Arsenal Women Arsecast Episode 175: Points Divided against United

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1:32Hello and welcome to the Arsenal Women Ask Cast and AskPod.com with me your host Tim Stillman looking back at Saturday's 1-1 draw with Manchester United and in this space we probably could just replay last week's podcast about the 0-0 draw home to Crystal Palace and most of it would still be pretty pertinent to be honest um now because this podcast going out a little bit later than we probably wanted for scheduling reasons and to be frank on sunday i didn't really have much of a voice i'm struggling with a terrible strain of man flu at the moment um we're not going to go absolutely blow by blow um on this one we're going to go a little bit bigger picture but again a lot a lot of the questions and a lot of the points are the same and we'll probably major a little bit more on the listener questions, particularly because this is going to go out on the morning that Arsenal play against Kürger in the Champions League.

2:28And in fact, all the pre-match kind of press for that has been done and I've been at Colney today doing all of that. So we'll make it a little bit of a Kürger preview as well. But here to dissect all of that with me as ever is our co-host Jamie Spanger. Jamie, how are you doing?

2:45Jamie: It's not been a good weekend, Tim. It's been a bad weekend to be an Arsenal fan. I'm okay. The sun is shining. I have to look on the bright side of life and say at least summer's coming for me. It was a bad weekend. I actually made a group of my friends watch the men's game and then the women's game. So our footballing endeavors ended at about 4.30 a.m. on Sunday morning. And they kind of all looked at me. They're not really football fans at all. And they looked at me and they said, do you do this every week? And I was like, well, not usually, actually. It's just been a bad weekend. Yeah, frustrated Tim.

3:15Jamie: And not really excited to get into it, but I do think there's a lot of meat on the bone that we could probably complain about and dissect and maybe a bit of group therapy. Yeah, indeed. Yeah, I watched the men's game in the media room, actually, and that didn't set me up particularly well for this game, it must be said. I think the kind of first thing to go into here, really, and I can't remember whether we talked about this last week. I did a show with Connor Roberts in the build-up to this game. who runs a very good Manchester United women's YouTube channel. We were talking about the likely approaches of the teams.

3:49And certainly in that, particularly because I had a more United focus, I said I completely expected, after what happened last weekend with United losing 5-0, my vast experience of watching football over many, many years, more years than I care to admit, every single time you play a team that's just been beaten 5-0, they will make damn sure that does not happen again every single time. So I absolutely expected nothing less than a United low block. And not least because they had a lot of success doing that against Arsenal last season. And with their start to the season and the fact that I think they've got Sheffield United in the Subway Cup this week, like they can kind of save all of Ava Ollid's attacking principles and all that for games they've got coming up.

4:40But was there any doubt for you about how United would approach this? And I guess when the team sheets come out and they've got three fullbacks on the pitch and Ella Toon's not there, I think we knew what kind of game we were in for here about a week before it kicked off.

4:57Jamie: Certainly, especially when you look at the fact that Renee Slagers has not faced a Manchester United team that has really tried to press up the pitch and attack. And every single time she's played against them, we've suffered. There was obviously the 1-1 draw at the very start of her managerial tenure when she came in as interim, and that was frustrating. But then last season was low block after low block, and then obviously they reaped the rewards of that in the League Cup as well. So, yeah, I think that everyone around the stadium and everyone, every fan of the football club thought that that was going to be the case.

5:25Jamie: Manchester United have had an increasingly humiliating start to the season, and we spoke about that a lot last week, and their transfer window was poor. They lost a lot of big names, and they didn't replace them and make any effort to do so. So I wasn't surprised. I guess the only question mark for me was Mark Skinner's exit. Is Eva Oled going to continue to kind of press with this attacking brand of football that she has against London City lineesses and Chelsea? But, yeah, I thought it was a no-brainer. You're coming to Emirates Stadium against a team that is kind of a little bit dispirited and going to want to prove a point.

5:55Jamie: You're very dispirited after, you know, sinking seven goals in two weeks. So, yeah, I was not at all surprised by the performance nor the line-up at all, Tim. yeah and I think the Arsenal line-up pointed to the fact that they were expecting this as well I think if your midfield three is Georgia Stanway, Mariano and Alessio Russo that that's not a midfield three you put together because you're expecting to do lots of defending that is a midfield three you put together because you're expecting to attack a lot so Steph Catley came back into the team as well I think you know we had that specific tactic against Crystal Palace of inverting and underlapping and that wasn't going to be the case here.

6:36Lisa Baum and Olivia Smith both playing on their natural sides in this game. I guess what did you make of the Arsenal line-up and were there any surprises there for you? Particularly with Russo and Steiner starting, we should say as well.

6:52Jamie: Yeah, can I be honest? I was very surprised from the outset because I came into this game, like you mentioned, Tim, thinking United are going to play a defensive block. They're going to be hard to break down at the back. And it did kind of seem as if it was put all your attackers on the pitch and see if we can just score a lot of goals. But for me, I just think the selection of Stina Blackstinius is a little bit puzzling against a low block. And we saw this last season. I think it was at Lee Sports Village she started and then she didn't start at the Emirates. I think Frieda started at the Emirates.

