A very subjective look into AWFC

I think it’s safe to say that forwards are the most important players in a team. This is not me trying to be obvious or make this arbitrary claim. Tons of pundits, players, analysts and fans feel this way… you need goals to win games, forwards are specialize in scoring goals. Yes they need service and all of that but as far as many people are concerned, you need goal scorers.

At the moment we have EIGHT players listed as forwards at Arsenal, and as per the order they appear on the website: 1. Beth 2. Viv 3. McCabe 4.Hurgit 5. Ford 6. Gio 7. Stina 8. Jodie. That’s bananas. As far as midfielders go, we have just FIVE. Just for reference, the men’s squad has 5 forwards and 9 midfielders. Not comparing, just for an in-house reference. So, if we assume Jonas still wants that many forwards, let’s take a look at whom I would move on, kindly and respectfully. With the arrival of Cloe we now have 9 forwards and of course the, hopefully, impending arrival of Russo means 10 forwards, so who stays and go goes?

My preference would be that Jodie Taylor, Gio and Hurtig are moved on, and I hate implying that someone has to leave and all that emotional stuff which you know I care about, but this is me trying to be as objective as I can, which is hard. I don’t think I need to justify my opinion as that would basically mean I would criticize them or point out certain things, and I don’t want to do that. Mostly because I have a terrible memory.

So, if them 3 move on our forward line would be chosen among:

1. Beth
2. Viv
3. McCabe
4. Russo
5. Foord
6. Cloe
7. Stina

This is pretty damn great if you ask me. So, to answer the question in the title of this blog: NO, we don’t need more forwards, we need fewer and better ones.

Where I do feel we actually need bodies is in midfield. Kim and Lia are on a whole different level, Frida has been stellar and that’s where we need help. We need players that are much closer to their level than we currently have. Those 3 can’t start every match forever, and the players coming in need to offer a lot.

Curious to know if this will be addressed as aggressively as with our forwards.

d ❤

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I am ridiculously late to a thing with some people about a thing that I can’t tell you about… just kidding, I’m late to my first ever pickleball tournament, wish me luck. But the reality is that I don’t have any time at all to blog and I should be doing this. I will expand on it later BUT:

I want to see more of Teyah this season. I’ve been impressed from what I’ve seen and I think she’s a better option than many believe.

chat later

—

OK I’M BACK and guys… we won the tournament! 😢 😭 😢

Anyways, back to what actually matters.. aka AWFC and more specifically, Teyah.

Like I was mentioning, every single time I’ve watched her play I have been very impressed. But the thing that has me very excited about this upcoming season as it relates to her ACL injury and recovery. Not only as it applies directly to HER and HER recovery and so on, but also it’ll give us another look as to how players recovering from ACL injuries carry on. I know we have seen it with other players but I wanna see how we deal with it now.

Among the craziest things about Teyah suffering that horrific injury was her age at the time. As far as I understand it, that injury happened last year while on loan at Watford, when se was only 18. That’s insane. I can’t wait to see her in action more and more and I truly believe that she is a more complete player than LWM and might be the true “one of our own” player that the club needs to really push and support like with Leah, etc.

d ❤

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Oh yes…This just keeps getting better and better. I have wanted to get this specific set of news for a few months and as per usual, I woke up expecting nothing really and then instagram/twitter made my day. I case you don’t know what I mean, the news is that Jen Beattie signed a new contract and this is huge for numerous reasons. Really quickly, for anyone that isn’t familiar with her, she is a hero, a fighter, a footballing legend, an MBE for Scotland and she is a cancer survivor. WATCH THIS

Having her experience, her leadership, her attitude and her personality at the club is logical and common sensical. I love it and we’re a much more solid club for that. But let’s just talk about her actual football talent and abilities. It’s almost as if some people have forgotten how good she really is. She might not be the fastest player and she isn’t our first choice center back but she is, in my opinion, who needs to be our first name on the list after Leah and Amanda. With that said, the pecking order of CBs, for me, should be, those two, Teyah and LWM, who I still believe should go out on loan. And honestly I think that she would be better used in midfield.

Beattie is one of those players that offer the cultural glue that any club needs. She is beloved by everyone and she is part of our DNA. I honestly feel so very flipping happy for her too, with a new contract meaning income which will continue to allow her to expand and grow, as well as continue working with the club in different capacities as we all know.

