Why Arsenal may need to show a bit more caution in the Champions League semi-finals
It’s easy to look at the scoreline in Wednesday’s game — a futile 1-0 Chelsea victory thanks to a stoppage time goal, in a game in which they needed to score twice — and say Arsenal were comfortable. But Arsenal had several nervy moments throughout this tie: in the first 15 minutes at the Emirates when Chelsea twice hit the woodwork at 0-0, in the last 15 minutes at Stamford Bridge when Chelsea were denied by some outstanding Daphne van Domselaar saves, and various other moments in between. A victory over Chelsea means more than anything to Arsenal — you can make the case that this is the fiercest rivalry in European women’s football — but they must also remember that this Chelsea side is at their lowest point for a decade, floundering badly in the Women’s Super League and seemingly in need of a summer rebuild.
Arsenal got away with some sloppiness here, and their opponents in the semi-final, Lyon or Wolfsburg, may not be so forgiving. This was an attack-minded XI from Renee Slegers, presumably designed to dominate the game and exploit space on the break. Slegers could have played only one striker and added Frida Maanum to the midfield.
Instead she continued with Alessia Russo playing off Stina Blackstenius. Russo is an unusual player in that No 10 role: outstanding at shielding the ball and turning past her marker, usually Keira Walsh, but not particularly effective at what comes next. On at least five occasions here she rolled past an opponent and then overran the ball or played a wayward pass.
As a consequence, Stina Blackstenius was rarely involved, aside from having a late goal disallowed, in the latest instalment of her long-running battle against the offside flag. Russo and Blackstenius can be an effective combination, of course. They were crucial in giving Arsenal their 3-1 aggregate lead in the first leg, and Arsenal won this competition last year with a memorable 1-0 victory over Barcelona, after Blackstenius was unleashed to exploit tired Barcelona legs in the closing stages.
The key that day was using them together at the right moment, when the game became open. Here, Arsenal might have benefited from a more cautious approach. For all the attackers on the pitch, they didn’t offer much going forward.
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