7:20Jamie: But we struggled with her because she's a striker that likes the space in and behind. She likes to exploit the area when we put the ball in. And I just thought it just, again, it was a situation of she's not going to be able to do that against a low block. Therefore, Alessio Russo doesn't have a lot of space to operate in. And then you've got your attacking midfielders who aren't natural defensive midfielders in Georgia, Stanway, and Mariona. There's a lot of players in very little space. And I think we've seen a lot. Arsenal can't kind of operate against a low block when those are the personnel in the starting lineup.

7:48Jamie: So, yeah, I was surprised by Stina starting, to be honest. I didn't know if it was going to work. And we can probably come on to the many reasons why it didn't. And it's not just personal. But, yeah, I thought that was very interesting. and maybe a little bit of a lazy tactical decision for Rene rather than how do we break this team down. It was kind of let's just put all the goal scorers on the pitch and see what can happen. But I guess I was a little bit optimistic still at that point. Yeah, again, on Connor's YouTube channel, he asked me for a prediction. I said I thought 2-0 Arsenal, but I thought they might be late goals, that this might be a game of patience where we've got to really try and break a team down.

8:27I was surprised to see Steiner start as well for the same reasons as you I expected this to be a very low block and those don't tend to be the games that Steiner thrives in we can come on to the substitutions later because I think there was at least a difference a positive difference there compared to last week but what about then Lisa Baum and Olivia Smith this week it's interesting we've had loads of questions and i find it really interesting that like getting the questions in both directions um getting a lot of like why is olivia smith playing on the left why is she playing on the right why is lisa bound play because they both played both sides um this season i mean i think jamie i uh on the side of thinking that changing we've had three different midfields in the three games we've had three different forward lines and the wingers have played on different sides and i think there's a very fine line between being flexible and thinking uh don't really know what's going to work let's try something else and it feels a bit like we've gone into the uh don't really know what what's going to work let's try something else here but i mean i i personally i think i saw something specific about why we played live and lisa belm on their natural sides but what did you make of what did you make of that part of it.

9:54Jamie: Yeah. Can I be honest, this rotating lineup is something that's frustrating me. I'm not going to be positive on this podcast. I'm going to, I'm going to preface that from the very start, but I think at the very end of Jonas Eideval's tenure in the last couple of weeks, obviously we played Manchester City in the season opener in his final season. Um, and Lesley Russo didn't even start that game. And then the next week it was a completely rotated lineup and there was back to back weeks where it felt as if he was just kind of, he was rotating for the sake of rotating because he had no idea what was working.

10:24Jamie: The players didn't know what was working. There was no kind of identity to what was happening. And the last three weeks has really, really reminded me at the start of that season, and that came before the heavy defeat at Emirates Stadium to Chelsea. So that's a little bit nerve-wracking, although we are playing them away. It just feels right now as if Rene doesn't actually know what she's asking of these players. And that was my – I was very optimistic heading into this season in the opposite direction because I thought, okay, this is the first preseason without a major tournament. These are the first kind of preseason where Renee seems like she's gotten her way in the transfer window.

10:54Jamie: She's signing her players. And I thought this is going to be the one where Arsenal come in from the outset with a footballing identity. And it feels the complete opposite, Tim. It feels like, okay, I don't know who my midfield is. It feels like, okay, Mariona's one day. She's going to be a 10. Then she's going to play in the eight. And then none of it really works. So they're all kind of eights. And that doesn't work because then we're lacking serious creativity. and then, okay, I want both my wingers to play both sides, but this is a 19-year-old who's just signed for the club and Olivia Smith who still hasn't had a full, full run at Arsenal to be able to find her feet and say, this is my role.

11:30Jamie: And again, this is Olivia Smith's season. We spoke about that on the preview pod. It felt like this was her breakout season, but she's kind of being thrust around a little bit based on form. I think a lot of the Lisa Baum and Olivia Smith thing comes from, Renee doesn't really trust Ford or Kelly right now either. And obviously Kelly didn't have a preseason, but those two players aren't players that are coming on and impacting the game. And you can see when the manager doesn't trust players. It's the same for someone like Freda Mornham who's not even being included in the matchday squad. So I just think it's frustrating as a fan to see this rotating lineup because it's giving me genuine flashbacks from the end of the Gona side of Altenia.

12:03Jamie: And I hate when Arsenal go out and look like they don't have a footballing identity. So that's frustrating. In terms of the wingers, I think that it's a bit silly to be rotating as much as we are. Like I said, I think you've got two young wingers that still don't know their role at Arsenal. I understand doing it against a low block because you want to be able to have some sort of creativity and difference in how you're approaching the low block. Whether Lisa Baum's coming in on her right foot or whether Olivia Smith's doing the same, they can invert and they can come down the wings. I get that.

