What has changed at Arsenal under Renée Slegers?
Unbeaten with five wins in six matches, it's time to analyse the interim head coach's time in north London
Played six, won five, drawn one, and lost zero. That is Arsenal's record in all competitions since Renee Slegers took the reins as interim head coach following Jonas Eidevall's resignation in October.
The latest of those victories saw Arsenal return to the scene of last season's unprecedented north London derby defeat and cruise to a 3-0 victory over Spurs. Restoring what the 3,000 loyal supporters, who took residence in the away end of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, would consider to be the natural order of things.
It capped off a palate-cleansing eight days for the club, where the Gunners notched three wins from three and scored 12 unanswered goals. With these results coming in the wake of reported head coach target Nick Cushing committing his future to New York City FC, fans are now asking the question: is it time to hand Slegers the keys on a full-time basis?
An 83% win ratio coming off the back of four wins in the eight games played under the management of Eidevall is just about the clearest evidence of a 'new manager bounce' (well, an interim head coach bounce), that you'll ever see.
But what has changed under Slegers? Is it the tactics? The way she has been able to communicate with her players? Or do the opponents have to be taken into account?
These are the questions that the powers that be at Arsenal will be honing in on, so let's do the same here.
Tactics
"It is important not to disrupt all the good things we have built up over the last three years, it is similar to the things we were doing under Jonas [Eidevall]. We need to be more tidy in areas, especially in the final third."
These were the words of Katie McCabe when speaking to the media ahead of the recent match against Brighton, batting off any suggestions that Arsenal have significantly deviated from their tactical identity under Eidevall.
Back in October, after Slegers' first two games as interim head coach, I wrote on The Cutback that very little had changed for Arsenal from a tactical point of view. Four weeks on, that statement still rings true for the most part.
Kim Little and Lia Walti continue to partner each other in midfield, Arsenal is still looking to control games by pressing in the wide areas, and the team's in-possession structure is still a largely rigid one.
Having said this, while 'Jonas-ball' remains the template, Slegers has made some adjustments within this ecosystem.
Most notably, Steph Cately has slotted in at left-centre-back, and this has varied the way that Arsenal have been able to attack. Against West Ham, her balls over the top to release Caitlin Foord on the left were a consistent tactic. For the trip to Leigh Sports Village to play Manchester United, Catley, and McCabe often rotated positions, with the former sometimes acting as an overlapping centre-back while the latter tucked in.
At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we saw the most significant piece of tactical evolution yet under Slegers. Catley was tasked with tucking into a situational back-three while McCabe bombed on down the left wing to fill one of Arsenal's 'five lines of attack,' while Mariona drifted inside.
Aside from this tweak in shape, the next most notable development under Slegers has been the way that Arsenal have used the ball in the final third.
In the same interview as the one cited earlier, McCabe went on to say that Arsenal was looking for ways to "become more fluid and create more goalscoring opportunities.”
To this end, the sluggish play around the penalty area in the final days of Eidevall now seems a distant memory. Arsenal's first goal against Juventus in midweek and Stina Blackstenius's second-half effort in the derby are evidence of this.
Empowering individuals
Given that Slegers has hardly ripped up the tactical rulebook, Arsenal's increased swagger on the pitch of late is impossible to ignore. Speaking after the win against Brighton, Slegers talked up the importance of boosting her players' confidence.
"As a coaching staff we try to create an environment where players can feel confident and have the courage to do what they are good at because football is sometimes a game of feeling too,” she said.
Rather than dramatically change the system, Slegers has instead simply challenged her own players to improve within a system that they are familiar with.
Two individuals who have notably improved under Slegers are Alessia Russo and Frida Maanum.
Under Eidevall, the pervading wisdom was that these two players could not play together well, often lacking the understanding of each other's games to dovetail effectively. However, both have thrived in recent weeks.
