![]() So hopefully we can push her harder now and we understand that if you are tired, someone else can come in and play and do the same job.” When Wienroither joined in January, Eidevall told me he felt the competition would bring the best from Maritz, “She had to pace herself during the tight schedule. Jonas Eidevall has been keen to play up the importance of rotation in the position. However, the biggest change has been at right-back with January signing Laura Wienroither seemingly nudging ahead of Noelle Maritz as first choice. Lotte Wubben-Moy played in the final six games of last season and the Gunners didn’t concede a goal, so the calibre of the replacement is high. The Brazilian went off with an injury in Amsterdam so we will have to see how long she is out for. She has come in this season and really added to the team with her aggressive defensive style, her ability to dribble through pressure and her goal threat (she had eight shots- one a goal- across her first three games). ![]() One player we didn’t see much of last season was January signing Rafaelle, who missed the last ten matches of the season with injury. ![]() Steph Catley started 11 of the last 13 games last season at left-back (she was rested for Coventry United in the FA Cup) and she has started three of Arsenal’s four games this season, the opening game just after she had recovered from an injury provides the only exception.Ĭatley is firmly the first choice left-back for the moment and Leah Williamson’s place as a starter is even less a surprise. Leah Williamson remains a bona fide starter, of course. While the personnel has been pretty stable compared to last season, the defence has seen the biggest shift compared to the spring. I asked Jonas Eidevall about this on Wednesday in the Netherlands and he responded, “Now we need to integrate more players on the pitch over the coming months, those players will get their chance.” Arsenal have not rotated the team very much at all since around March, how Jonas Eidevall copes with that in the winter will be interesting but Maanum, Nobbs and Iwabuchi are hardly rookies or players we should worry about seeing in the starting line-up. Mana Iwabuchi hasn’t kicked a ball in anger yet.Īs the Champions League group stages kick in, these players should see more football. ![]() Frida Maanum has played 26 minutes, Jordan Nobbs 36, Lotte Wubben-Moy has 66 largely thanks to a first half injury to Rafaelle in Amsterdam on Wednesday. Arsenal have also not switched their line-up very much in the opening four games, only 14 players have started a game. In the summer of 2021, Chelsea only really brought Lauren James into the squad and that sense of stability helped them en route to the league title. Now, there is not enough evidence yet to suggest that this theme will continue across the entire season. Thus far, the value of that stability has been apparent, with Chelsea experimenting with a new formation on the opening day of the season and losing at Liverpool and a Manchester City side undergoing a big player churn also losing at Aston Villa. This summer, the emphasis was on stability with new contracts for Lotte Wubben-Moy, Jen Beattie, Steph Catley, Vivianne Miedema, Noelle Maritz and Caitlin Foord since April. #Calibre academy surprise windowsLast year, Arsenal had a huge upheaval with nine new players joining over the course of the two transfer windows and a new coach onboarding too. Back-up goalkeeper Kaylan Mackerse has yet to see action while Swedish forward Lina Hurtig started the first leg against Ajax but has otherwise started on the bench. Here are some themes that have emerged from an intense opening four games.Īrsenal were the only WSL club not to start with a summer signing on the opening weekend of the season- as indeed they haven’t in three of their four games so far. They defeated Ajax 3-2 on aggregate to qualify for the UWCL group stage too. The latter was played in front of a WSL record 47,000 crowd at Emirates Stadium which is another significant milestone in the growth of this team- albeit a cerebral milestone. ![]() They won both of their league games, as you would expect from home fixtures against Brighton and Spurs (both by four goals to nil). Of course, the opening WSL match away at Manchester City was postponed in the light of the death of Queen Elizabeth II shaving Arsenal’s challenge from three WSL games to two. Three WSL games and a tough pair of Champions League qualifiers against Ajax provided a challenging September. The block of five games prior to the first international break of the season were always going to have a “make or break” feel to them from an Arsenal perspective. ![]()
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