12:34Jamie: But right now, Tim, I just think it's too soon. The starting 11, they don't have a role and it's frustrating. It's really frustrating. Yeah, yeah. There is a fine line between flexibility and confusion. I mean, the reason I think quite clearly they played them both on their, you know, on their quote unquote natural sides is because they had a tactic around trying to get in behind the United full backs. Olivia Smith was really facing up against Sandberg every single time. They were trying to get to the byline and get those cutbacks because United, when they defend like this, they don't give you central areas.

13:09They've got two very good centre-backs and they sit Ziguiotti and Mazzawi. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Japanese midfielder. They kind of sit them in front. They don't give you that area at all. So they were trying to go around the sides and they tried to do that a lot against United. The problem was that Arsenal were getting good cutback positions. I think Smith and Baum were getting to that byline quite a lot. but the problem was when it came to doing the uh the cutback the the area is just far too crowded and Renee said afterwards that she wanted to play Russo and Steiner because she wanted them both in the box and I think that again was about like trying to load up the area for the cutbacks which I could see the vision as it were it didn't quite work there were some chances again Mariana I think she's been a little bit unlucky with a couple of shots she's had this season.

14:06I think she could easily have two or three goals this season that she doesn't quite have at the moment from cutbacks, but it gets to half-time. United have kind of got their nil-nil and at that point, you know, it's going to be like a bit of a kind of tough afternoon. I think Arsenal toil here a bit, Jamie. I think like on one hand against Palace last week in isolation, you could say Arsenal got varianced a bit. Obviously, you can't consider it in isolation because it happens too often. But they did create quite a lot against Crystal Palace, probably not as much as they should have, but plenty to win the game.

14:47In this game, I mean, Steiner has a header in the first half, which is a good chance. but this time they created situations but not chances. I can't think of many times that Fallon Tullis-Joyce really made you draw breath with a save. And so the game draws on, and I think it was clear the pattern was going to go like this. However, whereas last week against Palace, I think the substitutes or substitutions kind of destroyed the rhythm of the game and Arsenal had almost no shots in the last 20 minutes. On this occasion, the substitutions were a bit better. We saw Selena Churchy come on and we saw Smilla Holmberg come on.

15:37Now, Churchy wasn't on the bench against Crystal Palace and I think that was a mistake in hindsight. right Smilla didn't come on against Palace I think because they didn't want to chuck too many crosses in the box whereas this time Jamie they kind of it feels like Rene when when I say basic I don't mean that pejoratively but she put on her best crosser and she put on her best aerial striker and it did go a bit let spam crosses in and i mean we'll come to the united goal in a minute but it did feel like at the very least the substitutions whether by accident or design were a little bit more effective even leaving aside the fact that literally a substitute who scores the equaliser.

16:29Jamie: Yeah, it does feel a little bit like this was look to your bench and you think of who the best players to come on at that time are, which I think is probably a good thing in comparison to what I was complaining about last week in terms of there's rehearsal and there's pre-planned subs. And last week I think that the subs almost made sense, but they didn't work and they weren't considerate situationally, whereas this week I think these are the players that you have to bring on. And I'm not saying that that is a tactical masterclass from Renee Slagas by any means, because I don't think it was. Like you said, Tim, I think she just said, you can cross the ball and you can score goals.

17:03Jamie: Like, please do something for me. But had we gone up one or two nil, I think these players probably don't actually see the pitch. I think someone like Kyra Cooney Cross comes on or we kind of try to solidify the team a little bit more. So yeah, it's good to have these players. However, it's again frustrating to have to rely on a 19-year-old to kind of save the day on this occasion. But from Rene Slaggers' point of view, I still think, Tim, like this is not a tactical game where I think last week I was looking at this result and there was a big Russo chance and we were frustrated about that. And the players had so many shots on goal and the Palace keeper was making saves that kind of just fell to her because our endeavours in front of goal were just so weak and we were so toothless that we were saying it felt as if the manager coached a win.

17:46Jamie: This week it didn't really feel like that. I think there's a lot of factors that went into this result. And I have a lot to say about the manager and the playing group as well. However, it did feel as if this was a tactical kind of like, let's panic. It was a panic and it was fortunate that we got the three points because at the one point, sorry, I wish we got three points because I think we'd be saying far different conclusions. That's for sure. Yeah. And I always had the feeling with this guy, like the second he got to halftime, nil-nil, I felt like my pre-match prediction, this might be like a 2-0 but really toughed out.

18:21I maybe pared that down to a 1-0 and we're going to tough it out and it might go right to the last second. But I really felt it was either going to be 0-0 or 1-0 to Arsenal. And, you know, Jamie, we're recording this over 48 hours after the game and players make mistakes at times and you kind of have to accept that that's part of football. I have to say even like a good 50 hours later I'm finding Georgia Stamway's pass to Steph Catley really difficult to accept because and and and that's kind of unfair on her because it can happen but it's just the context of it where we could not afford to throw the ball in our own net and Manchester United had no interest in attacking whatsoever.