Most notably, Russo has reverted to playing the centre forward role in much the same way she did at the tail end of last season, when she scored seven in eight games. Rather than dropping deep to go looking for the ball around the centre of the pitch, Russo is now sticking closer to the width of the penalty area and not drifting too far from goal.
Comparing her touch map [via WhoScored] from the game against Leicester in late September to her touch map in the north London derby, the difference in how she is playing the number nine role becomes clear.
With Russo spending more time in the box, Maanum has been able to thrive as a lively presence behind the centre-forward, scoring in each of her last three appearances.
Arsenal's increased confidence in front of goal can be seen in a dramatic improvement in output compared to their underlying numbers. They have over performed their expected goal difference by 7.2 (FBref) in games under Slegers, having underperformed by a similar figure (7.6) in games under Eidevall this season where the xG data was available.
Connecting with the changing room
When Slegers was initially brought to Arsenal as an assistant to Eidevall, one of the motivations for her appointment was to add another member of the coaching staff who could connect well with the players in a way that would be harder for a male coach like Eidevall to achieve. It is plausible that part of Arsenal's problems under Eidevall stemmed from the messenger, rather than the message itself.
As important as tactics are, they alone do not account for the difference in intensity and confidence shown by the same players in the final days of Eidevall compared to the set of matches Slegers has presided over. Slegers has simply brought the vibes back and results have followed.
Opposition tax?
In the interests of not getting carried away, it is worth noting that Arsenal have faced favourable matchups under Slegers.
At the Emirates, Brighton were extremely naïve. The Seagulls tied themselves up in knots while trying to play out of from the back and displaying a negligent lack of appetite to track runners.
West Ham and Tottenham are the only sides that Arsenal have faced post-Jonas that have attempted to throw sand in Arsenal's gears by setting up in a defensive block.
The game against West Ham was easily Arsenal's worst performance under Slegers – they needed a second half penalty to break the deadlock after creating very little from open play.
The result and performance against Tottenham is perhaps the one that Arsenal fans should take the most encouragement from. While Arsenal scored just once from 45 attempts across both WSL north London derbies last season, the very first shot of the afternoon was enough to break the deadlock on Saturday. The quality of chances Arsenal carved out in the north London derby this season compared to last was night and day.
Only time will tell if Slegers is a genuine candidate for the Arsenal job permanently. Although she has yet to put her own stamp on the team, no one can argue against the fact that she is getting the maximum out of the players at her disposal, and for a head coach, that is the most important job of all.
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really good, well balanced read!
maybe a little ironic but i do feel like the arsenal we've seen over the last 2 weeks is a much better representation of what eidevall wanted, and was trying to achieve. as an example, i think majority of arsenal fans would agree that the best attacking moments under jonas (think frida wondergoal vs bayern at the emirates) came from flowing one-touch football, so i don't think it's a stretch to argue that the repetitive slow ponderous build ups we grew familiar with over the last 12 months weren't what the coach actually wanted to see on the pitch.
I agree with a view that we haven't seen anything that's groundbreaking on the tactics front under slegers (e.g. catley and mccabe both playing on the left side simultaneously & attacking with 5 are both ideas we saw jonas deploy at times) and so there is an interesting (but now ultimately impossible and irrelevant!) question over whether in the same timeframe this evolution could have been achieved under jonas, or whether (more likely imo!!) a change in head coach was necessary to clear the fog hanging over the squad and more effectively communicate these same ideas in such a way that then better translates onto the pitch.
Definitely support the views in the final paragraph of this piece, and I guess we'll just have to wait to see if the renee-ssance is still going when bigger tests come in those back-to-back chelsea & city away wsl games in the new year (i'm optimistically ruling out the bayern game as a free hit/dead rubber if both us and them win our remaining games vs juve and vallarenga..) or if there's a new face in charge.
WSL neutral, I think Slegers is great and the players clearly enjoy playing for her.
For me, I'd give her the season and take a long considered view over a replament or if to retain her.
Arsenal have am important opportunity here to regain the initiative and consolidate on their growth, the shouldn't spurn it.