Smatterings of booing around the Emirates after Chelsea took a fourth-minute lead was not what Arsenal had envisaged so early into a season in which they are aiming to win the Women’s Super League.
Conceding another goal on 16 minutes sentenced Jonas Eidevall’s side to their second loss of a damaging week, which had already brought a 5-2 away defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League and a goalless home draw with Everton.
By full time of their 2-1 defeat on Saturday, Arsenal had played more games than any team in the league (four) but were already four points off Chelsea, last season’s winners, who have a game in hand. By tonight, they could be five points behind Manchester City too.
“There is no point in hiding away from reality — it’s a bad start to the season,” Eidevall admitted in his post-match press conference. “I fully understand that people are disappointed when we don’t win football matches, and we are also really disappointed. We are really hurting, I’m hurting, the players are hurting.
“We want to do better so I fully understand that (booing) in that moment. Just as you’re allowed to show emotions when we win, you’re allowed to show emotions when you lose. They (the supporters) invest everything. They travel, they support us, they give us absolutely everything. I totally understand their frustration when we don’t win football matches.”
While honest, these words are accompanied by the feeling of Groundhog Day in the red part of north London. Arsenal had a stumble of a start to last season too, failing to qualify for the Champions League proper and taking one point from their opening two WSL games.
They have made it through to the group stage in Europe this time, but their five points from the first four WSL games (a win, two draws and this loss) leave them adrift yet again, with Eidevall adding: “It certainly doesn’t help with league-winning ambitions.”
While he cited Arsenal conceding four goals from set-pieces in two games (three against Bayern and one yesterday) as “unsustainable if you want to be a top team”, issues were evident even before that fourth-minute opener by Mayra Ramirez.
Arsenal’s press was too easy to play through at points in Munich on Wednesday and here they were given warning signs of how Chelsea could hurt them similarly within 30 seconds of the opening kick-off.
One pass was all that was needed to put Guro Reiten in on goal, although the offside flag went up. A ball slipped between centre-backs Leah Williamson and Lotte Wubben-Moy for Ramirez led to the corner from which Chelsea, watched from the stands by their previous manager and now USWNT boss Emma Hayes, took the lead.
Daphne van Domselaar not making an attempt to save Ramirez’s hooked effort made it look worse, but the defensive disorganisation for Chelsea’s second goal 12 minutes later was equally concerning.
The right side of the back line was central while the left side was fairly wide dealing with a Chelsea break on the flank. As Lauren James cut through, Emily Fox had taken the job of marking Reiten when that wasn’t necessary. Midfielders had dropped into the box and, with better communication, Fox could have been at the back post to challenge Sandy Baltimore, who scored.
They were 2-0 down so early that the fact Arsenal had more shots (20 to 11), shots on target (12 to four) and possession (56 per cent to 44) by full time should not come as a surprise, but neither should their failure to capitalise on that statistical superiority. Their inefficiency in front of goal has been a theme since the start of last season, with Eidevall highlighting their underperformance on expected goals (xG), a measurement of the quality of a shot becoming a goal, as an area for improvement midway through 2023-24.
Arsenal scored 53 WSL goals in that season, exactly matching their xG number, as they finished third. Title winners Chelsea got 71 from an xG of 57.9 and runners-up City 61 from an xG of 46.8. The numbers told a similar story before kick-off yesterday, with Arsenal having scored three goals in three WSL games from an xG of 4.4, with the draws against City (2-2 at home last month) and Everton full of wasted chances to earn three points rather than settle for one.
Against Chelsea, other than Caitlin Foord’s brilliant finish on an angle to make it 1-1 just before half-time, those moments mostly came from set pieces as Williamson and Stina Blackstenius came close in either half. Half-chances also presented themselves with crosses into the box but Foord and Blackstenius failed to connect in those moments.
Unfortunately for Arsenal, the more these instances crop up, the more it allows matches and points to pass them by — even if they are generating chances.
There was still a large swell of support from the 45,860 crowd when Arsenal were attacking, but the mood was set with those boos after Chelsea’s early goals.
Sporting director Edu Gaspar and executive vice-chair Tim Lewis were in attendance to witness those moments of tension, but their presence at the women’s team’s games is not unusual. Arsenal’s executives tend to split matches when men’s and women’s fixtures clash but Gaspar, Lewis and managing director Richard Garlick have previously been present at women’s matches.
Nevertheless, attention turned to Eidevall’s future post-match as he was pushed on the topic both in his TV interviews and his press conference.
Whether or not he is position is safe, a mid-season managerial sacking would be fairly unchartered territory for a top WSL side. Gareth Taylor and Marc Skinner lost popularity in charge of City and neighbours United, but both weathered their respective storms. The last time Arsenal decided to make a switch during a season was in November 2017, when Eidevall’s predecessor Joe Montemurro took over from the sacked Pedro Martinez Losa.
Eidevall himself did not look to add any fuel to the fire in his press conference, saying: “I gave absolutely everything today in preparation for this game. You can see the players gave absolutely everything on the pitch. That’s the part you can control as a coach. That’s what you can control and ask for from the players as well.
“It’s just focusing on the next match, and I just need to focus on the things I can control.”
(Top photo: Alex Burstow/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