19:13They were playing for a nil-nil. Even in the post-match, I don't know if you saw Maya Letizia's post-match interview. I'm not saying this critically. She was smiling and laughing, even though they conceded a 94th-minute goal because they were delighted with the draw, which again is not critical. That is their prerogative. I would feel the same in their situation. but when you've got a team that is literally not even trying to attack, throwing the ball in your own net like that is really difficult to forgive as a mistake and as soon as Ziguiotti went through and put that in, I thought that's it.

19:52I thought that's a 1-0 defeat and I don't know, are you capable of being more rational than me about that mistake? Because my head is still somewhere between Jupiter and Mars about that.

20:05Jamie: No, I think there's plenty to actually dissect about this mistake and get mad about it. And I've been getting mad about it. Yeah, I've not returned to earth, Tim. However, yeah, I think that in the context of this game, it's frustrating. As a Manchester United fan, I think you'd be happy with the result, but you'd also be frustrated with the fact that this is now your – this is what you're celebrating now. Like you're celebrating these points against these cagey performances. And I think this is a team that really need to start to search for more. And I think May Letizia is a professional, but my head was hot.

20:35Jamie: Because I was thinking we've got to be searching for more here, United. In terms of an Arsenal perspective, obviously the frustration comes from a place where we know we should be better. This pass, I think, just sums up the way we start every season. And we can go through manager cycles. We can kind of criticise the back room and how much work we're doing in the recruitment facility. But I think there is such a lack of mentality from these players at the start of every season that it does really bite us. And it's going to continue to bite us. And I don't know what it is. but the players come out and against Palace, even against Brighton, I think you forget, you can forgive the Brighton result.

21:07Jamie: And I was delighted that we got the three points because I thought finally we're clinching results in these cagey performances. But against Palace and against United, the players and the energy, the mentality, it's not there. It just isn't there. And it felt like Kim Little when she came on was the one to kind of rally the troops. Before then, the players are just going through the motions. And I think when you inject this kind of energy in the form of someone like Georgia Stam who is such a proven winner and a professional, or these are the players you really need to be stepping up the levels.

21:32Jamie: And I think this is a lazy pass in an instance where it's a very forgivable action. Like this is not a player that is like this all the time and I'm going to move on and I have moved on. But I think it's just an indictment on the playing group and the mentality, Tim, because I just don't think it's good enough. I really don't think it's good enough. I think that this is a team that there's an onus across the entire club right now and that the kind of burden of responsibility falls across so many factors, which is why I'm having a hard time to grapple with the performances. is it's not diagnosable in one area.

22:01Jamie: So, yeah, that was frustrating. And I think the playing group, at the start of every season, they do this. And then at the end of the season, their mentality wants to say, why can't we just prolong that across the entire span? Yeah, and obviously it's tough on Georgia as well because if Arsenal attacked a bit more competently, it wouldn't be as big a mistake. I'll come on to some of Renee's comments afterwards as well, which I thought were interesting because I felt she offered up more criticisms than were asked in some of the questions. She talked about, I asked her about continued failings against low blocks and she kind of said, yeah, but it's not just that.

22:39When United weren't in a low block, we weren't quick enough. We didn't counter well enough. Didn't do well enough with transitions. We had loads of corners we didn't do enough with. I think it was kind of interesting. I honed in on one aspect of attacking and she said, yep, we weren't very good at that, but here's loads of other forms of attacking. we were no good at either, which expressed some sort of frustration on her part, I think, as well. But Arsenal do get an equaliser right at the end, and there's a teachable moment in this game. I think Steph Catley's first-time pass from the United clearance where she doesn't take a touch, she doesn't hesitate, straight to Leah Williamson.

23:18And we should say, I don't think Steph Catley covered herself in glory on the United goal either. but then you know she snaps the ball to Leah Williamson Leah Williamson gets her foot on it cross to the back post Smiller Holmberg is there Smiller I thought very very good when she came on again not hugely subtle but I don't think that that matters a huge amount the point could be important of course and I don't know how important it is in morale terms but at the very least a deserving scorer of the equalizer I felt.

23:56Jamie: Yeah certainly this is the player that deserved to score the equalizer she came on in injected energy straight away she gave United something to think about which is something that none of the other players did like this is a player that is going to come on and she's going to take take the players on she's also going to recycle possession I thought she did a fantastic job and yeah this was a well-deserved equalizer it's a great ball from Leah Williamson and we're not seeing enough of this from Leah Williamson and it comes from the fact that she's picking up the left space in here so there's a little bit of rotation beneath the full back she's sorry the center back she takes the left side of the of the pitch and pings this ball to the back post which was just incredible like this is why we love this player and the finish from Smilla Holmberg is great as well it was annoying it was definitely like a bit of a breath of relief but I wasn't overjoyed by the equalizer I thought thank god like thank god because if we walked away with zero points from that game you're looking at a really really dire reflections so yeah great goal from a from a deserving player but more of that more of that if we can't play the ball along the ground if we can't break down the long ball we're just trying to play the ball through Alessio Russo all the time put it over the top we have one of the best passes in Leah Williamson like the long ball ratio that she has her Kyra Cunigross and Georgia Stanway utilize that when things aren't working so yeah glad we did in a great finish and do you what do you read in because like when Renee talked about why she put Smiller on obviously a lot of it's about you know she's really good 1v1 she's really good at crossing um you know which she's evidently really good at and it's kind of weird actually she benefits from someone else's cross to score the goal but do you read anything into the fact that if you're wanting to put someone on wide right who's good at crossing and Renee Slagers went for Smilla Holmberg before she went for Chloe Kelly.

