad. I'd like to see, and again, I wrote about this in the newsletter this week, I'd like to see Alessia Russo less burdened so that she doesn't have to play No.

30:129 and No. 10 all at the same time. And I'd like to see Mariana less burdened so she doesn't have to be a six and eight and a ten all at the same time I'd just like to see some of those roles for very capable players who have entire careers behind them where who have shown that they can deliver who I just don't think look like they really know their jobs at the moment it looks like four or five players we give loads of jobs to and everyone else very capable and I think willing players going okay what am I supposed to be doing you So I just think a bit more cohesion, definitely. And maybe some more smiling faces in the team.

30:56I know I don't like to go to that sort of analysis really, but I don't see a lot of smiling faces in the team at the moment. And yeah, maybe a bit more of that. Okay, how about this one from... um yeah okay you know maybe looking towards january this one's from prakash uh dash dixit if you could choose only one would you get a world class 10 or a world class 6 i feel a 6 would be a better long-term choice to allow two 8s but a 10 is more of an immediate fix and would avoid changing the setup mid-season what would your opinion change if the decision was january versus July, for example. So six or 10?

31:44My decision would be the same, January and July. I would get world class six every day of the week. I think that that is, there is so many tens in this team. And I also am of the belief that if you get world class six, Mariana Caldente, who shouldn't, I still don't think she should be a double pivot player, can also be that world class 10. And I think a big discussion that we've realized over recent weeks is, yes, she works well there, but is it convenient? Probably. That's probably why she's always there. And I think that we're losing so much of her capabilities in attack because of the fact that she is burdened with the role of playing in the double pivot.

32:16So I think we have a world class 10. I think we actually have a couple 10s that could be world class if used right in Freedom Horn and Victoria Plova. So, yeah, I think those players just need to learn their roles. And that's from the manager prescribing them their roles. But a world class six fixes a lot of problems in this squad because then suddenly you have one of the best attacking players in the world not having to do defensive work because she can actually be creative. So, yeah, January, July for the rest of time until we get one, World Classics. I totally agree for all the reasons you've said, so I won't repeat them.

32:47Do you have a question for me? Yeah, this is an interesting one. This is also from at Izzy AWFC, and it says, is there anything we can do tactically to get more out of Caitlin Ford? She has played the most out of all our wingers, but has only won goal slash assist in roughly 750 minutes. She's had some bright moments, but her output is low. Chloe Kelly, for comparison, has three goals and assists in half of the amount of minutes. Yeah, this was a really interesting one. I had this on my list as well, and I wanted to give it some thought ahead of the pod, because it is quite strange, right? I think Caitlin does loads of really, really great stuff for the team.

33:27And then I'm thinking about, like, what type of player is Caitlin and what type of players do we have? this kind of struck me as well I did a little analysis a couple of weeks ago of all the own goals that Arsenal get and I look back at all of them including the one that was disallowed in the Champions League final for Irene Paredes so it's 10 overall if you include that one that didn't really count nine of them came from the right right nine of them came from right wing deliveries is so there's a bit of a right-sided bias i think um and i'm not entirely sure why that is it's a bit sometimes it can be a bit like um i think sometimes we've seen this in the men's team with like sakura and martinelli like martinelli does a lot of um i'd say quite cerebral stuff holding the width taking players on stretching defenses and the stuff that doesn't always end in goals and assists however I'm not sitting here and telling you that therefore don't worry about the goals and assists stuff because for truly elite teams you do have to worry about that stuff for your attackers so I think there's a bit of that going on but then when I look at the type of player I think Caitlin is and I look at her most productive kind of periods I look at the Matildas and she's kind of not really she is a left winger but she's not she's more of a second striker with sam kerr and what she does is she takes a lot of the hard work away i'm not saying sam kerr doesn't work hard but you know she does she's a foil that's what i'm saying right she does a lot of like she does a lot of the dirty work so that sam kerr can get into the area and caitlin's best i think i'm right in saying her best end product season for arsenal was 2021 and she was really playing like that with Viv.

35:19Her and Viv were almost like a front two, basically. And Caitlin was doing the same kind of stuff, getting the ball, being scrappy, going past players, et cetera, et cetera, and kind of allowing Viv to do what she's really good at, which is sticking the ball in the net. And I just wonder whether this comes back to maybe just not asking Alessi Russo to have to do so much work 40 yards from goal. I don't want her doing no work 40 yards from goal because she's really good at it. It's really useful. But I just think the balance needs to be better in terms of her being in the area a bit more so that when Caitlin does get to the left-hand side, there's a bit more for her to aim at.

