good analysis Tim. i hope you are right on Russo. To my mind we are very poor at linking up in the final third - don't make late runs, don't play intelligently. I thought we pressed well against man u but we never really looked threatening, though Russo had a decent game by her standards. Caldentey is not on same wavelength yet. We really miss Pelova. Would like to see more of Kafaji. Very short on ideas.
Yes, I think what we really need are runners beyond the ball and we just haven't had that due to leaning in on structure. I think you are right that Pelova and her bursts from midfield are missed greatly.
Just a comment on set pieces, at the Chelsea game I thought we saw the set piece coach work with the team come to fore when Stina smacked it against the bar near the end. Seemed like a planned move, just not executed correctly.
Beth Mead is 29 right now and will turn 30 by the end of this season. Caitlin Foord will turn 30 next week. An improvement in their output seems like a short or at best an intermediate fix to Arsenal's ailments, which to me currently include that the team are long overdue for a rebuild. Do you think there is an actual plan for a rebuild?
Yes, covered the long term of the attack off more in this piece https://arseblog.substack.com/p/priorities. There won't be a plan yet because there isn't a manager yet.
I am curious as to why you think "genetics" by which I assume you mean height is the reason our aerial defending has been bad, when it was equally bad with Amanda Ilestedt and Lotte Wubben-Moy, neither of whom is particularly short, as our starting cb duo? Additionally, I saw yesterday you tweeted that the dream of signing Naomi Girma would fix that issue, when I believe Girma is actually shorter than Leah Williamson.
I don't think it is right that we struggled with this issue when Amanda Ilestedt was playing. I think Lotte, like Codina, is a 7/10 in the air. Height is a massive part, spring is the other. On Girma, I was just agreeing with a tweet for an easy life tbh, her aerial duels won are well below what Rafa and Beattie manage and a bit below Williamson.
The Beth thing is baffling to me. Before this season she consistently provided a good proportion of Arsenals overall G/A but it seems the structure this year (and over the last season) hardly puts her in the position to shoot, she has had several opportunities to provide assists that weren’t put away but not the volume she usually provides other than that it seems bizarre that the system isn’t putting a proven G/A provider into the box or in positions to execute the final pass with the precision we’re used to
good analysis Tim. i hope you are right on Russo. To my mind we are very poor at linking up in the final third - don't make late runs, don't play intelligently. I thought we pressed well against man u but we never really looked threatening, though Russo had a decent game by her standards. Caldentey is not on same wavelength yet. We really miss Pelova. Would like to see more of Kafaji. Very short on ideas.
Yes, I think what we really need are runners beyond the ball and we just haven't had that due to leaning in on structure. I think you are right that Pelova and her bursts from midfield are missed greatly.
Thank you so much for "nominative determinism’s Kim Little" , tha made me laugh on a tough day
Just a comment on set pieces, at the Chelsea game I thought we saw the set piece coach work with the team come to fore when Stina smacked it against the bar near the end. Seemed like a planned move, just not executed correctly.
Beth Mead is 29 right now and will turn 30 by the end of this season. Caitlin Foord will turn 30 next week. An improvement in their output seems like a short or at best an intermediate fix to Arsenal's ailments, which to me currently include that the team are long overdue for a rebuild. Do you think there is an actual plan for a rebuild?
Yes, covered the long term of the attack off more in this piece https://arseblog.substack.com/p/priorities. There won't be a plan yet because there isn't a manager yet.
I am curious as to why you think "genetics" by which I assume you mean height is the reason our aerial defending has been bad, when it was equally bad with Amanda Ilestedt and Lotte Wubben-Moy, neither of whom is particularly short, as our starting cb duo? Additionally, I saw yesterday you tweeted that the dream of signing Naomi Girma would fix that issue, when I believe Girma is actually shorter than Leah Williamson.
I don't think it is right that we struggled with this issue when Amanda Ilestedt was playing. I think Lotte, like Codina, is a 7/10 in the air. Height is a massive part, spring is the other. On Girma, I was just agreeing with a tweet for an easy life tbh, her aerial duels won are well below what Rafa and Beattie manage and a bit below Williamson.
The Beth thing is baffling to me. Before this season she consistently provided a good proportion of Arsenals overall G/A but it seems the structure this year (and over the last season) hardly puts her in the position to shoot, she has had several opportunities to provide assists that weren’t put away but not the volume she usually provides other than that it seems bizarre that the system isn’t putting a proven G/A provider into the box or in positions to execute the final pass with the precision we’re used to