25:45Jamie: Yeah, I think there is so much to read into that. Can I be honest? I think that something that frustrated me out of this game and like this, I'll save this from being a tangent, is when you look at the squad selection in the last two weeks, we've been frustrated because it's not Selena Churchy and Geraldine Reutella. And there's always the thing in the back of your mind that's thinking, okay, there's summer signings, like Champions League football's coming. They're coming into the squad eventually. but then you've got someone like Frieda Mornan being omitted from the squad. You've got Alessia Russo playing in the 10 once again.

26:12That's a midfielder that is a natural 10.

26:15Jamie: Why did we extend her? Why did we give her a new contract if Renee doesn't think she's as good as our striker who's not a natural midfielder among the other 10s in the squad? And it's the same kind of gist for Chloe Kelly and Caitlin Ford is I don't think these players are completely trusted. Like Ford's output is she's gotten two goals and zero assists in 23 WSL games. In the last 23 games, that is diabolical output. And like you can say what you want about her performances, but that is not good enough. And I think Chloe Kelly for the last few weeks has been so frustrating to watch because it just feels like she's kind of banging on the same door and her creativity is not there.

26:51Jamie: And I do worry about this player when there's not a driving force behind her, whether it's a major tournament or some kind of adversity. I do always worry about this player. and we saw that kind of drop off at City before she really got a lack of minutes. I just think when your head coach is looking at a 19-year-old fullback and saying, that's my most creative option in the channels, you look at these experienced wingers and you think, what are the recruitment staff doing? Because these players clearly aren't like the game changers. These are players that we're settling for and that's the trend and it has been the trend to Arsenal for so long.

27:21Jamie: So that's frustrating. And I think the Smiller inclusion, I would have put her on as well, but I just believed him that that paints a bigger picture And it kind of frustrates me at how just lackluster we are. And it's just tiresome to watch us kind of just trudge along with, yeah, that's okay. Rather than, no, let's make this the best possible team that we can. Yeah, indeed. Look, there were some attackers that went this summer for big money, either transfer fee or salary-wise, that Arsenal didn't get involved in. You know, Selena Church comes on in this game. I thought she provided a lot of presence.

28:00I actually thought that was a really positive change. I don't know enough about this player yet. Was it just because we were spamming crosses into the box and she's quite good at those? Maybe that is an option going forward. Maybe there is more to her game. I'm sure there is, but I thought she looked decent when she came on. I thought she gave us something and it kind of compounds my belief that she really should have been there for the Palace game. um but yeah it's it's um it's difficult to feel like renee trusts everyone in this squad at the moment and that and that the attack the attack has really been improved and um i think it's no surprise that most of our questions uh submitted on blue sky focus uh very kind of exclusively on that area so uh with that we will take a break here and we will return in part two with your questions right after this.

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31:07Jamie: Taking care of your health just got easier. Download the ZocDoc app today and book that appointment on your to-do list. That's Z-O-C-D-O-C ZocDoc Hi Pod fans, Max here, Barry's here too Hello And now the Premier League is back, Barry Meaning we'll be providing incredibly astute analysis Three times a week wherever you get your podcasts Barry, with the remaining ten seconds of this advert Can you provide some astute analysis? I think Arsenal are going to win the Premier League And there you are, for more hot takes like that Watch or listen to Football Weekly wherever you get your podcasts

31:41okay welcome back to part two of the arsenal women ask cast and askblog.com with tim stillman and jamie spanger um mostly looking back at saturday's 1-1 draw with manchester united little look ahead to uh tuesday evening um against kirga in the champions league as well where i was at renee's press conference today and she very much hinted at heavy rotation for that game particularly with away games against Chelsea, Paris FC and Manchester City on the horizon. So Jamie, I mean, I'm sure most of the questions you have focus on the attack as well. And we're going to start this week a bit like we started last week with a question from our friend at Unbiased Arsenal.

32:26We've generated nearly five less XG than Manchester City and Chelsea this season. And is there too much focus on poor finishing and not enough on chance creation?

32:38Jamie: Yep. Brilliant question. I had this one as my first one as well. Welcome back, Unbiased. I love hearing from you when times are tough. Yeah, certainly. I think last week it was a matter of chance creation was there, but the strikers weren't there and the finishing wasn't clinical enough. And I think as much as that is so frustrating, you can almost always forgive that because you don't think it's going to be repetitive. but with Arsenal women it is repetitive. This is the problem. This has always been the problem. This week the chance creation was minimal and I think it's interesting you point out I thought Steph Catley had a pretty average game to say the least but the first time pass that sets up the Smiller-Holmberg equaliser is one of the first times in this match it felt like the players were ready to just kind of be dynamic with the ball.

