A very subjective look into AWFC

Optimism is one of the things that I like to see as part of my non negotiable personal philosophies. I do my very best to focus on the positive things in life and Arsenal Women is a huge part of that. It, by and large, gives essentially only positive things and reasons to be optimistic and even when it was truly dark for me aka the previous manager’s tenure, the squad always made me feel like there was hope.

The rest of the season gives me that sentiment for a whole plethora of reasons BUUUUUUUUUT there are two things that worry me and both are interrelated and they have to do directly with Australia’s involvement in the 20 day long Asian Cup. Those two reasons are Steph Catley and KCC.

First and foremost I will say that I absolutely respect and value their and any player’s involvement for their home country. I have spoken at length about my admiration for Steph and I feel as much pride for her when I see her play for the Matildas as I do for Viv for the Dutch, Katie for Ireland and Beth for the Lionesses. I am specially moved when Catley is the captain too. I love it.

What worries me about this is the overload for her, coupled with the absence of Leah Williamson. If Australia win, they will be done on the 21st of March, with AWFC facing Chelsea 3 days later. It would be criminal to have her do that travel AND play… it’s almost 24 hours. That’s how injuries happen. We cannot do that to her or to us… And you also don’t need me to tell you my feelings about the CB situation at our club. Essentially, for me to have any true confidence in beating Chelsea we need our best partnership aka Leah and Steph. That’s it.

As far as KCC I think that being away for a lot of days is going to do her a world of good. We all know how terrible her personal situation is and we’re always sending her and her family love and health. I have confidence in her and hope she gets more time on the pitch for us. She’s the only player we have with that profile.

By the same token though, I think that the board/Renee etc were extremely negligent for not buying another 6 while she is taking time off. Yes ideally we get Georgia in the summer but we need more bodies there.

The Asian Cup has my glass half full, mostly because all I want in glory for Steph and co. and I’m optimistic they will win and empower themselves with even more confidence and bring that to the Arsenal. Imagine those 3 winning the CL and then the Asian Cup? It’s magical and they deserve that.

Hasegawa deserves it too though!!!!!

❤

d