Symbolically I think this is a way for Arsenal to say: yes, we are buying new players but we are the Arsenal, we are Jen Beattie. We are keeping the fiber, the foundation and the core, and by core I mean heart too. Of course it’s important to look forward and be dynamic and all of that stuff, and I certainly think we can do that while keeping players like Jen and changing things up among players that either haven’t made a positive impact, or that have made not such positive impacts.

Bottom line is that I’m happy and and I’m also relieved she didn’t join any other team because I would’ve not be able to handle it.

I don’t expect news over the weekend so the next 48+ hours are going to be brutal. Wish me luck.

d ❤

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Yes, this is me talking about transfers again, but more than actual transfer rumors with some minuscule part of truth to them, I’m talking about the totally baseless rumors that some social media accounts post without any way to back it up. Its very irresponsible and I almost wish they were better at lying because they post about X player coming to Arsenal without any quotes, comments or anything like that.

I’m the first one to admit that I am probably wrong and up until now I haven’t seen anything with any substance but I read 3 different twitter accounts (with 5 and 6 digit twitter followers) claim that AWFC were in talks to buy 19 year old Dutch player Esmee Brugts. Normally that wouldn’t be that big of a deal because these type of accounts love to click bait, and I was one of those people that took it. These accounts might mention a quote or a quote of a quote, you get the idea. At least most of the time they try to mask their way into making us believe they are legit accounts with inside info.

Of course some of them might have contacts and people leak things to them, I don’t doubt that. But in Esmee’s case I never ever saw any outlet backup absolutely anything related to a comment, a misinterpreted article, etc etc etc. It just seemed like these few accounts agreed to start a rumor just for the hell of it. I might be wrong and I clearly haven’t scoured the whole of the internet but it seems to me that they just wanted to start this and for what I can tell it’s worked because I saw quite a few tweets and replies about it.

As you know I love dutch players and Esmee is pretty, pretty good. I don’t see her as the footballing promise or “the future of dutch football” like tons seem to think but only because I haven’t seen as much of her as I would like. Also when DVD is on the pitch she’s pretty much the only player I focus on 🤷🏾‍♂️

Would I like her at Arsenal? Sure, but she’s nowhere near a priority for me. And to be perfectly honest, where I see women’s football going in terms of athleticism, dynamism and more, I think other players fit the not so distant future much better. More Katie McCabes is what I mean.

Is that too much to ask!??!!?!!

haha😅😁

d ❤

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I truly wish I knew anything about Amanda Ilestedt but I know absolutely nothing. I wanted to share a video about her, such as highlights and what not but I couldn’t really find anything. I’m not really surprised because that’s just what happens still on this day and age, where there’s just not extensive footage of any/all players like it seems to be on the men’s game.

Here’s what I know: she’s a defender, she’s Swedish, she’s won a ton and comes from PSG. That’s it. Sorry, that’s what I got. I do have to share one video that I found because it is actually pretty cool.This is after all a blog that sorta mixes music and women’s football so here’s Amanda talking about ABBA:

From what I have read and seen on twitter, people seem to be very excited about her, her experience and abilities. I’m not disagreeing but unless I know the player well, I don’t really feel a certain way until I see them play, but more importantly I trust Jonas and the board.

The main target I had in mind was an experienced center back and we got her.

This is big.

It makes me feel extremely calm and confident that things are getting done. This motivates the entire fanbase and it sends a clear message to the rest of the league that we’re not messing around and that we are showing ambition, drive and we’re addressing our weaknesses. Yet, we still need another center back, with Leah missing we definitely need someone to partner Amanda in case Jen isn’t seen as the first option.

Let’s hope we keep the momentum going and we sign a couple of more players by the end of the month.

d ❤

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I’ve always been fascinated by the inner workings of a football club. All the little processes and systems in place that give entire club exist. The conversations, negotiations, the food inventory, transportation and things of that nature. Some people want a tour of a stadium and others like me would love to be sat down and be told about the most random of things.

There are also not so random things that I want to know about such as transfer policies and moreover I want to know if fact, players have a say in said transfer policy. What I mean by that is that wonder if a manager or director of football, etc ever take a meeting with say Kim Little, McCaber or Viv and pick their brains as far as which player they think would fit in and why.

