Aresnal's midfield is in flux, while Alessia Russo roars
Max Radwan analyses what we learned recently from the Gunners' important win on Merseyside and Champions League excursions
In many ways, Alessia Russo's 20th-minute goal aptly summed up Arsenal's final WSL match of 2024. Scrappy.
With Katie McCabe's low, driven corner causing confusion inside the Liverpool box, the ball fell to Russo to divert into an unguarded net for what was a sixth goal in her last five WSL games.
In the end, that set-piece goal would prove the difference between the two sides on a day when Arsenal were not at their best following a quick turnaround from Thursday night's win in freezing conditions in Norway against Valerenga.
Midfield flux
In the absence of Lia Walti, Arsenal lined up with a midfield double-pivot, of Kyra Cooney-Cross and Mariona Caldentey for the third match in a row, while captain Kim Little returned to the matchday squad on the substitutes bench.
As a result, we have seen something of an enforced evolution in the Arsenal midfield in the last two matches, with Mariona advancing up the pitch to form a double-10 partnership with Frida Maanum. This has left Kyra Cooney Cross and an inverting Katie McCabe to form the base of the midfield.
Against Liverpool, Mariona was more restrained, but this was still a match in which she combined dictating from deep with progressing the ball up the pitch with her ball-carrying.
The former Barcelona player would have been disappointed to have spurned the opportunity to double Arsenal's lead from the penalty spot; striking the post having sent Liverpool keeper Teagan Micah the wrong way, but, as her touch map shows, she was still able to assert her influence on the match, roaming within the double pivot before moving further forward following Little's introduction on 58 minutes.
It is notable that Mariona's passing accuracy dropped in the Liverpool game to 82%, down 94% and 95%, respectively, in the previous two matches against Valerenga and Aston Villa.
This was emblematic of Arsenal's performance as a whole, with their 84% passing accuracy their joint lowest this season. While Liverpool's aggressive mid-block made life a little trickier for Renee Slegers' side, it also went to show that this was a match in which Arsenal lacked total control, with their two senior central midfielders unavailable from the start.
Cooney-Cross tweaked
On the other side of the pivot, Kyra Cooney-Cross' move to the right-central-midfield position is another interesting wrinkle.
Up until last weekend's match against Villa, the Australian international had usually been deployed on the left of a pivot, partly in order to make the most of her range of passing when opening up and spreading the play to the opposite side of the pitch. In the last three matches, she has instead been tasked with being the metronomic player in Arsenal's midfield, being more disciplined in her positioning while Mariona roams.
It should also be pointed out that Arsenal's possession actually dropped in the second half, from 71% to 57%, despite Little's introduction – the wider point here being that Arsenal were far from their best on their final WSL outing of the year.
Arsenal may not have been at their fluid best, but off the back of a midweek away game, this was very much a match that fell into the "just win" category, especially off the back of the two sides above Arsenal in the table, Manchester City and Chelsea, dropping points unexpectedly.
In her post-match interview, Slegers referenced the importance of securing the victory. "Most important was to do the business that we needed to do and that was getting the three points", said Slegers, before elaborating on the short turnaround the players experienced after the game in midweek.
"We come back (from Norway) in the middle of the night. We have one day to recharge for the players and then one training session, and then we travel to Liverpool, so it's been very intense.”
Last season, Arsenal struggled to create chances in both matches against Liverpool, and Sunday's encounter at the Totally Wicked Stadium was no different. The Gunners created 1.19 non-penalty expected goals (xG), which is their second-lowest in matches under Slegers since the Dutchwoman became interim head coach in October. Frida Maanum was marked out of the game, often drifting out wide to hunt for the ball, while Beth Mead and Caitlin Foord created just one chance between them.
Because of this, it was once again left to Russo — who has surely been the biggest beneficiary of the Slegers era — to prove to be the difference maker for Arsenal once again. Now up to ten goals in all competitions this season (it took her until March to reach that tally last season), she was the most involved of Arsenal's forwards with 59 touches; dropping deep when required but not being afraid to run in behind with Liverpool leaving space to attack when pressing.
In a week where Russo has played multiple positions, she once again showed her versatility by moving out to the left wing after the introduction of Stina Blackstenius before shifting over to the right during the closing stages.
At the back, Arsenal were largely untroubled by a Liverpool side who managed just three shots in the box. Indeed, Arsenal's greatest moments of danger were self-inflicted. Only the goalpost saved Katie McCabe from what would have been a comical own goal when trying to head the ball back to Daphne Van Domselaar in the first half before the Arsenal goalkeeper suffered a lapse of concentration of her own when trying to play out from the back in the second 45.
Aside from this, Arsenal were able to claim a sixth clean sheet in seven games with minimal fuss. Attention will now turn to Wednesday's showdown with Bayern Munich at Meadow Park, with top spot in Champions League Group C at stake in what is surely Slegers' biggest test yet as interim head coach.
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Really enjoyed this article. I like the tactical analysis, it's quite helpful!
Russo's form picking up is much needed for Arsenal and England and it's going to be interesting to see how the season plays out, but it doesn't seem to be getting the best out of Mead.
Looking forward to the Bayern game, Arsenal will need to play better than they did on Sunday that's for sure.
I feel like the Bayern game will either rule Slegers in or out of landing the role permanently. It will undoubtedly be her biggest test to date, and is the kind of game I would want to see her in charge of before considering it.
That is of course unless Cushing is a shoe in and she is just filling the gap whilst they negotiate…