36:05And the same with the number 10 position, which I don't think we've massively cracked. So I think that's where I am with it, that if things were a bit better behind Russo and she could be in the penalty area more, that we'd probably see a little bit more end product from Caitlin. That's where I am with it. How about this one? This is from at BOMAC14. I was wondering if you think Williams' return will help the midfield a bit. Although not very recent, she has experience as a defensive midfielder and may be worth experimenting with. Now, I'd add to this question that I think Arsenal have quite a bit of depth at centre-back, particularly with Katie Reid, unfortunately injured, but coming up the tracks as a right centre-back, there's additional context for the question.

36:58But Leah Williamson, we don't have a world-class six. Leah Williamson, worth trying again in there like we do every couple of years. I actually, all of my street cred falls flat when people ask me about Leah Williamson in the six, because I'm not even a hater. I'm not even against it. Like, I wouldn't want it to be the first choice thing. But I think that there are situations where it can happen and it has worked in the past, especially two, three seasons ago. Jesus, 2025. So, yeah, I'm not completely against that. And I think if you've got two fit centre-backs and lots of Auburn Moy and Steph Cattley and you really do have a halt to fill in the centre of midfield, I would much prefer Leah Williamson play there than have a loose pivot of Mariona and Pilova or Cooney Cross and Mariona when you've got like a really high transition, fast moving team.

37:47So I think situationally right now, if Leah Williamson's fit and the centre-backs are both fit in Catley and Wobbemoy, it's a better option than what else we've got against top teams, which is again, a bit of a sad indictment because she's our best centre-back and you have to play her out of position to fill another hole and then have two inferior, I would say, centre-backs to Leah Williamson. And that's definitely not an unpopular opinion. there instead. So yeah, I think that situationally, yes, I would do that. And that is really upsetting because it just goes to show that the recruitment and the depth is just not where it should be right now.

38:20Yeah, again, totally co-sign. It's fixing an issue, isn't it? Rather than this is actually the best we could do recruitment wise. Do you have one for me? I do. This one is a bit of a hypothetical big one. It's from at loza93. What are your thoughts on how we should prioritize competitions for the rest of the season given how we've started in the league before the season i was viewing the champions cup as a little more than some glorified friendlies but now i'm wondering if we should take it the most seriously of all yeah i so i'm just not a fan of like the prioritizing um too much to be honest like with the champions cup it's it's two games like regardless looks of the third four obviously if it's like we don't win the semi-final it's the third fourth place playoff then don't prioritize that um in the Conti Cup sorry the Conti Cup the Subway League Cup sorry I'm reverting to old branding there um but feel free to send me some sandwiches guys um that will that will help it stick into my head um it you know like we've we've got a decent path there to the final.

39:36Not completely straightforward. We've played Tottenham this season and not beaten them. We've played Man United this season and not beaten them. So we go to the semi-final. We can't be like, they were both away from home, but can't be blasé about that. But I'd have taken the draw as it turned out. So there's a good path to the League Cup final. I don't think we need to worry too much about that, about what do we do with this, like I say, against Palace. I'd like to see a rotated line-up because I think that should be enough to win the game. and it's just before Christmas break and all of that.

40:09With the Cups, my position is always see what the draw gives you, basically. If in the fourth round we draw Man City away or Chelsea away of the FA Cup, we're going to have to take that very, very seriously. If we draw a third-flight team at home, then it's very different. So with the Cups, I think you just go round by round. You see what the draw gives you. You see where you are in the league and all of that. I do think finishing in the Champions League positions is priority over those things, but I don't think that means you have to disregard the other things. We should be able to get to the League Cup final without breaking our squad in two, and the FA Cup we'll see.

40:50Champions Cup, I think take it seriously. I think if it's a final against Gotham, I think that'd be a big occasion. It'd be a big occasion for women's football. will be a big occasion for the pride of the players in the league and all of that. And personally, I am a fan of the intercontinental idea in women's football. I think we have to find ways to get NWSL versus the best teams in Europe together more often in meaningful games. In a way, I don't think that in men's football, for example. So I'd like to see us take that somewhat seriously. And again, it's only two games. I know they all add up, but the reality is in the league, there is just no chance we're going to be in a position where we're comfortable in anything at the end of the season so but I don't think we expected that anyway I think we were hoping to be in a title race I think it's much more likely we're going to be in a top three race which is not what we wanted but that's going to require kind of maximum output anyway and yeah I think again a lot of this just adds up to what I was saying earlier about more harmonious smoothie the use of the squad so that it doesn't feel like when you make two to three changes you're taking any big risks or oh this is like wholesale changes it should just be this good player is going to sit down and this good player is going to come in um that that's what the arsenal squad should feel like and kind of doesn't um at the moment so how about this one i've taken this one from our discord which you get access to if you are a patron of our blog and it's from uh shoyera 5756 i'm not sure if it's just a matter of perception but has katie mccabe's creativity taken a dip this year i mean the numbers tell you it has yes um are there other structural in the issues in the team taking a toll on someone who is ostensibly one of our one of our best creators last season.

