Raising the Ceiling

Quality not quantity

Assessing Arsenal’s current squad with just over two months until the WSL season begins, another winger is a clear gap that needs to be filled and that I am certain will be filled. (The current gap at goalkeeper will be filled by Daphne van Domselaar). However, there are two other potential gaps in the squad due to current player absences.

Amanda Ilestedt’s maternity leave means she will likely miss the first half of next season at the least. While Victoria Pelova’s ACL injury essentially makes 2024-25 something close to a write off for her. If she can get some minutes in the tank towards the end of the season and build towards full fitness for the Euros that would probably represent a successful recovery for her.

So the question becomes, do Arsenal need a midfielder and a centre-half to fill these gaps? My personal preference would be for Arsenal to not do business in either scenario unless it is for a player who will challenge very strongly to be in the starting XI. At this stage of Jonas Eidevall’s reign, I don’t think Arsenal should be buying stop gaps and back-up players.

We have seen a fair few ‘break glass in case of emergency’ signings or stop gaps in recent seasons, such as Kaylan Marckese (signed because Sabrina D’Angelo wasn’t available until the corresponding window) and Simone Boye (signed because Rafaelle was not available until the corresponding window). My personal view remains that 23 solid, first team players is the sweet spot for a WSL squad with a couple of promising academy players integrated for good measure.

During Eidevall’s reign I don’t think Arsenal have ever been in that sweet spot. In his first and third seasons, I think the squad has been a tad too big. In his inaugural season, players like Jordan Nobbs, Mana Iwabuchi, Nikita Parris, Simone Boye and even Frida Maanum were scarcely used and I don’t think that is healthy for a squad.

I think you want to get to a stage where you have a flexible core of plug and play players and I think it is very difficult to do that with 25. Last season players like Cloe Lacasse, Jen Beattie (though she had tremendous off pitch value), Kathrine Kuhl and Kyra Cooney-Cross struggled for game time. Granted, the exit from the Champions League preliminary rounds was partially responsible for this.

I think a squad can be too big and when that happens, players can either go stale or become discouraged and not feel part of the team. It’s a very delicate balance between strength in depth and surplus. Eidevall’s first and third seasons had too much surplus in my view. In Eidevall’s second season, Arsenal endured a number of transfer market failures which meant the squad was too light and when that happens, lo and behold you get more injuries.

Arsenal were most harshly punished by injuries during the season where their squad was too small (around 20-21 players), which obviously exacerbates the small roster issue. Looking at Arsenal’s current situation, my own view is that the club should not sign stopgaps or back up players at centre-half or in midfield. Ilestedt and Pelova will return and I think you just give yourself issues further down the line if you buy for quantity.

Buying for quantity hasn’t really worked for Arsenal, a lot of the ‘squad player’ types they have bought passed through the club swiftly. In Williamson, Wubben-Moy and Codina, Arsenal have a good core of centre-halves at good ages and I think for the sake of half a season, either Steph Catley, or one of Teyah Goldie or Katie Reid can take that fourth choice centre-half spot.

There is no point in bringing in a centre-half that doesn’t significantly improve on those options. I think the club should only bring a defender in if they are going to really raise the ceiling and challenge for a starting spot from the get go. I think the same is true of midfield, Arsenal have Walti, Little, Cooney-Cross, Kuhl and Maanum who can play in the midfield double pivot (and I would still be interested to see Frida in that position again).

I don’t think Arsenal should bring in another midfielder unless they really do decide to test Barca with a big bid for Keira Walsh. Walsh is a player who would strongly push for (and likely obtain) a starting spot on a long-term basis and if Arsenal do decide to do that (I currently don’t have any indication either way whether they will) then I think someone like Kathrine Kuhl probably has to leave.

There comes a stage with young players where they just have to play, for you or for someone else and I think Kuhl is at that stage now. I think Arsenal should either trust her with an important squad space or let her go and realise her obvious talent somewhere else lest she stagnate. In my view, there needs to be a firm decision either way on that (and I think there is justification in both directions).

She should not stay and be the fifth choice central midfielder just in case the sky falls in, that isn’t how players develop and it isn’t how strong squads are built. An elite squad should not have a large separation between starters and squad players, everyone should be able to feature in a starting line-up without generating too much discussion.

Arsenal’s situation upfront, with Alessia Russo and Stina Blackstenius pushing for a place, is very healthy. Likewise, the signing of Daphne van Domselaar to challenge Manu Zinsberger is an excellent one in my view. Van Domselaar isn’t a ‘just in case’ signing, she is coming to push for a shirt.

I don’t believe that Arsenal should reinforce in either midfield or defence unless they are raising the ceiling of the team in this manner. I think the days of tending to the floor of the squad with ‘just in case’ players to fill out the bench have to be over now.