OPINION: Arsenal’s Women’s Super League campaign has commenced in an all too familiar fashion as the Gunners once again struggle to get off the mark.
A narrow 1-0 victory away to Brighton & Hove Albion left Arsenal fans biting their nails on the opening weekend of the WSL season, but the glimmer of hope arrived in the admission that at least Arsenal were able to scrape their way to three points despite the choppy performance in Crawley. However, most of that hope was quashed in game week 2 after a dispiriting performance left Arsenal to settle for a stalemate against newly promoted Crystal Palace in what once was the danger den of Emirates Stadium. Draws against Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur were ultimately what saw the Gunners fall four points short of a WSL title in the 2025/26 campaign, a fate that fans in red and white are being forced to relive once more.
Saturday brought further disappointment for the north London faithful after a disheartening performance saw Arsenal settle for a 1-1 draw against Manchester United – a side that held Arsenal to the same fate twice last season. Despite possessional dominance, Arsenal have once again showcased their lack of bite in front of goal as they begin to approach the decade mark without a WSL trophy lift.
Diagnosing the problem against Manchester United
Too much is left to be desired in the starting lineup that Renée Slegers opted for against a failing Manchester United side. After suffering a 2-1 defeat to London City Lionesses on the opening weekend, followed by a humiliating 5-0 thrashing by Chelsea at Old Trafford, it should have been obvious that Eva Olid’s side were going to drop deep and try to force a shut-out. The Red Devils have caused headaches for Slegers since the beginning of her head coach tenure, forcing two stalemates in the 2025/26 campaign. United executed a frustrating game plan, suffocating the box and forcing Arsenal into a repetitive pattern of possession wastage. Slegers entered last weekend’s game with a starting eleven that played into that hand, with both Alessia Russo and Stina Blackstenius in the lineup. Blackstenius’ strengths are most obvious when there is space at the back to exploit, and the United low block offered nothing of the sort. This caused congestion in the centre area, and an off-form Russo struggled to find her flow.
As per statistics gathered by Arseblog and Scott Willis, the Gunners dominated possession, completing 561 passes to United ‘s 390. However, this only resulted in an XG difference of 1.4-0.6, a dire reflection of Arsenal’s directness in attack. The time that Arsenal take to instigate an attack when in possession is certainly slow, allowing United to regain their shape and clog the channels. If it weren’t for 95th-minute heroics of 19-year-old Smilla Holmberg, Olid’s United side would’ve travelled back to Carrington with an honourable three points – a fate that a toothless Arsenal were lucky to escape.
Lacklustre recruitment sees Arsenal rue familiar failings
One’s preference for Alessia Russo’s position can be largely left up to both personal opinion and interpretation of the opposition. However, Slegers’ persistence with Russo’s role in the 10 paints a bigger picture of a bigger problem at Arsenal. After all, she is still Slegers’ break class in case of emergency option in attacking midfield when things aren’t going exactly to plan. It seems it has never been an option in Slegers’ mind to drop an out of form Russo, rather adjust the team in order to fit her name on the team sheet.
And this isn’t solely a matter of Russo’s form, but rather an indictment on recruitment when Arsenal’s best striker is also viewed as their best attacking midfielder. Frida Maanum was left out of the squad to face the Red Devils, something that happened two weeks in a row to summer signings Selina Cerci and Geraldine Reuteler. Maanum is clearly not the preferred midfielder in most circumstances, so why then was the player offered a new deal in north London. Time and time again it seems the recruitment staff, lead by Clare Wheatley, are too pleased with retaining players for the sake of simplicity. (The same can be said for Caitlin Foord, who has collected two goals and zero assists across the last 23 league games). Cerci is a striker, Reuteler is a versatile hybrid, and Maanum’s puzzling omission leaves a glaring question – why haven’t Arsenal invested in an attacking midfielder that Slegers trusts to allow Arsenal’s star striker to ply her trade up front? How many manager cycles can the club go through before the burden falls on the backroom?
The factors that go into this issue can spiral into a spiderweb of questions, one that includes why Arsenal aren’t persisting with Mariona Caldentey in an attacking role? Mariona’s start to the season has been nothing but average, but the situation that Arsenal find themselves in is providing me with all too familiar flashbacks of the closing stages of Jonas Eidevall’s closing weeks at the helm. Every week was a rotated starting lineup, a differing playing style, a lack of identity, but the same repetitive performance issues. How much onus needs to be placed on the manager for struggling to uncover a football style that suits the playing group, and persisting with that even when times are tough? For me, a lot of that falls on the shoulders of Slegers. When I look at the current squad, the only player who has a set in stone role that doesn’t waver is Emily Fox, who is asked to deliver the same expectation every game week. The centre backs are consistently rotating, Batlle’s role is still being teased out, Smith and Baum are asked to rotate wings and struggling to find consistency in the channels, and the midfield group are currently thrust around so much that it often feels like they are all playing the function of the 8.
The lack of identity in a squad full of stars is a repetitive and tiresome issue that has plagued Arsenal since their last WSL title in 2018/19.
Mentality a formidable obstacle for the Arsenal playing group
While we can spend considerable time diagnosing the problems that continue to see Arsenal stutter through the start of each WSL season, an onus has to be placed on the playing group. With a squad packed full of stars, the lack of inspiration that sees Arsenal struggle is certainly born out of managerial tactics and backroom complacency, but the bottom line is that the playing group packed with national team starters simply need to do more. Every season the squad trip and fall through the opening months, only to later showcase how high their potential really is in April when the title is already gone.
