Arsenal Women Arsecast Episode 146: Gunners get stuck into Christmas toffees 

0:14Hello and welcome to the Arsenal Women AskCastCastOnaskBlog.com episode 147. Looking back at saturday's 3-1 win over everton at goodison park was good to be back at goodison park my 26th time there i worked out this weekend 20 25 times of the men's team always in the away end though so i'd never been in the press box and it's quite it's quite strange there because i think what they're doing is they're going to get rid of the upper tier there all together but obviously i haven't had a chance to do it yet so it's like there's like the old seats have kind of been ripped out and they're just like left in a pile behind the press box.

0:51And it's kind of strange. It's in this kind of halfway house state at the moment. But great that Everton are using it. And a really good result and performance, I thought, for Arsenal on Saturday. And here to break it down with us as ever is our co-host Jamie Spanger. Jamie, how are you doing? I'm good, Tim. I'm good. I'm glad I wasn't in that press box. I really want to go to Grittison Park, but I am only 5 '5", so I wouldn't have struggled. But I know Freddie Cardi had a bit of a hard weekend of himself from the goonah because he towers. And I've heard that the Goodison Park press box likes to chop your legs off.

1:24So I'm sad I missed out on the action because, as you said, Tim, I thought it was a picked-up performance in comparison to the ones we've had recently. But three points and, yeah, let's head into the final couple games of the year. Yeah, absolutely. And, yeah, actually I found with the press box getting into the seats was okay. It was getting out of them again. Fortunately, it wasn't anywhere near full. so there was a little bit of space. I imagine if it's full, I imagine it would have been a problem for everyone's elbows and knees. But before we go into the Everton game on Saturday, I mean, obviously Arsenal played Twenter on Tuesday night in Meadow Park, 1-0 win.

2:04I thought in isolation, Jamie, I found this really kind of difficult to analyse because I think when your team goes through a little period of uncertainty or kind of in different form, it's difficult to take games in isolation in isolation I felt Arsenal played really well against Twenter completely suffocated them you know it should have been a 3-0 game it wasn't it was a 1-0 game and so in isolation I found it difficult to kind of really analyze but now we've had this game I think I definitely feel better about it it feels like you know sometimes you have to get away from a performance and see is this part of a pattern is this part of an improvement or is it just a bit of a one-off what did you make of the Twents game on Tuesday yeah this season I think the results like this just show that this season is completely different to last season in the way that every game is just you have to look at it with a massive lens and it's so hard not to because okay if there's you know compounding issues if there's reoccurring themes then it really does tend to bother you because of the form that Arsenal have been in and it's harder to look at those games in isolation because against these kind of bottom of the table Champions League teams in Europe last season, obviously Arsenal obliterated most of them and there was a lot of goals being scored against these sides.

3:21And obviously you can look at that in respect to the WSL as well. So I think it is a bit frustrating when it's hard to look at these games in isolation. But I thought that the control of something that like the way Arsenal gained, regained their control in the last games, especially against Twente and Everton is something that I think they've really struggled with over the last maybe four to six weeks and that was my biggest takeaway from the Twente game is okay the players look like they're in control of the tempo of this fixture it looks like they know what they need to do just scoring those goals in front of in front of you know the park and I think that happened against Everton as well so yeah in isolation I think you're absolutely right team you look back and reflect on this game and I think yeah the side looked like they knew what they needed to do and there was a regain of control and something that has been impossible for Arsenal to get a grasp on recently so yeah a big positive and I think you're qualified for the next round and you never know what can happen midweek as well.

4:10Yeah, I liked the intensity of the performance. You know, I went on Counterpress last week, one of my favourite podcasts, and we had like a wider discussion about the Champions League. And actually we're not, it's weird, we're kind of not seeing as many of the big scores, which I think is really good. But then when we do, it's teams you don't expect. Like I wouldn't have predicted in September that it would be Roma, you know, getting done 6-0 by Chelsea or Bayern, getting done 7-1 by Barca. And actually a lot of these teams near the middle of the table, a lot of them are still involved to the final day.

4:44So we're going to play Leuven this week and they've got something riding on it, which is probably a strength of the new format. And I also kind of think people forget that Twente are the Dutch team because they're not in the men's game. We still look at Ajax and PSV as those names, but in the women's game, it's Twente. They win the league pretty much every year. Like they're the big team in the Netherlands. So I think a little bit of that bleeds into it. But, you know, coming into this game, like I said, I was cautiously quite pleased with how Arsenal played against Twenter. Starting line-up drops for this one.

5:22And I was expecting Kim Little. I was expecting that they were saving Kim Little a little bit for this game. There was no Freedom Warnham in the squad. Niggle in training, which in my experience could mean a lot of things. it probably means probably doesn't mean she needs surgery and is on death's door but beyond that very open to interpretation but it was mariana in the 10 with kind of well we'll talk we'll talk about the midfield in the second half in detail i think's got a question on it but um what did you think of the lineup when it dropped particularly you know mariana playing a little bit higher yeah really really excited by this lineup i think that this is maybe the midfield three that i've been waiting to see obviously injuries have stopped that and Kyra Kuni crosses uncertainty in the starting 11 but Mariona in the 10 like I've spoken about that very recently and passionately that like she is one of the best attacking players in the world and I do think she's wasted in the pivot and I think there's not really better teams than Everton to play that and test that against I also think like we have a little bit of you know trauma as Arsenal fans from watching Kyra Kuni cross and Leo Valti in the pivot but we've not seen too much of Kim and Kyra yet and I think that's a partnership that can really be worked on and we'll come on to the midfield performance but I just want to say like anytime Kim's in the team right now I just feel so much more comfortable and I know we go on about age profile but she doesn't look like she's dropped off like she's just a player that you automatically feel comfortable so yeah I was excited by this midfield mainly because Marion in the 10 Tim that's what I want to see she's so good attacking and when Fried is out of the side it just made the most sense yeah I'll point people towards other content because the newsletter by the time you listen to this they might both be our newsletter this week i've written about kim um and actually the difficulty in replacing kim is that there's no decline in her performance i don't see a physical decline i don't see a performance decline yet those things are coming they're going to happen because they happen to every single person in the world um but they're not happening yet and that kind of makes it difficult to wean ourselves off her um even like fitness and athletically i think she's one of like the fittest players in the squad the only way you can see any like age anything age-based is is the fact she probably is picking up more injuries um and and other piece of content the analysis piece from the game is about mariana in the higher uh position um some stats there like i think she She had like double the number of touches she averages in the final third in this game.

8:01She's been averaging three touches in the opposition penalty area a game, that went up to nine, obviously, because she's playing higher up. And there were just so many clever passes around the edge of the area in this game. And the thing is, she does those passes, and she does them quite deep, and they're still really useful there. but you look at them and you kind of think if I want them in one area of the pitch I think I want it up there um so basically I've written about Mariana and Kim but for me Jamie this kind of what that what this said is that Kyra's playing her way in at the moment she's starting more she looks more trusted she's not coming off either obviously they were only going to play Kim for an hour in this game but it's Mariana who you know kind of gets spared the last 10 minutes It's Kyra playing the full 90 minutes.