33:23Jamie: We were teetering with possession and it took us so long to kind of build up and it felt like we were just playing in the middle third the whole game. It's not like we were going and knocking on the door every 10 seconds. It really felt as if we were just like holding onto the ball. And the XG says it, like it was 1.3 or 1.4 to 0.6. So that's not good enough for a team that completed, I think, nearly more than like 200 passes. These are per stats, by the way, from Scott Willis on Tim's new Aspog not-so-massive attack, which is hilarious, great title. But it just felt like, yes, we had a lot of the ball.

33:59Jamie: Yes, we were dominating possession. the more passes completed the field tilt was insane the final third entries we had nearly 70 like the balls were there but then you look at the expected goals and you look at the big chances created and and there's not many and that's frustrating because I think you watch Manchester City and it almost feels like even in those frustrating games I can't remember who it was last season I think it was Liverpool at the end of the season that they played and they they nearly got points stolen from them and we were all watching on very eagerly but it was just kind of like goalkeeper heroic city were creating chances after creating chances and just weren't being clinical whereas it never feels like that with arsenal where it's like bam chance and the game's exciting because the keeper's always under the pump and the defense is trying to keep up the chance creation isn't there and i think for me it comes from the fact that we just take too much time with the ball in the midfield like we do not press the ball forward quick enough and i think that's a very frustrating frustrating experience because it is different from week in week out and if an if unbiased was saying like it's always chance creation I think that can be true sometimes but sometimes it's not so it's hard to put your finger on the problem and yeah this is this is a frustrating time to be an Arsenal women's fan Tim like with all seriousness it's it's not inspiring to watch that's for sure yeah one of my I think my first question to Rene after the game was you know a lot happened a lot happened at the end and everything but what what's like your biggest takeaway from the game.

35:22And immediately she said, we don't turn dominance into danger. She said that straight away, straight off the dome piece. So I think you can say that as a yes. Do you have a question?

35:35Jamie: I do. Guys, this is my favourite conversation topic when it comes to the Arsenal women. I'm sure everyone that knows me knows what it's going to be about. This is from Muadib1843. Russo at the 10 is a thing that has worked in isolation previously, but rolling it out against United this early and the resulting performance was predictable in my opinion. Russo is very good, but a reliable 10 that does all the 10 that a 10 should, she is not. Just can't believe they're back in this situation after the summer. I guess what you made of the performance, Tim, and also just the fact that she is kind of still our break glass in case of emergency attacking midfielder.

36:12Yeah, I go back and forth on this because on one hand, I kind of think she picks up the same positions anyway, and it doesn't hugely matter. But I think there's something about coming away from the number nine position, taking a marker with you, and then having like Olivia Smith and Lisa Baum in behind. I also think that I think Russo's quite a functional 10. I mean, in this game, she actually loses the ball quite a lot, which she did against United last year. And I think that's just because, you know, the way they sit Miazawa and Ziguiotti in front of the two centre-backs, there's no space there for a number 10.

36:55And actually in this game, I know she hasn't massively sparkled there. I would have preferred Mariana because she drifts over to the sides a lot more to go and combine with the wingers. Whereas against United, when they play like this, there is no central space. They take that away from you. so I kind of think anyone that plays as a number 10 there that asked to stay quite centrally is not going to do that much and she loses the ball a lot more you a lot more than usual in this game which I think is down to that I think the thing is like Ruth she she's not a creative player you know she'll be completely functional in the turn usually she'll hold the ball she'll hold it up she'll pass it and everything else but I just kind of think in her best form where do you want her you want her up front right and I think she's such a good player that that Rene wants her on the pitch and I really understand that and I think I kind of endorse it as well I think also there's there's quite a lot of focus on her there's quite a lot of focus on Mariana as well I'm seeing a lot of kind of they're both off form they should be dropped and it's i kind of think you've got to reverse engineer that if our two probably best players are not playing well how likely do you think it is that they've both just happened to have fallen into bad form at the same time i think that's not very likely um for players of that quality and that consistency and and like has Olivia Smith been brilliant no you know like um and and if those are three of your best players and they're all sort of like how likely is it that they've all just suddenly lost form at exactly the same time I think it's very very unlikely and I think that tells you that the uh the issues are a little bit a bit a bit more systemic and I think I think the moving Russo backwards and forwards is not about her it's more about the team and it's more about just trying things and hoping that something works i don't think she was selected there for this game as a like oh maybe she'll you know united have a weakness here and she'll hit that i think it was just a bit uh we kind of want two nines on because they're going to have eight players in the penalty area and i don't think it was hugely sophisticated to be honest so um i think she can play both positions in the normal run of things i still prefer her as a nine coming out and then you know what you really want then his body's running in behind her um i think we do get that from olivia smith so like in short like in isolation i don't worry too much about the should bruce be a nine or should she be a 10 but at the moment I worry about it because I think it's symptomatic of a kind of wider malaise, if that makes sense.

