A very subjective look into AWFC

For those of you that don’t know Spanish, I’m here to tell you that “lion” is “leon” and lioness is “leona” and you might be asking yourself why the hell I’m saying this and why would be talking about Mapi on an Arsenal Women Blog… the reason is not what I hinted at yesterday but more about the fact that we have a massive challenge next season.

Forget that it’s LCL for a second and just see it as another team (imagine it was Villa) buy all these players and have a second season with the ones they had already. That’s pretty serious football business. And I don’t know about you but I’m legit worried.

I’m not saying LCL will win the title but I think the have strengthened in areas they truly needed in order to actually compete and I wouldn’t be surprised if they finish 4th next season. Needless to say if for whatever reason they make the CL that wouldn’t technically be allowed because Michelle Kang also owns Lyon, so that’s a whole different thing.

Anyway, enough about other teams, and let’s focus on things that matter more: AWFC and moreover the fact that there wasn’t a big women’s tournament this summer. I cannot express how happy that makes me not because I don’t want them to be active and participate is a global spectacle but because they all need to rest as much as possible. They have all been going non stop for what seems like 10 years and we all know how overloading players leads to injuries and mental health challenges.

Also, we have had half a dozen players leave and no matter how many are bought or come to us, that is a very big number that fundamentally changes a lot of things for AWFC, and we have to hope somehow that its for the better. Not sure how that could ever be without Beth and Katie specifically.

It’s important to keep in mind these changes happen and we need to manage our expectations and assumptions. Easier said than done but such is life and such is football. At the moment my optimism is growing and I hope that Renee finds her best XI within the first 3 matches because if we don’t get 9 points out of 9, we are staring at 2nd or 3rd place at best.

I think we have a better chance at winning the CL than the WSL if I’m totally honest but again, those first matches will be crucial, but we all know that… every single match is crucial of course!

❤

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