8:50It feels to me like, Jamie, like she's beginning to win Rene's trust. And I'm with you. I think Kim balances her out quite nicely. But I felt like Kyra feels like the big winner at the moment here. Certainly. I think it's so important that Kyra Cooney Cross plays in a pivot with someone that can be a strong defensive anchor. And Kim Little is that player. And it's just because they balance each other out in a way that a lot of this game Kyra actually spends quite deep and Kim is the one to push up and I just think the way that they're both they have experiences attacking players it means that they know the moments that they also need to drop back and allow the other player to attack so I think look we've not seen a lot of this partnership but it is one that makes the most sense to me because I think when you put maybe Kim next to someone like Mariona we know that that can work because Mariona is very disciplined to come back and defend however you do lose a lot of edge and with Kyra, you almost lose less because she's a bit more of an eight than Mariona is.

9:46So yeah, I'm excited for Kyra Cooneycross. She deserves a spot in this midfield right now, in my totally unbiased Australian opinion. But it's exciting when you get teams like this where, okay, Freedom Ornham's out of the squad, that gives an opportunity to play Mariona in the 10. And then it just seems to make sense. Kyra Cooneycross is the best possible option to play next to Kim when she's fit right now. So yeah, long may that continue because I do think like there is a lot of room for Kyra to improve her game. And I think that Kim Little is a player that was obviously a very attacking player in her youth as well.

10:13So what can you learn? And there's a developmental pathway there as well. So yeah, I was really impressed by the starting line-up and I think, yeah, it's probably about time in many people's opinions. Yeah, I was impressed by how we started this game as well, Jamie. And I think one of the questions you and I have maybe struggled with and a lot of Arsenal fans have struggled with is like, what is the identity of a René Slager's team? What are the core principles of a René Slager's team? And I think sometimes when you lose something and you get it back, you kind of see. And for me, one of the big hallmarks of Slager's ball when it's really firing is fluidity, is interchange of positions.

10:53And perhaps there's something in the fact that when players lose confidence, their confidence gets knocked by results. Maybe that's harder to do. Maybe you do just have to be very, very confident to be able to do that. But everyone was popping up everywhere. where McCabe was in midfield sometimes. Steph Catley was going over to the left wing. Mariana was going left and right. Beth Mead's positioning the last two games, very central. When you looked at it, it looked like essentially Mariana and Beth were like dual tens. Beth was very, very infield for a lot of this game, but just lots of swapping and lots of rotations.

11:34I feel like we lost that for a little bit. and now there's a little bit more confidence there and they've strung some results together. I can see it again. And I just thought, you know, how did you, I guess how did you feel coming into this game, particularly with Everton? I mean, Everton haven't been great this season, but obviously they had an amazing result at Kingsmeadow last weekend. What was your kind of feeling coming into the game? To be honest, Everton beating Chelsea actually may be more confident for this fixture because we know how Arsenal kind of approach these high-stakes fixture.

12:09And when you've got a team that's beaten Chelsea and the only team to do it in however many games in the last season and a half, it makes me feel like Arsenal are in a better position to show up and play their way and actually try to play through Everton. So, yeah, that's a mentality thing and that has its cons as well, right? Like we've spoken about that a million times, how you shouldn't need these high-stakes games. But Everton kind of, they were very defensive against Chelsea. So many clearances. Like Chelsea just couldn't get those chances in. So that made me more confident in the fact that, okay, this team has then gone and beaten Chelsea.

12:40Arsenal need to analyse that performance really, really closely against a team that plays similar in the way that they're a higher team up the table. They're attacking, they want to be aggressive. But then what are the areas that Chelsea failed in and how can we exploit them? And I think that that is immediately what we saw in this fixture. I think that Arsenal did such a good job inverting the fullbacks. Emily Fox was going down the channel. Cade McKay was coming in the midfield, something that maybe Chelsea didn't overcrowd those central spaces enough. It didn't give them the opportunities to do that.

13:04So I was actually confident based on that result. It wasn't, okay, Everton are more of a threat. I just thought, look, Chelsea probably deserved to win that game last week. They just couldn't put away their chances. So how did Arsenal, you know, analyze that performance, get the takeaways and then combat it like that. And I think that's exactly what happened in this performance team. You speak about fluidity. I think that was the biggest positive because like we've seen so often Alessio Russo sometimes is the only player to kind of drop into pockets of space, switch positions, and then everyone else is holding their space.

13:31And that means that it's just overcrowded. it's so condensed in there. But then in this game, you see, okay, Alessio Russo pops it up on the right wing late in the first half. And Beth Mead is so centrally in the nine. And that's the kind of thing that we need to be seeing. Okay, Russo is going to move. Someone needs to take her space and get out of her space so she can have the ball and then have options. And that's something we've not seen. Russo will be dropping into the midfield and Frieda Maldon and Kyra Kunicross are right next to her. And it just, it doesn't help. So that was a positive I took from this game.

13:58A lot of fluidity, Tim. I completely agree. But it was just that intelligence from the players to say, if Katie McCabe comes into the midfield, Mariona goes up and pops into the left wing. And I just thought that was really impressive. So coming into this game, I was really, really actually positive because I thought Arsenal need a little bit of threat on the line to be able to play a good performance. And I thought they did what Chelsea couldn't. So yeah, very, very happy. Yeah, I think that's a really good observation. And actually when Rene was asked a question by Tara Anson-Walsh from the Daily Mail after the Twente game about Russo having a lot fewer touches in the 20 game.

14:34And Rene said, yeah, we wanted her to stay in the box. Basically, we wanted to get like two 10s behind her and keep her in the box. And that's kind of what Arsenal do here. They have Beth and Mariana as 10s and Russo. So you're seeing far less of Russo on the halfway line, seeing far less of that enormous gap that we've talked about a lot this season between like the two sixes and the 10. and it just feels like people are a little bit closer together. And this is the flow of the season. It feels like Arsenal and Rene have come up with something here, but analysts are going to be watching, they're going to know, and then that's just the dance of the season.

15:15But Arsenal do go in front, deservedly, I think. Going down that right-hand side again, when Arsenal played Everton in March, all three of their goals came down the right-hand side. Low crosses, we see it here. Russo cuts back to Mariana off the line. And it feels like a long time since we've seen a Katie McCabe go last from the edge of the box. And very grateful it was in front of the travelling Arsenal fans who deserve a big mention as well. To bring 1 ,200 at midday on a Saturday is no mean feat whatsoever. And Katie McCabe is one of those players with the sense of occasion to go and celebrate it with them.

15:58But, you know, maybe a little bit of renewed confidence here as well, just to see a good old-fashioned McCabe Galazzo. Yeah, run it back, run it back. We needed this kind of goal. And to be honest, though, like it's a fantastic finish and I'm so excited that we've got a Katie McCabe banger. But there is a point in these games, and we've seen it from a Chelsea perspective for seasons, you just need like something like that to happen to break up these fixtures. And that's what Chelsea didn't get at Kingsmeadow last week. Nothing was going right. They weren't having these long-range strikes that were hitting absolute bangers.

16:29Every goal in this game was a banger except for the one that was like Russo's chest or whatever happened there. But sometimes you need those moments. And I'm glad that Katie McCabe had her here. And it's funny. She's such a confidence player because this game, as soon as she scored, she was everywhere. She was everywhere. She was trying to get every touch on the ball possible. And I think, yes, she's a confidence player and that's a really good thing. But Arsenal need to figure out a way in this new kind of team with a new manager. How do you channel that in a positive way? I think they did a really good job of that this weekend.