I would understand if they aren’t asked. There has to be a structure and compartmentalization from an administrative perspective I guess? I’m not sure I’m explaining myself correctly.. what I mean is that there are people who have been hired to help with this such as scouts, big data people, etc and they aren’t going to not listen to them yet is there a better opinion than someone who has faced these players or played with them for their national teams?

That’s when bias can come in. This is a total assumption on my part but I would guess that many players would love to have a say in who comes in because they are friends with them. Many players, I would think, would like to not have a certain player come in and say something about that to the powers that be. I don’t really know what my point is other than I definitely have a bias and its hard to imagine that players don’t. But that’s why I’m not a player and why I just watch the sport.

I personally think that there should absolutely be a meeting or dynamic where players are asked about transfers. Why wouldn’t they? It makes total sense to me. Having them choose the actual transfers is different than getting their opinion and I truly believe they all have the intelligence and emotional tools to voice their opinion in an objective way. And even if they were to be totally subjective, I think their opinion should be heavily considered.

Just take a second to realize how lucky we are to have the players we have, with their footballing experience and brain… players who we can ask them about so many things, including the future of the club. Beattie, Catley, Walti, Williamson… etc etc etc etc.

We are so spoiled!!!

d ❤

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I’m a little freaked out because I need to leave my house in about 8 minutes and I won’t be back all day so whatever topic I’m able to magically summon while I’m writing this, will only be expanded on in a short time span. I have, among other things, a pickleball match today which is a sport I started playing a year ago… however I started it because I thought it was Padel since I had seen so many former footballers play it. It is not however, but it isn’t much different.

Anyway, a couple of days ago I was chatting with my wife about which match I would like to come to if I could, and that got me thinking…

Do I want to come see a match against a weaker team? In other words do I want to see a 4-0 win? 6-0?? Or, is it “better” to go to a match that could potentially be much more even like against City or United or Chelsea? With a more real chance of them losing? It’s not an easy choice. I mean of course I would go watch any match and I won’t be disappointed prior to the actual match happening, but even in losing, the experience is so incredible that I would go to any game. And to be honest with you, I much rather be a fly on the wall or light post I should say, during training than any actual match I think. To see the ins and outs, who is who in “real life”, how they train, the banter, the off the ball movement, the rondos, the drills. All of it.

Now, going back to the actual match going… Do I wait for the team to be at full strength? it’s so damn expensive to go that it is less of an incentive without Leah, Viv or Beth.. of course its worth it but I don’t have the luxury of realistically saying to myself: “I’ll come back in a few weeks when they’re fit”

I’m curious to know what you would do. We all know the WSL match is more competitive than ever… but do I wait for another cup final? or a UWCL group stage match? Well I much rather go to Borehamwood than the Emirates so I guess things start getting narrowed down.

All I know is that I will do everything in my power to come this year, so if you are reading this and live in London, let’s hang out in a few months.

d ❤

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I need transfers to happen. I’m honestly losing my mind. I understand that things take time, that the World Cup is around the corner and that I have to be patient yet I am not at the present moment. I’m freaking out. Ok, maybe its not just AWFC’s lack of transfer news, I think its a combination of Arsenal men not announcing signings, AWFC not announcing signings (AT THE TIME OF WRITING THIS I THE TEAM HADN’T ANNOUNCED THE ACADEMY PLAYERS SIGNING SO I’M SUPER EXCITED!!) and just frustration associated with it. I’ve come here before and made a point about being patient and how why we need to wait and all that but my friends, today I’m over it.

One of the things that I would love to know is if the club knows which players are leaving the club, why not at least announce that? To give the illusion of actual activity? I get that it’s not my place to ask and that these questions might be silly. I just feel very curious because as a fan and someone who respects transfer policies aka I’m dead inside post dvd/dominique/roord, I can handle and want to know as soon as possible who leaves, so I can make peace with it and become even more excited and inpatient about who is going to replace them.

I love the idea of Russo and the symbolism behind that but I’m desperate to hear who we are signing as center backs. It’s pretty damn urgent for me… not for the club, or for other fans… for me.

However, I need to take a deep breath and relax and try to ignore myself and my lack of patience and just wait at the very least for the World Cup and see if there are any stand out CBs and other players that could sign for us, but at the same time I think we should just go for people used to the WSL?! I don’t even know why I said that, because I don’t actually believe it and I haven’t thought it through… but again: desperation.

How do you feel?

d ❤

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