Observations from Arsenal Women’s pre-season friendly v Spurs

Arsenal lost 4-3 to Spurs in a pre-season friendly at Boreham Wood on Saturday. I thought I would write up some observations from the game but please don’t consider these conclusions. This is one pre-season game, the players who got to the Euros finals were playing for the first time this pre-season and players are at different fitness levels.

The other interesting factor is that Spurs have changed coach this summer and they, like Arsenal, hadn’t played a pre-season game for an audience yet. Their approach was very different to last season under new coach Martin Ho. They were very aggressive in their press and Arsenal didn’t really have any way of knowing that before this game.

Renee did say to Arseblog News after the game that more WSL teams are moving towards this type of approach and she was glad Arsenal got this test now, especially as they weren’t entirely expecting it, since it is a test she thinks they will face a lot next season. Anyway, here are some other observations from the game which, again, should not be taken as firm conclusions given we are dealing with one pre-season game where player fitness varies so much.

Pelova as a 10

Since returning from injury in March, Victoria Pelova has played exclusively as a 10 in her cameos from the bench. I didn’t know how much to glean from that last season, whether that was just where the minutes were because Arsenal really only have one specialist 10 in Frida Maanum compared to the embarrassment of riches they have in the eight position.

With Frida Maanum absent, Pelova played as a 10 in this game for the whole time she was on the pitch. I think we are starting to see that this is where Renee sees her. Though, I did ask Pelova about this after the game and she was more circumspect. ‘No, I don’t think this is always where Renee sees me but it is pre-season and we felt it was worth experimenting.’

Whatever the truth of it, and players and coaches tend to avoid the certainties that fans and journalists jump to, she played in Maanum’s role in this game. Mariona was in the deeper midfield role we saw last season and it wasn’t a ‘six and two eights’ scenario on this occasion (which is not to say that will never happen, of course, this was one pre-season game).

Pelova veered very much towards the right side and scored an early goal by plundering the right channel, a space she got into several times in the game. Chloe Kelly started on the right wing and sometimes Kelly would move inside and Pelova would stay towards the right side and we saw rotation of positions there.

It was a good showing from Pelova and I suspect it’s a portent for where Renee sees her this season, especially due to the lack of natural depth at 10. But I have an open mind and will be curious to see what happens there against West Ham.

Goalkeeper’s Union

Anekka Borbe played the full 90 minutes with Zinsberger on the bench and van Domselaar not involved. Before the end of last season I was told by more than one person that Arsenal were looking to bring in another goalkeeper this summer and that might have implications on Manu Zinsberger’s future.

I think we have to wait and see what happens on Wednesday before drawing any firm conclusions but I did wonder whether we would see both goalkeepers in this game and we didn’t. Van Domselaar is currently a very firm first choice and while coaches won’t guarantee players a starting berth upon signing other than in very obvious circumstances, I find it difficult to believe that Borbe would’ve joined the club as a third choice.

Nothing firm to be concluded from this isolated game, not least because I don’t know what the goalkeeper selection has looked like in the other BCD games. If Zinsberger is an unused sub again on Wednesday we might be closer to a conclusion on how Slegers sees the goalkeeper hierarchy. One to stick a pin in and observe without taking any solid conclusions from this game.

Leadership group

Kim Little started this game on the bench after having a small knock during pre-season. Leah Williamson and Lia Walti were not available, all of these players have long been members of Arsenal’s leadership group. I was a little surprised not to see Katie McCabe wearing the captain’s armband in this game, Steph Catley wore it instead. Again, I would caution against any firm conclusions or hot takes here.

I asked Slegers after the game whether the leadership group- which has recently welcomed Lotte Wubben-Moy- had been refreshed. ‘No, not before everything is clear and communicated internally, but all I can say here is that we have a lot of leaders in the team and so it’s a luxury position and part of my philosophy is to empower as many people as possible.’

Again, it doesn’t have to be anything alarmist. Catley has captained Australia in the absence of Sam Kerr over the last 18 months. When Tite managed the Brazil men’s team, he used to rotate the captaincy from game to game to empower different members of the squad.

That doesn’t really work at club level, of course but it does hint at a different approach from Slegers. I don’t know what that might look like yet, whether it means an expanded leadership group or else just a refreshing of the leadership group (which doesn’t have to be an admonishment of anyone), it’s another one to stick a pin in and assess before the beginning of the season.

More direct

For her entire 62 minutes or so she was on the pitch, Beth Mead played on the left wing. Arsenal appeared to play a lot of diagonal passes in this game and having a right footer like Beth Mead on the left set Arsenal up well for quick switches of play. Arsenal’s two open play goals were from swift, first time balls over the top to Pelova and Foord.

I need to see more before I am really sure about this but it felt like Arsenal were more willing to be more direct and play the ball forwards and diagonal very quickly. This, by the way, is one of the many reasons I really hope Beth Mead stays at the club this summer, given her flexibility to assume different roles, from the start and as an impacter from the bench.

Olivia Smith played her 45 minutes exclusively from the right. In Foord, Mead, Kelly and Smith Arsenal have four wide players capable of playing on both sides, which ought to give the team greater flexibility to attack opponent weaknesses across the season. This is an area I really have my eye on for next season, I am curious to see how they use their wide players.

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