16:55So, yeah, sometimes you need a moment of magic to split open the game. Obviously, what followed wasn't positive. We'll come on to that. But, yeah, just on the Arsenal fans that travelled, incredible. Like, it's just incredible. And they deserve so much rap and so much excitement because, like, they bring everything to it. 12.30 on a Saturday to travel up to Merseyside and bring nothing but good vibes. I also know that Leah Williamson made a post about the staff at Goodison being amazing. So it seemed like a good day out at the football. But, yeah, nothing to celebrate better. That Christmas miracle of Katie McCabe banger.

17:24and you know at that point Arsenal I think flown into the first 10 minutes they score that goal and then immediately Everton pegged them back now where where does the blame lie for you in this goal so to break it down for people like Everton they get a bit of a breakaway Kim Little comes back she recovers she wins the ball back gives it to Mariana this was one of only three passes that Mariana made in her defensive third in this game and it wasn't a good one for everything good she did I mean I was talking earlier about some of those passes on the edge of the box I mean for Everton this was a lovely pass on the edge of the box and Everton get the equaliser I mean where would you where would you put the blame most there yeah look I think the back the back pass is really, really bad from Mariona.

18:18But I also think there's an element of the fact that Arsenal's line was quite deep at this point and they offered Everton a lot of space on the edge of the area. There was more than just Hayashi as well. There was a few Everton players sitting in that pocket of space. So if Mariona turns or passes back, yes, you're going to get the ball deep, but then what's the next move? Is it to hit it down the line really, really fast? So I think, yeah, it's kind of a bit of a brain fog from the Arsenal defensive line. They're sitting far too deep. They need to be a bit higher because the next step, even if Mariona doesn't make that bad pass, like I said, it's not going to come to anything positive.

18:46It's just a lapse. And it's something we've seen so often, this kind of concentration lapse. Okay, how do we score a goal and then remain in our shape, remain in front, keep the pressure and the intensity high? And this is exactly what happens. However, maybe this goal going in is a good thing for Arsenal because it does wake them up quicker. It's not like, okay, they slow down and then Everton score in the 70th minute and they don't know how to get back in the game after that. So maybe it's a bit of a slap in the face, but it's a bad back pass, but that happens. Like small failures happens by midfielders in particular so I think there's a lot of blame in this scenario it's also a great finish like you don't really expect they actually to do that ball ball almost gets her full stretch on it as well and it hits the back of the net and in the in the right corner so it's a good finish but yeah I do think there's a little bit of a reactiveness as as opposed to a proactiveness from the Arsenal defensive line yeah I think when Kim wins that ball back she's kind of entitled to think she's done her running and she's done her bit and Kyra's Kyra's in position like on the edge of the box but it's it's actually just quite a good shimmy past her it's not like she's not there or or not doing anything I think it's very quick as well like the ball you know Mariana's pass being a bit loose and it being in the back of the net is is very very quick and Everton deserves some credit for that even if it was very much against the run of play but Arsenal do get back in front immediately and again they go down that right hand side Emily Fox digs out across a slightly awkward goal it must be said I'm not I'm like I'm certain Arsenal rehearsed getting down the right hand side they did it quite a bit in this game but you know Kim Little slightly kind of awkwardly hooking the ball back in the air and again to your point like Kim was not sitting at the base of the midfield all the time.

20:28She was forward a lot. And then hitting Alessio Russo's chest, I mean, I thought for a good 15, 20 minutes that was Caitlin Ford's goal. I didn't realise. I think it was only on the commentary they said afterwards that it was Alessio Russo's goal. Slightly messy goal, but it felt important to get. One of the things René's talked about, well, one of the things she talked about last week after Liverpool's equaliser was that the game totally died. And we talked about that on the podcast last week, that the reaction to Liverpool's equaliser was pretty dreadful. And Rene said to me on Tuesday night that that was one of their learnings.

21:09They wanted to keep the foot down, that this could not have been more different and it feels like they learned something there. Yeah, certainly. Every Arsenal player is attacking this play. Everyone's going forward in this play. Like Emily Fox is the deepest winger. Kim Little is sitting in the midfield, like almost in the 10, almost more attacking than Mariona is. So like there is an urgency here where the team just shifts straight into an attacking mindset and goes forward on the ball. I think what I liked from this goal, especially even if it was a bit of a mess, is Emily Fox playing deep in the channel as opposed to having to invert to the top of the corner of the box.

21:44I think it's really, really good. And I think Beth Mead is an underrated like player in this game because, again, like I mentioned it with Russo, I think she does a really good job in this entire game to give Emily Fox the channel and the space when she needs it and then drag the fullback away. And that's something I think that annoyed me in the last couple of games. I can't remember if it was the Benfica game or if it was the Villa game, but every time a fullback would go forward, the winger was almost next to them. And it felt like it was super, super congested and you weren't giving them the space.

22:11This game, I think Beth Mead, she misplaces a couple of passes, but she has a really underrated role in this game because she knows exactly when she needs to get out of the space. and this is just, Caitlin Ford does it really well in this passage as well. Give Emily Fox the ball. She puts in a great cross. Kim Little's just little and doesn't get a proper hit on it. But I think, again, it comes from this fluid movement. Yes, you all have a role in this team, but how do you kind of switch roles depending on the game state and depending on the attacking movement? So I thought this was really smart.

22:38I don't think it even went over the goal line, but give it to the Lesiru. So make a, it's funny, make a, give her a golden boot charge and then Bunny Shaw goes and drops four on Aston Villa. But whatever. So yeah, but again, good that Caitlin Ford's there to smash home the remains. It feels like everyone's kind of really eager here because no flat-footedness. Everyone wants a kind of piece of this play. So yeah, that intensity we're talking about, Tim, that control that we're talking about, that was really, really evident in probably the least exciting goal of the game. Yeah, Renee talked about it with the first goal as well.

23:08She was saying with Katie, like she said, she wanted the players to be a bit braver, a little bit higher. So when teams do clear it, bang, we're on them. We've got them back under pressure. It feels to me like Arsenal have maybe put a bit of focus on just being more intense and trying to control games that way and not allowing, you know, not giving opponents the chance to, you know, smash balls down the middle and make Arsenal run backwards. and I asked Brian Sorensen a question afterwards about, I kind of said, because Twente and Everton are actually relatively similar, certainly the way they build from the back.

23:44And I kind of said to him, was there anything in the Twente game that gave you inspiration for your game plan? And he was a bit like, yeah, but he said the speed that Arsenal moved the ball in this game was just too much for his players. He just said, we had some ideas about where we could hurt them and there were some situations we could have done better in. But his kind of prognosis, well, like straight away, he just said Arsenal were brilliant. And he said when they play like that, they're the best team in the WSL by a mile. And he just kind of said they were just too quick for us. They just moved the ball too quickly and we couldn't get near it.