42:52So I should preface this by saying Katie's creative statistics last season were curve-wracking for a full-back and they're not as high this season. I guess, what do you put that down to? Yeah, I think it's a couple of things. I think right now, the midfield issue at Arsenal right now is having a flow-on effect negatively to every other aspect of the starting XI. And that is in the way that Russo has to drop back and do more defensive work. The centre-backs have to be really tight in worries that a team will just fly through the pivot. The 10's not really sure of their role because every single 10 in our team is completely different.

43:27The wingers are also quite new. When you have Olivia Smith and Chloe Kelly, it's different to just having Beth Mead and Caitlin Ford. So naturally, the players are less attacking. I also think, like, I've actually not looked at the metrics for this, but I feel like last season when you were watching Arsenal, almost always if a ball was coming in from the channel and it was a full-back, it was Katie McCabe. this year, every single time it's Emily Fox. Like Emily Fox has got so much responsibility this season to be the attacking player putting the cross in, which is hilarious because she's not bad, but she's definitely far from our best crosser in the team as well.

44:01But it does feel like the right side is being preferred when we look at an overlapping fullback. And that might just be a pace difference, an age difference. Emily Fox is very quick and very athletic. She's a US Women's National Team style player where she can get there and get back very quickly. So maybe there is a tactical change there where the right back is being used more than the left back to go forward because of just the personnel that's there. I just think Katie McCabe, she's not actually, her output is not great, but I also just don't think she's being found in the positions as much.

44:30And I think a lot of that comes down to the midfield as well. Does the, do the fullbacks need to stay back? Do they need to drop back more? Do, can she gun it down the, down the channel as much as she used to? No, probably not. But it's interesting with Katie McCabe because there has been a lot of times this season where she's gone forward at the wrong time and there's a massive gap behind her. And maybe that comes from a change of winger. If it's not Caitlin Ford and if it's Olivia Smith playing on the left, if it's Chloe Kelly playing on the left, if it's Beth Mead, there's a bit of a difference than it being Caitlin Ford and Katie McCabe.

44:59Can she work less fluently with the other three? So I'm not sure. I think just in my opinion, not even a metrics thing, but just an eye test, Emily Fox is always the player that's playing that high creative role this season, less, sorry, more so than she was last season. I think that has a big role to play in it. So it's interesting. I also think fullbacks just, they attack and press and get a lot less quick when they're a bit older than when Katie McCabe was 25 and wanted to gun it up the channel. But no, I completely agree. And I think that's a big miss in this Arsenal team because she was massive in that area last season.

45:30Yeah, I think it just goes a little bit to opponents finding out what we're doing in terms of inverting her into midfield and having a bit of an answer to it. Should we do one more? Let's do it. your turn to ask me one i believe this one is from at ariela w uh for years now this team has struggled with consistency while no one i'm asking you the existential crisis right now while no one can perform at a champions league final level every week why do you think the lowest level our performances can be so low at times have the consistent buying floor raises nature of our transfer windows recently helped or hurt this yeah i think i think most of the time um when you see football teams underperforming or what i think not always because they're humans it's nearly always tactical i think there's nearly always some kind of tactical dysfunction somewhere which then i think sometimes maybe leads to some of the the human issues i do think recruitment is an issue yeah i was thinking about this the other day when i go back and look at recent windows like summer 2023 russo yeah hit laia cadena no chloe lacasse left after a year you know january 2023 uh sabrina d 'angelo left pretty quickly katherine cool left pretty quickly victoria plover yep all good you know there's there's been a lot of hit and miss in recruitment I think people can go back over windows the last four or five years and just do a little mental exercise, hit or miss.

47:13And I don't think there's almost none of those I would say is like a bad player. Well, none of them are bad players. To come on Arsenal's radar, you have to be an exceptional footballer. And again, I think the explanations are usually tactical for why players don't succeed and about profiles and complementary profiles and all of that. A player like Laia Kadina started and won a World Cup final. That is an elite player, right? You can argue how elite, but as an elite footballer, I just think there's no other centre-back at Arsenal that matches her. And it just didn't make sense as a signing. It's not because she's a bad footballer.