39:53How about this one then, Jamie? Because Mariana was subbed again in this game quite early. And this is from At Roots Samin. I saw someone mention that since Mariana arrived, we never turn a game around after she's come off when we're losing or drawing. We actually drew to Villa and lost to Chelsea last year when she came off. Why do you think the team has an over-reliance on her, even when she's not at her best and can't get a result without her? Yeah, I mean, we've subbed her three times this season, and I don't think we've looked better on any of those occasions.

40:32Jamie: I think that's a fabulous question. That is a really good question. To be honest, I think a lot of that comes from the fact that you just look at a player sometimes and you say, this is our best performer. I think that you've got a star in Mariona where the team relies on her presence in the midfield and sometimes, look, that's okay. And in terms of turning the game around, I just think you find yourself in situations you're only taking her off if she's not playing her role. And often when she's not playing her role, it means the team are not playing their role and it means our attacking output's slow.

41:00Jamie: We're moving the ball in a poor fashion. Like, I think that the situations in which Arsenal playing bad kind of always, almost always root from a partnership with the fact that Mariona is playing bad. This weekend, though, I didn't think she had her best game at all. I think that we had a really, really poor performance in the midfield group. I just think we're in a situation now with these midfielders where, yeah, the double pivot worked when you had Kim Little and Mariona because they're so similar. It's not quite working between Georgia Stanway and Mariona. And I don't exactly know yet why.

41:31Jamie: I don't actually think we have a big enough sample size to prove why. but these midfielders right now you've got three players in brusso mariona and georgia stanway who are all playing out of position and of course like there is there's going to be a teasing period i thought our first 20 minutes against brighton were fantastic in the way that the midfield three maybe now it's because they weren't attached to a role tim they were moving very instinctually and and it looked like we're playing good football now it feels like they're no longer moving instinctually and like we have another question about this i just want to say like lexi m made a great question about how like do you feel that the girls are overcoached as the as the instinctive players are kind of not playing instinctually anymore and I think that's a big part of it right now and Mariona is an instinctual footballer because of the fact that she's so creative on the ball and so creative in possession and we've kind of I've always well at least I've always praised Renee Slaggers's talent to kind of give a player a role and say this is the role you play within the team and she did that with Chloe Kelly when she arrived she did that with Olivia Smith it feels like you You know, Kim Little and Mariona had that as well.

42:32Jamie: But I think that kind of constricts the footballer in this player that we have. And I think that what we're going to see in this season, and I really hope Renee gets like as she develops, she's a young manager, but we need to be able to strike the balance of how much do you give a player a role? How much are they completely unsure of what they're doing? And also, how do you allow these creative players to thrive? And I think in the games we're losing, it's because that creativity is stifled because an opposition is doing a really good job at clogging those spaces. So I don't think it's like the team relies on Mariona.

43:01Jamie: I just think you've got a really creative player right now that's not really being given the option to do that. She's kind of given a role to help the players around her. Like Mariona, you have to play this role to help Georgia Stanway or Alessia Russo needs to help the front three. So you kind of need to sit back a little bit rather than you are the star of this team, go and be the star of this team. So I just, to be honest, I don't think she's being coached well. I really don't think she's being coached well right now. And I think a lot of her form is the onus is on the manager and she needs to kind of burden that responsibility and look at the player and say, am I wasting a creative talent here?

43:36Yeah, I just think the fact that the midfield and the forward line keep changing in every single game, that's going to have an impact. And that's why those players all probably look a little bit lost. Not to let you too much behind the curtain, but having some technical issues. So we might do one more question each. do you have one for me?

43:57Jamie: I do, I do this one is just kind of jumping into the Koga game Tim, it's probably time for me to move on you can ask another question about United but I don't want to ask anymore this one's from alexlodge.uk what changes would you like to see in the starting line-up against Koga? A chance for the likes of Roethlund and Churchy to get a go from the start yeah, again Renee hinted very heavily that there are going to be mass changes for this game She said part of the reason we've got a squad this size is so that we can do that. She said that there are players who deserve to play and need some minutes.

44:32So I would expect a minimum of nine changes. I think I reckon there might be 11 because I think the squad is the right size to do that. And I'm fine with that. Once you decide to make, I don't know, more than three, you might as well make 11, to be honest, because I get it. Some people I think would have a valid argument to say, actually, let's try and play the team that's going to play against Chelsea, get some of that cohesion going. I can see that argument. And I think there might be an argument for that. At the same time, we've got three away games in a week. And that's very, very tough. As we've seen with the men's team this weekend, who played a fourth away game in a row and it just looked like one game too far.