24:23And that's how the rest of the half plays out really. Everton, I mean, to be fair, they had good practice of hanging in there against Chelsea last weekend. And it wasn't quite like that. There weren't loads of clear-cut chances, but Russo has a great turn and Courtney Brosnan makes a save. She made a few good ones again this week. Again, she was very busy last week. So, you know, halftime is 2-1. Arsenal playing very well. What was your feeling at halftime? I think I was kind of haunted by the ghost of Arsenal going to come out and be a bit more sluggish. And I think that's a fair feeling to have based on the last couple of weeks of performances.

25:02is just turning, like taking a foot off the pedal. And I think that that was a hesitancy I had. But I also think there was enough in the first half to kind of inspire the team. I also think the size of Goodison being, you know, like quite a bit longer and wider than King's Meadow, like harms Everton in this game as well. I know I continue to refer to the Chelsea game, but it's a lot harder to kind of stifle. They've not won there, yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's a lot harder to stifle a team's momentum when the pitch is bigger. And you've got a team that are like opening up on transition. Arsenal really, really trying to attack the ball.

25:31it's a lot harder to do what you want to do defensively and kind of try to stop the team, stifle their attack in that scenario. So I do think that helps Arsenal in this game. Everton's a team that they've not gotten used to the change from Walton Hall Park to Goodison Park yet, which is sad, but they will eventually. They have to adapt very quickly. But I think that's helpful in this game, and that's something I noticed in the first half. There was just so much space. There was so much space for Arsenal to exploit and drop into, and I don't think Everton really got a handle of that. And yes, you can play a bit of a deeper block, and you can sit back a little bit, but it doesn't mean that there's not space elsewhere.

26:03And I don't think they did a good enough job at maybe picking up those pockets at your home. Like you should know that a little bit better. So that's my one criticism of Everton. And that was my lifeline going into the second half. I think you can keep this momentum up when you've got the space to rotate and do so and just keep the movement high. So I was apprehensive, Tim, but still positive. Yeah, there were just a lot of nice rotations. Like sometimes Kim would be a bit higher than Mariana. they were they were getting behind Everton's sixes quite a lot usually when Arsenal play Frieda as a 10 they usually ask her to stick over on one side usually the right whereas with Mariana it was much more go wherever you like like you are intelligent enough to know where the space is where your teammate needs an overload and and all of that she was going to the right and to the left and just kind of floating around and punching the ball between the lines but but still Arsenal not creating clear-cut chances, but getting into good territory.

27:04Everton just offered little to no threat on the counter, despite having some really good counter-attacking forwards. But, you know, so maybe a bit more of the same in the second half. I think where things change, not drastically horribly or anything, but where things change is Arsenal make some substitutions. Obviously, Kim has to come off. They have to look after her. They put Steiner on, Russo into the 10, Mariano a bit deeper. Arsenal don't test Courtney Brosnan again for 22 minutes in that period. And I don't think that's a coincidence. You know, the game, it didn't necessarily become majorly scrappy and transitional.

27:49but Arsenal the the domination was a bit more sterile in that period and there are a few reasons I think for that that I might talk about in a second but what what did you make of that kind of period I guess between the substitutions and Olivia Smith taking the thing in her own hands yeah I think so much of this game kind of changes not for the worst but Arsenal become a lot more like they lose their it's not that they were conservative in the first half it's just they kind of had the trust in the midfield anchor to be able to go forward and like do things and and take risks like I said like they were really really pressing high whereas they kind of lost that control and rather than sit back they just it did get a little bit scrappy I thought I thought there was a lot more like fighting for ball there was a lot more fighting for territory and that comes with Kim Little coming off I think that that is just a massive turning point in this game for Arsenal and it just goes to show how big a part she plays in this team and how much trust she puts into this team.

28:47And when she's there, they're consolidated. They're a lot stronger in the midfield. It feels like, yes, Mariona can maybe go up higher. The wingers have less defensive responsibility. Even the fullbacks know that they can come up and then you've got more of a midfield pivot to sit back and defend. So I think a lot of that comes back to Kim Little. And I'm not going to say it's worrying, but this team needs to learn to last without one player, despite her age, despite anything. Because we saw what happened when Kim got injured in the last couple of weeks. Like that midfield is really, really struggle when it needs to be consolidated and strong and kind of come together and just literally just slow the game down.

29:21And it feels like the game picks up and the tempo, like they get, they just get a little bit overexcited. They don't really know what they need to do. And that worries me a little bit. Again, not related to Kim's age, but if she's going to be injured for a long period of time, what is the plan? And she's not going to be able to play 90 minutes for the rest of her career. What is the plan to then be able to transition that quickly in game, manage that in game so the team doesn't lose it? because against a team that's fast on transition, Everton are. They didn't do it as much. They've got a couple of players out right now as well that really like in their spine, it impacts them.

29:51But Everton are a team that can go forward and attack as well. So it is a bit of a threat, but it's a threat against teams that can transition quickly and go into that attacking flow very fast. So yeah, I think that comes from Kim Little, Tim. And again, like I said, that does worry me because one team, especially of Arsenal's calibre, shouldn't rely on one player for structure. But yeah, that to me was the turning point of this game. However, it was snuffed out very fast by a great goal. However, yeah, I think it's something to look at and something to maybe be concerned about in the future. Yeah, I think definitely taking Kim out, that's like your thermometer really as a player.

30:26That's definitely a big part of it. I think we also just lost a bit of Mariana's creativity in the final third and you're not quite finding those passes into the penalty area as easily because she's a little bit deeper. I also think when you take Russo away from the nine, you lose a bit of hold-up play. You lose that stickiness. And this hadn't really become a Steiner game at this point because Everton were still quite low in their defensive shape. And when that happens, I think we look better with Russo kind of dragging players out and holding the ball and sustaining attacks. I think, you know, when last weekend against Liverpool, that was Steiner territory.

31:09um this one kind of wasn't and we did lose a little bit of control so i think it's got i think there are three different authors there and something i'm wondering about jamie for the next couple of games i do wonder if renee will marry up both looking after kim little and reintroducing leah williamson and maybe making sure that one of them is on the pitch so maybe when Kim comes off that's when Leah comes on so that you've got that kind of you've got that controller you've got that leader but Leah Williamson does come back on with nine minutes to go I asked Renee about this afterwards I was curious because she hadn't come on in the last two games because basically Arsenal were only winning by one goal it wasn't comfortable enough to reintroduce her however that was the situation here I asked Renee about that and she just said she'd had like another couple of weeks of training she'd done more like 11 v 11 stuff she just felt she was ready but I do also suspect there was a tactical part of it where it's like oh this game's getting a little bit sloppy and transitional we need to calm down a little bit in possession and Leah's a great person to do that but I mean aside from that obviously just great to see her back and that was by far and away the biggest noise in the stadium when she came back on.

32:32Yes, stoked. Absolutely stoked. I think it's true, though. I really like your point, Tim, about how do you manage the two of them and maybe ensuring one of them's on the pitch, especially when you look at the next two fixtures to close out the year against Loven and Palace. There's room to, how do you integrate those players and manage their load at the same time? But Leah Williamson is so integral to this Arsenal team and it's not just her defensive proficiency. It's just the way that she plays the ball forward. It's the way that she splits line. It's her recovery. It's the way that she helps the midfield.

