If you have read this blog or listened to my podcast you will have read/heard positive things about Steph Catley. Mainly because I only have positive things to say about her and this has been the case since she joined our club. I absolutely love her and I think she’s a leader, an incredibly consistent player, a winner and someone who from everything I know is just an outstanding person.
You might’ve also read/heard from me that I don’t believe that her partnership on the pitch with Caitlin Foord is as telepathic or special as a lot of people love to say and claim. It seems like one of those safe and basic things to say because it’s hard to disprove in a way but the reality, as far as I’m concerned, is that my eyes see something different and I’m here to tell you that for Steph to have a standout season, she needs someone else in front of her and Mariona might be it.
Of course, my preferred left winger will always be Katie McCabe and it’ll be her until she retires, unless we play Katie alongside Kim and Lia, which I think we have to try, otherwise I just don’t think that Foord is the answer with Steph.
I also loved seeing Steph playing as a CB with Leah aka without LWM which always, to me, made Steph’s body language show uncertainty and never looks as confident as when she plays with other people. So, I’m one thousand percent in on a backline of Fox, Williamson, Catley and McCabe.
Steph is one of those players that transcends the sport and has meant so much to so many people, specially Australians and I’ve always felt she should be the Matildas’s captain. Moreover, she loves Arsenal, she truly loves our club and we’re very lucky to have her footballing brain and her cultured left foot at our club.
As you’ve also read, I find it very hard to be overly optimistic about the upcoming season because I feel the current manager has numerous shortcomings tactically and personally, but I think Steph is such a solid player and is so reliable that I don’t see her having anything other than an exceptional season, fingers crossed.
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A very subjective look into AWFC 
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