45:17and yeah I think there are there are some players that need minutes so I think there'll be 11 changes even in goal I think Annika Bawba will play I think that's fine Taylor Hines, Smilla Holmberg we probably have to keep the two centre-backs so it probably will be nine changes because I think Lotta, Scott River-Niggle, Elise Gialmeyder I think she's out until the international break you know you can put a midfield of Kyrie Cooney, Cross, Geraldine Reutler and Frieda Mornemann that is not a bad midfield at all you know Ford Kelly Churchy up front that that should be enough to go and win this game I'm all for making all of those changes um it's I don't think we're going to get cohesion in one game to be honest and also the Chelsea and Man City games in particular are very different challenges anyway to be honest we're going to be playing a low block against Kyrgyz don't think we're going to face that in any of our next three games really so I think they're probably be limited value so i am all for absolutely wholesale changes i think we've got the squad to do it um so let's do it um and let's finish on this one then because it's a little bit more generalist and it's from simon geraghty was it realistic to expect a strong start given the huge squad turnover so central midfield and left back were critical positions reliable parts last season we're incorporating two big players and knock-on effects is this a repeat of previous slow starts or is this more of a necessary part of a rebuild I think that this

46:51Jamie: is a great question and I think that the answer is both we were all probably looking especially I was looking at this season Tim and saying look we're gonna like this is no tournament made no more major tournaments and good signings that were done really early in the window so I think there's a fair expectation that the team come out stronger than they already have but then at the same time I also think that you do need to account for the fact that the signings that we have made and the players that we have lost are not squad players. Like it was Katie McCabe who's been at the club for ages and then you bring it on a bat, yay.

47:19Jamie: So it's like these aren't squad players. These are starting 11 players. How then do you incorporate them and what kind of time do you give them to tease out? Georgia Stanway's in like the most orchestral part of the pitch right now. Like her role is massive. At the same time though, I think that we can look at this whole high turnover and say, yeah, I'll give them a little bit of a grace period. Chelsea and Manchester City faced a bunch of it as well and I know Chelsea really struggled on the opening day against Aston Villa but like so many of their players like Millie Bright obviously retired Gura right and left Sam Kerr ridding Kanarit like these are players that have started for Chelsea for years and years and years and they're they've done a really good job at balancing their exit and kind of teasing it out and getting ready for that to happen bringing in the players over the last couple seasons last season most of these players weren't even starting other than Sam Kerr so it I think there's a lot to say and a lot of meat on the bone to maybe argue we're bad at handling transition and again that comes maybe it's not the manager I think that comes on the back rooms where it's like we didn't know if we were giving Katie McCabe or Beth Mead a new contract until very late on in the season and then the manager's left in a position where it's like those are my starting players now I have to kind of implement these this fresh blood into the team because I've been given no option to have any sort of transition period and that falls on the recruitment team the indecisiveness it's lackluster it's lazy and I do think that that is then the managers and the playing groups problem when when it could business just needs to be done earlier this needs to be a plan you need to look ahead 18 months and say okay what is this team going to look like in 18 months and which of these players are going to play a role in it so that's frustrating so I think that you can give the playing group a little bit of time but these performances against two pretty poor sides I think are unforgivable when you have so many stars so yeah I'm kind of lying in the middle but also more angry than than forgiving yeah i i think it's both things as well it's definitely a factor um i'm sure about that how much of a factor i don't know my my prediction is i think renee's a good problem solver i think she's shown that before i predict that this issue will go away eventually um but whether that's enough to salvage an acceptable season i don't know that's what i don't know i do think she will solve this problem she's shown aptitude for that before but then the question comes will it be too late by the time it's solved and do we just keep going through this kind of um troubleshooting um you know not to put not to be too on the nose given what recording this podcast has been like but rebooting and starting again and and all of that and like at what point do we just have like a a smooth level of kind of consistency and anticipating problems and and things like that so i i my prediction which i stand to be shot down on i bet we won't be talking about low blocks in a couple of months i reckon we'll solve that issue but whether whether you know the league's gone by then could be it could be like i you know I can't deny that so um we'll see I guess um Jamie both my voice and my laptop I don't think are going to take much more and we did say we'd do a slightly shorter episode because we've come out a little bit later um this week we'll we'll go into a bit more depth on the Chelsea game next week um but Jamie thanks as ever thank you guys thank you everyone thank you Tim for sticking with us.

50:49Jamie: It's been a bad week and to be honest, I'm not looking forward to the next week, but I'm going to remain positive. Hang in there, hang in there team. Yeah. I mean, I don't think we're going to be facing a low block at Stamford Bridge. So maybe something to look forward to there. We'll have all the usual coverage we do of all of those games. We'll be out in Paris next week as well for the first away game in the Champions League. So stick with us for all of that. Thank Thank you for sticking with us for this. Apologies it's ever so slightly shorter. That was kind of planned anyway, but then technology intervened to really firmly make that the plan.

51:27And we'll probably be back to normal, a little bit more normal next week, and hopefully in a bit more of a celebratory mood. So until then, take it easy, and we'll speak to you on Monday next week.

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