33:00She is so integral to this Arsenal team. And I think I was having a conversation not long ago with a couple of people and saying like, how many players in this Arsenal team are actually irreplaceable? Like, can you not replace them? And Leah Williamson is probably my number one amongst maybe Alessia Russo. She's just someone that I think that gives so much to this team. And it is so important that we have her fit for the back end of the season when the schedule starts to be condensed. Because like I said, she's not just a good centre-back. She gives so much confidence to the rest of this spine and also the width.

33:28I also think I like watching her play with Kyra Cooney-Cross because I think they're both very good ball users. And I think that's something that really can be exploited come the second half of the season with that midfield three and the uncertainty around that. So, yeah, I'm interested to see what happens. But overall, just happy that Lea's back. Yeah, absolutely. And unlike the Twente game, which got nervous at the end, not because Twente were that dangerous. I did fear the Gilles Rode dagger, which didn't happen. But unlike that game, we do eventually make this one safe and do so pretty spectacularly.

34:06Actually, quite a similar goal to Katie McCabe's goal. Obviously, just taken on a slightly different foot. But Olivia Smith doing Olivia Smith things really wraps this game up for us. She's just a joke of a player. She's so exciting, especially like when it's one o 'clock in the morning and I just want to go to bed and make this game end. All I need is Olivia Smith to inject some energy in my life. But no, we spoke about this last week, the exact same thing with that Liverpool goal team. It's just a player that wants to do that when things are a little bit scrappy, a little bit tight. How do you break open a game and just kind of make a statement, like increase the scoreline?

34:43And Olivia Smith is that player right now. It's just a good touch. I don't think Everton put enough pressure on her, but they probably don't expect her to shoot from that far out and put it in the back of the net. So, yeah, I just think this is a brilliant goal from a brilliant player. And if she could just do something like normal and chill, like score a tap in, just to remind us that she's an average 21-year-old. But, yeah, what a player. And what a player to bring off the bench. Like, it's very, very exciting. Yeah, definitely. And I think it's good. It looks like Arsenal have got another reasonably reliable goal scorer, you know, because Caitlin's streaky.

35:16Chloe Kelly is a great provider. like her creative stats are off the charts i had a look again today actually because i'm looking at marionna's and it's chloe kelly tops pretty much everything in terms of like key passes passes into the area and all of that but having like another but when you haven't like russo's a reasonably reliable goal scorer but she's not going to challenge a fit bunny sure for the golden boot So having someone else in the squad like Olivia Smith, who can be kind of relied on and for moments like that as well. I mean, you know, that's three goals, I think, in the WSL and they've all been bangers, quite frankly.

35:57And we've spoken about this before. I do think that's a quality Arsenal probably need. If we did have Bunny Shore up front, I'd probably say stop shooting from 25 yards out and try and get the ball into the area. but I think it's definitely Arsenal could use a little bit of that kind of maverick energy and she's got it in spades. I mean, I don't even think she was meant to be playing on the left at that point as well. I think she was on the right and she came over to the left and points to some of the fluidity. But it's interesting actually that all three of her goals have kind of been almost cutting in from the left, like that left kind of angle and shooting on her right foot.

36:36I think that's going to be a really, really interesting development. I think the way Beth's playing on the right at the moment as well makes her pretty undroppable at this point. So I think we'll probably see quite a bit more of that. But 3-1, I think, still didn't quite reflect the dominance that Arsenal had. Again, I feel like that was a 3-0 game, maybe even a 4-0, to be honest. and Brian Sorensen post-match just said, I don't know why they're so up and down, but when they play at their top level, Arsenal is the best team in the league by a mile, was what he said. And he said, the other interesting thing he said, Jamie, he said, since we got the 0-0 draw at the Emirates last season, he says he feels like Arsenal perhaps respect Everton more.

37:27No, I don't think he was implying they didn't before because actually Arsenal usually beat Everton, home and away but he was saying like since we got that draw we've played them twice and he said like they've just been absolutely kind of top level um and nice tweet from Everton's uh twitter account afterwards as well defeat to the European champions like really buttering us up but I mean overall this this feels a bit like and I'm tentative about saying this because I know like the quality of the opposition at the moment is like we're not I think for people to fully believe we need to beat like a Chelsea or Manchester City or someone like that and all of that's coming in January but it just feels a little bit like Arsenal have got some of their rhythm back here.

38:19Yes certainly Mojo is a little bit back in this game and the Twinter game it's the intensity it's playing with the character that we haven't seen them play with in the opening opening part of this season and that's the biggest takeaway from this Everton game is the team didn't drop their heads they kind of tried to problem solve and they really tried to like pick up the intensity as soon as that Hayashi equaliser went in and that's not something we've seen I think that this is probably the most comfortable Arsenal win we've seen in a good while other than those the season openers against against London City like and West Ham it feels like this is the performance where okay it's not like the Benfica game or it's not like even the Brighton game where it's like yes you won but there are so many issues and the performance wasn't great and it doesn't feel me with confidence, this is a really, really good performance going into just the January transfer window, going into the Christmas break and just finish it off against Loven midweek and then obviously the League Cup because I think there's a lot of takeaways from this game and Brian Sorensen loves to butter up Arsenal, I feel like he always has.

39:14So good on Everton and I do laugh at the European champions things. Every time we beat a team, it's always that because we're really actually not that good 100 % of the time and I think that's quite frustrating. But no, completely, Tim. It's about winning the big games, but I also think it is about beating these teams. Like Everton, they're a bit stubborn when it comes to the top teams and they like to perform well against them. So statement win against Everton, in my opinion, is a much bigger result than a statement win against like Leicester City or West Ham. Yeah, I think there's a good side that just have a few issues that they need to sort out, but they're a stubborn side and they like to hang around.

39:49Yeah, absolutely. They stung us in the tail last year and they've done it to Chelsea this year. So absolutely. let's take a break there and we will come back in part two with your questions submitted on Blue Sky and we'll be back right after this

40:08so welcome back to the Arsenal Women Ask cast on askblog.com looking back at Saturday's 3-1 win over Everton at Goodison Park and in time-honored tradition we are going to do a mailbag for the second half with your questions submitted on blue sky and the first one jamie i think is one of the central themes of the game and literally central themes of the game and we talked about it a little bit at the top but i think this is kind of projecting forward a little bit now and this is from uh at jollo moco uh thanks for the badges by the way um do you feel the everton game ought to mean mariana back in into the 10 role for the time being we felt the most fluid we had in a while and i think it helps someone like Kyra being ahead of her, generally the balance felt good with each midfielder able to do their stuff to the benefit of others too.

41:03So we've talked a little bit about the midfield, what it looked like, looked pretty good in this game. We should say it was the midfield that started against Benfica in Lisbon as well, and that wasn't a rip-roaring success. But in terms of going forward, Jamie, how do you feel about this kind of midfield three? Yeah, I feel like I'm a firm believer in playing Mariona in her natural attacking position. I'm a big firm believer in playing her in the 10 as well. And I think obviously there's so many factors when you go into, okay, how do you select this midfield? Yes, maybe it's our best midfield three.