47:50So I think there's a little bit of that as well. So there's kind of a bit of a core team and you take a piece out and stuff goes haywire, basically. We have a lot of load-bearing walls. So you take Leo Williamson out, you can't progress the ball for two months and it takes your ages to sort that out. You take Kim Little out and it takes three games to work out how to deal with it. So I think there's a lot of that going on. I think that's the explanation I'd lean on the most. Not least because if I started going into is it a motivation thing? Might be, but I don't know. I don't know that. and I tend to think these things have their have their roots in like tactical structural and things like that let's speaking of recruitment that didn't work out let's finish on this one I'll ask for you from Alex at ask blog fanboy you're going to get a question asked if you have a handle like that if Jenna Neiswonger is to leave in the January window I think she will which club do you think should be a good fit at and would you like to see a player in the WSL or maybe return to the US?

48:58Well, it depends if she's going out on loan or leaving permanently. But if she's going out on loan, we may as well give her one last chance. I think she could win the Ballon d 'Or and Rene Slegers wouldn't want to borrow her right now. I don't really know. That's actually a really good question. I didn't see that in the run. I think if we're talking WSL, a team with an an attacking fullback and less rigid, less of a rigid back forward would be quite interesting because she's so good going forward. Like we saw, I think it was at Crystal Palace away last season she played and she was really, really creative off the left flank.

49:32She can invert, like we know that she used to be a midfielder. So I think a team where maybe an overlapping fullback, maybe a back five, a back three with wide wingbacks, I think that would be really good for Jenna Niswunger. yeah there's not really many teams in the league maybe like a Leicester City but I don't know how much attacking she's going to be able to do at a Leicester City no offense to them but I guess just in terms of their lineup it would work there so you kind of want her at a mid-table team that may be struggling for a left back right now I think a team that obviously this would not happen and I doubt this would ever happen in any world nor should it but maybe a team like Tottenham where I don't think Amanda Mildon is actually I don't I don't really rate her as a player I don't think she's very good on the ball and she's not actually that quick.

50:13I think that's actually a really good team for Jenna Naiswonger because Martin Ho likes to kind of open up the teams against sides in the bottom half of the table and just like let those fullbacks go forward. We've seen it a lot with, we saw it a lot with Ella Morris before her ACL under Robert Villahan. So maybe that's a spot, but I don't want to go any spurs. No one does. Just as a hypothetical. I do think the NWSL is more suited to Jenna Naiswonger just in terms of the way she plays and the player that she is I think the NWSL we obviously have so much like there's so much transition on display there and just she's so quick and she's actually really good on the ball I just yeah I'm disappointed by this one the Chloe Lacasse one D 'Angelo like a lot of those Amanda Illizet those plays don't bother me like they come and go this one is one that I just think Arsenal missed just try her she's played six games since signing that's ridiculous so yeah a bit disappointing but I do think a team where she can play high in transition and in the channels yeah there's a A lot of back threes in the WSL.

51:06There's a lot of teams who've gone to pressing structures but playing with a back three to give that security behind. Villa do it. Everton kind of do it. But I think off the top of my head, Everton signed Maz Pacheco. I think Villa used Chastity Grant as their left wing back. They have Noelle can play there. I know she plays more as a centre-back for them. Paula Thomas can play on both sides, so I don't think they need one. I just wonder about Liverpool, to be honest, because I'm not sure Liverpool replaced Taylor Hines, who we've kind of taken to replace Jenna Naiswonger. I'd love to see her stay in the WSL.

51:44I got the sense a couple of months ago that she wanted to stay in the WSL because didn't want this to be her England adventure, as it were. I don't know whether that's changed, but I'd like to see her stay in the league and be given a proper crack. I think Liverpool, something like that, might be a decent kind of fit for her. But yeah, we'll see on that one. I think with Holmberg coming in, probably Nyswonger going out, there will be a bit more of a balanced look to Arsenal's full-back options. But Jamie, let's leave it there. Thanks as ever. Thanks, Tim. not been the most positive of international break mailbags but hopefully over Christmas there's been some turn of the tides where Chelsea and Man City have just lost every game and we are so back never been more back so thanks for us yeah and obviously we'll come back with another podcast after the Liverpool game on Saturday the 6th that is the next game yes but until then thanks so much and we will speak to you next time

52:54Thank you.