Arsenal’s interim manager on the “big impact” of super subs in 2-0 win over West Ham Women

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·21 October 2024

Arsenal’s interim manager on the “big impact” of super subs in 2-0 win over West Ham Women

Arsenal Women managed to take care of West Ham on Sunday afternoon, picking a 2-0 win over the Hammers at the Chigwell Construction stadium. Back in February, the London side managed to deny our girls all three points with a 2-1 win over them, so our Gunners victory on Sunday was fitting. Having said that, our Gunner women earned their victories through hard work and dedication. As anticipated, West Ham employed a midblock strategy, posing a significant challenge for Arsenal, particularly in the first half. And about that, interim manager Renee Slegers admitted they did try to exploit West Ham’s high defensive line, saying, “Yeah, they are very compact between their lines, but you can see they play a high line at times without much pressure on the ball; we thought the space would be behind their lines. You see that, especially in the first half that we tried to play into that.” Regardless of the outcome, attempting to capitalize on the Hammers’ high line proved futile. Instead, it was the strategic substitutions of Rosa Kafaji (who scored), Kyra Cooney-Cross, Beth Mead, and Stina Blackstenius that enabled the Gunner women to secure a 2-0 victory. The impact of the substitutes was significant. Slegers admitted, “You always want to believe the players will have an impact when you bring them on. I am very happy for them. It is a big squad with a lot of good players, so I am always happy when players come on and have a big impact.”

With goals from Mariona Caldentey (a penalty) and Rosa Kafaji, Arsenal painted London Red. They’re now on a run of two wins out of two post the Jonas Eidevall reign. Hopefully these two wins lay the foundation for Arsenal to turn around their season.