41:37You can't play them all the time with this schedule. How do you manage that? So in a perfect world, I think Mariona as a 10 makes the most sense to me. And I think something that maybe Arsenal have struggled with over the last few years is you can't keep everyone in this squad happy. Sometimes you just need to play your best player in the hardest games and that is Mariona in the 10. I think Frieda Mornan brings a lot of value in the 10 as well. But I think that it's just a little bit too much sacrifice goes on in this midfield. Like let's play Mariona and Little in the pivot because it works sometimes and it's worked for us in the past.

42:06And then you sacrifice that attacking threat. Let's play Frieda in the 10. But then you sacrifice someone that can come back and defend and really help out and take that responsibility as well. So I think there's definitely partnerships for different games. But I am a firm believer that Mariona Caldente is our best attacking midfielder and she should be playing there. played there when opposition suits. It also comes to the fact that if Kim Little can't be playing 90 minutes, I think Mariona dropping back is more responsible than playing Frieda in the 10. And then how do you maybe bring Vic Pilova in there to bring a little bit more strength to it?

42:37And I think the biggest thing with Arsenal right now is they still need a central defensive midfielder. And Mariona playing in the 10 and Kyra and Kim working in the pivot doesn't mean that that should be the long-term goal. And we're just going to keep that. I think there needs to be a defensive midfielder because if you need to bring off Kim, if you need to bring off Kyra, Okay, who goes into your pivot? Because then you have a all-out attacking midfield and that's not good against a lot of teams. So this, I don't want it to be another band-aid where it's like, oh, this is what this game and Mariona is so good in the 10 and Kyra and Kim had a really good performance, which they did.

43:07I thought the midfield were really good. There's still room for a central defensive midfielder that needs to be brought into the squad. And then you can play Mariona in the 10 more. You can rotate her with Frida. What's Kyra's role then? Then what's Kim's role? And I think it just, it gives people a lot more room to play their more natural position and like get their attacking attributes because right now we are sacrificing a little bit with Kyra and Kim playing them so deep as well. So, yeah, by a central defensive midfielder, but I agree, Joe. I think Marion is our best 10 option right now. Yeah, for me, this is tactically, logically, it's quite simple.

43:41It's one game, so, well, technically two, but I kind of discount the Benfica one because it doesn't serve my point. this this looks like it has some potential and i just don't think any other midfield three we've played this season does on a long-term basis so for me the calculus is reasonably simple try it just give it give it some time together we're going to have to take kim out of games anyway so like other players would get the chance but like those are the players that you've invested in as well Kyra's got another 18 months of contract Vic Pilovers is up at the end of the season obviously we don't know what Kim's going to do next season yet but but she's a pillar player so is Mariana there's a question mark about the third player in that midfield and is it the 10 or is it the six Kyra's there and she's 23 24 I always get her age wrong I don't know what it is 23 yes yes she is um yeah like so try just try to make it work basically um i i think it's got potential um and and like i said i just don't know about the other midfield combinations that are currently available to us um basically so i i say ride with it till it dies quite frankly um how how about i'll ask you uh another one as well um how about this one this one's from at han solo so um they ask they ask first about if renee doesn't get a new contract soon will it damage january uh window recruiting um to the point where next season is more of the same but then asks a kind of follow-up in your opinion is the club too scared of a large fan base to make quick big decisions about contracts this is something i've heard a lot of people say as well the fallout from um you know viv leaving and all of that what do you make of of that question let's let's take them both the kind of renee contract and whether that affects january and the you know is do you do you think and obviously this total speculation but do you detect anxiety in terms of like because when Arsenal do stuff Arsenal have the biggest fan base it's noisy right Man City finished fourth last year and haven't won a trophy for since 2022 there are no long reads about that because it just doesn't and that's not a quiz it doesn't get the same level of attention um whereas Arsenal it's annoying it's it's it's great but it's big and it's noisy do you think there's any kind of inertia um or anxiety there i love these questions i love it um i think in terms of the renee contract one it affected us last january like her being up in the air is she going to get the is she going to get the deal so yeah i think the the simple answer is yes that will have an effect but then arsenal are in a precarious position right now that do you want to renew her before christmas because she's not done anything to prove that she should be renewed yet so it's a hard situation to be in i kind of empathize with it.

46:57But in short answer, yes, that is going to affect the January transfer window. There's no future plan. And we've obviously seen with recruitment, it doesn't feel like there's a lot of strategy or kind of like, what am I, what am I trying to say? Like, it doesn't feel like there's any sort of future plan with recruitment. How do these players fit into a system? There's no system there. So yes, I do think that will affect January. But that is the flow on of a few other things. In terms of the big player one, I think that's a really interesting point. I think there's a few sides to this. And the one thing I'll say is obviously the Viviana Miedema one was probably the biggest thing that's happened in terms of a player departure.

47:31And that was because the manager didn't see her being a part of the future plans. I think that my opinion on that situation still remains that at least the head coach at that time, Jonas Eideval, was very certain of the fact that he wanted Russo to be the striker. He wanted Steiner and he didn't find a room for Viviana to meet him in that 11 and he made a call and I think at the end of the day if that hurts fans opinions that uh feelings fair enough you love that player she's done so much for the club that's fair enough but at the same time like as a fan in in the same in the same breath I think it was very good that a head coach has said this is not a player that fits what I want to do and this is not a player that is going to be a part of my system so I need to make the hard call as a result Mariana Caldente comes in I still don't believe in that straight swap narrative but I do think that that has a long-term benefit on Arsenal and I think that I wouldn't trade Russo for Viv right now I just think like that's just it's happened like the evolution has happened so I can understand and I think that's why when that question comes now where this head coach under Renee Slagas doesn't seem like she wants to make the hard conversations in terms of recruitment because she doesn't really know which player she likes then it's a different question I think if you asked me 18 months ago I would be saying uh yeah but I don't think the head coach cares I think he will make those hard decisions whereas now I don't think the head coach will make those hard decisions and that is why it kind of bothers me the one thing I'll say is yes maybe there is a bit of like you're a bit scared about the outrage if maybe someone like this is again like all speculation Bethme doesn't get an extension a lot a big section of the fan base might be upset because she served the club so long Katie McCabe someone like that but at the same time I think it kind of goes against Arsenal's like reactiveness when it comes to extensions like if you cared about fan outrage or like, you know, fan attention, you'd probably have extended Alessio Russo earlier and louder.

49:17So I think I don't really know if the recruitment actually taking a massive notice to the fan reaction, because I think more positive things could have happened to get that reaction. Like I said, Russo needed to be, I think that should have happened earlier. And I think it should have been a bigger deal, like extending her. She's like the pillar of the team right now. So I think I can see the point and you're like the recruitment might be worried. But at the same time, I honestly don't believe that they have enough bite and passion right now to be looking at that as a factor. I just think a lot of it comes from complacency.

49:46So my answer right now is yes, sort of. But I also think it comes as an expense that there is a complacency. And I don't think this would have happened under the former head coach. And that's not I'm not saying it's a good thing. Like I'm not saying bring back Jonas Eideval. But I'm just saying I think it's more of a complacency thing as opposed to we're scared of our own fans. yeah i another this is for another podcast i don't think the fan reaction thing factors even 0.1 percent i i really don't um i i really don't i think the club shuts that noise out and they have to rightly so do you have a question for me i do this one's going back to the midfield uh this one is from at annie 25 yes in wally's last interview with a swiss newspaper so leo volte he spoke to a Swiss newspaper recently.

