“We have to unlock that team.” Nick Cushing could help Arsenal Women with low blocks

In partnership with

Just Arsenal News

·26 October 2024

“We have to unlock that team.” Nick Cushing could help Arsenal Women with low blocks

Arsenal Women have been playing well and putting on great performances; even Leah Williamson has hinted at this while acknowledging that it is the results that haven’t gone their way. That said, if there’s one major reason our Arsenal Women have struggled to achieve results, it’s their inability to unlock teams that play with a low or even middle block.

These are teams that don’t intend to go toe to toe with Arsenal Women, so our Gunner women, yes, may enjoy possession, but a lot of the time they just pass the ball around, failing to unlock these teams and failing to win games (like the 0-0 draw with Everton a few weeks ago).

OneFootball Videos

Whoever takes over at Arsenal Women as their new head coach, as we have previously mentioned, must be someone who can make the Arsenal attack click. To achieve this, they must devise a strategy to unlock these teams who choose to frustrate them by simply sitting back and defending. While conducting research on potential managers for the Arsenal Women team, I stumbled upon Nick Cushing’s remarks. Those remarks made sense of the rumours that he could be the ideal candidate for our Gunner women.

The New York City men’s head coach, who is widely considered one of Arsenal’s top targets to replace Jonas Eidevall, revealed his intriguing style in a conversation with Hudson River Blue. He was questioned about whether he favours his team as a pressing team, as many believe they are, or if he wants to favour them as a possession team.

Cushing acknowledged that he wants his team to be both a pressing and a possession team, allowing them to function effectively in every phase of the game. He implied that in order to score more goals, he always requires his team to both press and possess the ball. Of which he further added that if they’re to play with a team playing with a low block, he expects nothing else but his team to unlock them.

The former Manchester City Women’s boss said, “Without giving away all my secrets, I think if you want to score goals in every phase of the game, you have to have the ability to be able to play in every phase of the game. So, if we play Colorado and they’re going to sit low, we have to unlock that team.”

Cushing’s words, if they can be implemented into tactics, could be just what this Arsenal Women team needs when playing against teams like Leicester, West Ham, and Spurs—those teams that just want to sit back and frustrate our girls.

What are your thoughts Gooners?

Michelle M

Follow JustArsenal’s Gooner Women on Just Gooner Women on Twitter for regular updates on the Arsenal Womens Team!

Do you want to read more about the Arsenal Women’s Team? Click here….