50:34She states that from conversations with Arsenal, she got the feeling that they don't want to play with a traditional number six anymore. Do you think that opinion has changed or the two eights will be the way to go for the coming seasons? Yeah, that's really interesting. I had this question down as well. I think what's, I guess what's slightly concerning is that it doesn't sound like someone said that to Leah in as many words but she kind of um yeah kind of that's the vibe she got and i kind of wonder if someone should have just said that you know what i mean like i i imagine it's because they probably wanted to keep her but they probably wanted to keep her as a as a kind of squad player and i can understand why she didn't really want to do that it doesn't sound like from what she said that that message was particularly clear though um and you know i i know there was no plan at the beginning of the summer for her to be sold i don't think the club didn't necessarily want to let her go but she kind of felt after the euros it all happened quite quickly and it all sounds more like a vibe than a message but then again i guess if they didn't want to let her go why would they say you know um we don't actually we just don't want to play with a player like you because they probably did want to keep her around because she'd be useful but once she made the decision i'm sure it was born out of respect for the player respect for her wishes and rightly so she'd earned that um you know i i think everyone i think every arsenal fan would say really the issue is not getting a replacement um and and it's just such an interesting question about the six i asked renee about it earlier in the season and she kind of intimated yeah it's she sees it as more of an overall structure thing rather than the responsibility of one player which i think is fair enough but at the same time i do kind of think that players do need a clear like you know 90 of the time that's down to me doesn't mean it's always down to me but i know that if like there's a big old gap in midfield i'm probably the one that should be you know breaking my neck to get back like i do think you kind of need that clarity and role so i think it's really interesting and like she's right isn't she really because we haven't really ever played with a six under renee and the midfielders they've been interested in haven't been traditional sixes Reuteler you know there was another midfielder I believe they looked at in the summer uh who who can play as a six but is more of an eight as well so like the players they've they've really looked at are not in that mold either so yeah it does it does look like that but it's interesting that that like again that's a vibe people are getting rather than a very clear message and it feels to me like like wally is is probably interpreting really um like well i'm out of the team they're playing kim and mariana and the other midfielders they're looking at are not like me so i i think i just think it's interesting that it's an interpretation rather than someone saying it in as many words and i think her interpretation is the same as a lot of us that that just has It's been the fact, hasn't it, to this point?

54:09So, yeah, it does feel like that. I think it'd be really interesting to see what shakes out in January. Because when I asked René about it a couple of weeks ago, she seemed to hint a little bit more that perhaps they were looking for that kind of profile to be in the squad. So we'll see. I'll see what I can find out in the meantime. But how about this one then? This also relates to the midfield. And a player who is a natural six, Layla Harbert, is back after her loan at Portland Thorns. Again, I asked Renee about this. This was stuff I kind of already knew, really. They didn't want to send her on loan in the championship again.

54:52She's done two championship loans. They didn't think she'd learn very much from it. They wanted to get her out of her comfort zone, away from home. They wanted her to have to really fight to get into the team. And they wanted her to play more physical transitional football. because clearly they see that as part of her development that's needed because she's a very good deep-lying playmaker. But it sounds like all around they just wanted to toughen her up a little bit. Not that they don't think she's tough, just like she's 18, 19 years old. But anyway, at Sarah JK Official asks, with Leila Harbert now back at Arsenal after finishing up her loan at Portland Thorns, do you expect to see Arsenal loan her out for the second half of the season or keep her amongst the main squad to continue her development within the first team environment and the under-21 squad.

55:43First thing I should say is I don't believe a firm decision has been made on this yet. And I think what they'll do is they'll keep her around until they finish, see how she looks in training and kind of go from there. So it's more like prediction with Leila Harbert. What do you reckon, another loan or keep her around Katie Reid style? I think there's a bit of a step difference between Leila Harbert and maybe Katie Reid in terms of I think Katie Reid's just a bit of a unicorn academy kid and she's ready to be in the senior squad we've seen that and obviously what happened with her ACL is really really tragic but I think midfielders especially young midfielders just need a little bit more time because they need they just they're naturally less they're less like aggressive physical and I think Leila Harbert moving to the NWSL is good in that way.

56:32I think I love the NWSL. I really like advocate for that league and I think it's exciting because of the physicality but it's also so athletic and it's so quick. So I think a hundred percent like just as like a person growing up I think you go like like going overseas for me was like so massive in the way that like just you just get different experiences and you kind of have to rely on yourself and to you know get through things and I think that is so important for Leila Harbert and especially like that's good that Arsenal want to do that with her because I think that she should take that as a compliment because it's like okay we we see you maybe as a part of our future plans and we need you to have this kind of mental development as well as physical development and just game experience go see the world and how different leagues play I think she should take that as a big compliment because they're almost going the extra mile to develop her as opposed to some players they're maybe going to play in the championship and not getting as many minutes and yes there's maybe more of a pathway for Leila Harbert so she should take that as a compliment and I think you go and learn off a very different style midfielder like Sam Coffey as opposed to Kim Little.

57:29They're completely different players. So yes, I think there's an argument for she can stay at Arsenal and she can learn from the best, but maybe she's not going to be that kind of player. She doesn't need to play like Kim Little. Go see how someone like Sam Coffey plays in the CDM, which is completely different. Really, really dynamic. She loves to find a lot of ground and really, really be in and around a lot of the area of the pitch. She's less of an anchor. So I think that's really good for our development. In terms of the future, it's interesting because I think watching the championship this year, it's almost less competitive than it usually is.

58:00There's a bit of a battle at the top, but Charlton are kind of running away with it. The league is not as solid as it maybe has been in the last couple of years, and I think you risk a January loan to a championship squad without a guaranteed spot. I don't think that's a very productive thing for Leila Harbour right now. So if there's a position where she goes to a championship side and she's going to be playing minutes, I think that is important. but at the same time I don't think the league is as strong this season as it has been in the past so maybe you're wasting six months where okay just just stay at Arsenal from January to May and train in this environment but you're not going to play because she won't I get that that's annoying for her development but I also think that Portland loan is important she didn't play a lot at Portland either but she got those experiences I still don't think a loan to a championship side with the state that the league is maybe in this season is going to be constructive so if she's Staying in England, I think I would maybe rather her stay at Arsenal.

58:51But again, I know a lot less about her and her pathway than the recruitment and the team do at Arsenal. So yeah, that's just my two cents. Yeah, I mean, you're quite right. It's because they rate her. That's why they've pushed the boat out. There's a lot of young players who will go on a third championship loan because that's probably, I say end up, that sounds pejorative, that's their future. whereas I think with Leila Harbour that's not the case at this stage so I think it would be really interesting if we don't bring a midfielder in in January there's a squad spot there anyway quite frankly should be getting in match day squads even if not coming on and I think you're right the chance to train with Kim Little it might not even be there next season we don't know yet so yeah absolutely how about oh no it's your turn to ask me one Let's do one more each.

59:46Okay. This one's again on recruitment. So have fun, Tim. This is from Atlivie AFC. Do you think our approach to recruitment is worse than the likes of Chelsea and City? When you look at their squads, it seems like they often sign players that are able to come in and impact their team immediately or even go straight in the starting 11 without seeing a drop-off. However, it doesn't feel like that's the case for us on a consistent enough basis. nice one are cool geo lacasse borba kcc kafaji kadina all examples where the manager doesn't fully trust them how do we resolve this issue yeah it's so i think the thing to say is chelsea and city have plenty of of their own kind of quote-unquote failures i do think that that does just happen in recruitment sometimes as well i i would agree and and also when you're really involved with your club you feel all of them do you know what I mean whereas like Chelsea signing who's um who's the midfielder they signed they immediately sold to Brighton after one year um I've had a complete blank but they signed someone summer 2024 Mellor's Empamy yes yes that's right and kept her for one season moved her on to Brighton I think the thing is with Chelsea in particular is they they what's that saying about like fail quickly and like learn quickly I can't remember the saying either it's too late in the evening for this and yeah and so it kind of and also Chelsea just like push a lot of players out on loan as well and particularly with young players like that's always going to be scattergun like you sign a player under 23 years old I think you're looking at you've got a 30 to 40 chance that they're going to have a long-term future with you.

1:01:34I think that's just the way it is. But yeah, a lot of this with Arsenal is stuff we talked about before. Alignment, we've probably... I think the other thing is Arsenal, you know, before Rene, the managers were Joe Montemore and Jonas Eideval, and those are the managers that have done the bulk of the recruitment into this squad, and they are completely different managers with completely different styles. It was so like the squad's kind of been put together by like polar opposite kind of managers. And that's why the current Arsenal job feels like a big opportunity. And it feels like this job right now for the Arsenal manager is like a rebuild job.

1:02:20And that's actually a very good opportunity for better alignment to happen. If it's like, look, there's a lot of turnover coming. if I were Rene I don't know I'd say do you trust me to do this do you if you want me to do this we have to go all the way you know extend the contract I want my players playing my football and all of that and um and then you want you know a little bit of I guess pushback in the background as well that's a bit like well actually we don't want to tie our entire future to you and your players and and those kind of conversations need need to happen um basically but yeah like essentially next summer's going to be a very busy one um and they they're going to be replacing big players and they have to get them right they have to get them right it's going to be we we can't have any like nice wongers um you know i i feel really sorry for jenna that like her name has become associated with this and shouldn't do it but you know what I mean like we can't have that like there's got to be full alignment on who goes who who stays and who comes in and I don't know why that's been a bit spotty in the last couple of years to be honest I think Jonas was heavy like you could tell you tell Jonas was heavily involved in the recruitment of players because a lot of them Swedish came from the Swedish league like Haffaele that was because she had a Swedish coach for the national team like you could tell it was like and a lot of them his former players Ilistat Simone Boy like you could tell that was Jonas recruitment you know and I kind of feel like Arsenal have to decide on a model and commit to it like does the manager do recruitment or is that something that's a little bit more strategic and maybe we have to argue with the manager a bit maybe sometimes they have to use players that they don't absolutely love like it just feels like maybe Arsenal need to properly get the whiteboard out and say this is where we're going for the next five years on recruitment I think that's that's kind of where it starts and and there are pros and cons to every approach but I feel like they've got to pick one and go for it um I'm not going to ask another one about the midfield because i think we've we've kind of done that um so how about this one as a last one at matty p7 do you think russo is the kind of number 10 that slagas really wants i know she's a nine but she's got really good feet in link up play strong and direct with a good finish you know i i mean i've often said i think renee would love to clone russo and have her as the 10 and the 9 at the same time.

1:05:06And we've talked a little bit about how maybe she's managing some of Russo's workload a bit, so she can be more like a 9. But we do see her play as a 10 in pretty much every game as well. What do you think about that? Yeah, I think the biggest reason why this could be the case is when Steiner comes on, Russo hardly ever comes off. It's always the 10 that comes off. It's always probably Frieda and Victoria Plova can't get a game over Alessio Russo right now, which is, it just kind of goes to show that yes, Renee really values Alessio Russo's skill set in the midfield, as do I. I just think, yeah, I just, I still believe that it's maybe a little bit of a waste on the fact that just make her more, more of a traditional nine that can still drop into the midfield.

1:05:46But I think that also maybe, I, we need to look at this as a future thing. Cause I think in the summer, like whatever happens with Victoria Pilova, I don't necessarily know if it's Renee really values Alessio Russo as a 10, or if it's, she doesn't really think that the current midfielders in the squad suit her game plan and maybe Russo just fits that a little bit more I still really think like Rene came in and Russo was the starting nine and it wasn't the case under Jonas like Steiner started the first game of last season against Manchester City at the Emirates like Steiner was the starting nine for the game opener against one of the best teams in the league so I do think Rene values Alessia Russo as the nine because that has been an immediate shift and one of the biggest things of her era is Russo is my starting nine, Steiner is my sub or work around that.

1:06:29So I think it's less of Russo really works well in the 10 and she's my best kind of midfielder. I want her to play there and more just the other midfielders don't match that profile. So that again comes down to recruitment. How do you fix that in the long term? So a bit of a yes and a no. I think her qualities really, really suit the way Rene wants to play in terms of the holdup, just getting a lot more control in the midfield. But I do think it's more of a case of she does the job better. However, I really believe Rene is the biggest advocate for Russo and the striker because like I said earlier wasn't the case under Jonas it was a very rotating front two who plays in in which game it depends so yeah a bit of both but more so again doesn't just comes down to the midfield in general yeah yeah I agree I thought I just thought it was really interesting when Kim first got injured Russo was playing in the 10 all the time and I think a lot of that's about the ball security she gives you and all of that I still don't i still much prefer as a nine um i'm not sure she's got the hold up and the ball security i'm just not sure she's got that get the ball on the half turn pick out pass it she's a very tidy player in in the number 10 and like you can trust her and she does her work and stuff like that but i don't know that she's that creative um certainly not in the mariana respect frida is creative um you know because she gets shots off and she makes defenders commit and she like free to make stuff happen basically in the final third i feel like russo's just like she's such a good player she's a really good footballer and she you know she does the she does she does like the responsible mature things but like i think sometimes in a 10 you just need a little bit a little bit more than that and I'm with you I think it's probably more down to the fact that no one has really grabbed and taken hold of that role which is why I'd like to see Mariana do it for a few at least let her fail there um at this time I don't think she will but um at this stage um but yeah it's interesting because Russo stacking up a lot of minutes um but I can see why because I think her game's gone to a different level again this season um anyway jamie um nearly 70 minutes that's about what we usually do what would you say we wrap this one up and call it a day let's call it a day move on to europe tim and then it's christmas and we can worry about the wsl yeah yeah absolutely and obviously we'll be out in leuven um this week with all the usual coverage we usually give you of every game and uh we'll be at the palace game as well and jamie and i will do a podcast after that game before Christmas.

1:09:13Then we might take, you know, a week or two off and do a mailbag earlier in the new year or something like that. But thanks so much for being with us. Thanks so much for your questions. Do please leave a review on your podcast player of choice. And if you think we're worth the$6 a month, six euros a month, I think, for Patreon, we haven't raised that price since launching in March 2018. That helps us keep the lights on and do everything we do around the women's team and beyond but if not all good we're just very happy to have you with us and we will speak to you next week until then take care of yourselves