The FA Cup is FINALLY back and what better way to restart the competition than a North London Derby. Being the competitions most successful team, Arsenal went into this game as favorites and on top of that advantage it took place at Meadow Park. This game was originally scheduled for March 15th but due to covid the competition was called off but the FA decided to restart the competition meaning this season there will be not one but 2 FA Cups to play for.
Arsenal lined up in a 4-3-3 with Zinsberger in goal, Maritz at right back, Williamson and Schnaderbeck in the centre of defence with McCabe at left back. The 3 Arsenal midfielders consisted of Little, Van De Donk and Nobbs. With Evans, Miedema and Foord making up the Arsenal front line.
Tottenham again lined up in a 4-2-3-1 with Spencer in goal and Captain for the fixture. Neville at right back, Zadorsky and Harrop in the centre of defence with Worm in at left back with Peplow and Kennedy just in front of the defence. Percival, Graham and Davison made up the attacking 3 with Ayane in the number 9 role.
Arsenal came into this match as favorites but teams in the WSL should know to be wary of Tottenham as they can make games very difficult for the opposition as Arsenal found out last November at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The last time Tottenham and Arsenal met in the FA Cup was back in 2017 when Arsenal won by 10-0 and advanced to the quarter finals. We must remember that back in 2017 Tottenham were in the 3rd tier of women’s soccer/football but this Tottenham have come a long way and have improved immensely which they showed against many of the big guns in the WSL last season.
As expected Arsenal came out the strongest and could have gone ahead in the 5th minute when a Leah Williamson’s cross from the right wing found Caitlin Foord who got ahead of Shelina Zadorsky to head her effort against the crossbar before the rebound was kicked to safety by Ashleigh Neville. Tottenham’s nerves settled at the 10 minute mark and the game became more even with most of the play taking place in the middle of the park. Alanna Kennedy started the game shakey making a few mistakes in the middle of the park and giving the ball away but she quickly turned things around and grew into the game and became one of the best Tottenham players on the field. Arsenal were made to feel uncomfortable by Tottenham and didn’t get a chance again until the 29th minute when Maritz shot from outside the area after an Arsenal corner but her effort flew over Spencer’s goal. A minute later Arsenal again tried to break the Tottenham defence but not getting much luck as Nobbs shot from a McCabe cross was blocked by the numerous Tottenham bodies defending the Arsenal attack. There was drama at the other end on the 38th minute when there was a call for a penalty in Tottenham’s favor when Rosella Ayane was grabbed by McCabe in the Arsenal box but was waved away by referee Lucy Oliver. The question here is had VAR been in this game would that have been given as a penalty? I think the answer is yes, you can not grab a players shirt in the box, block their run or pull them down and all camera angles show that’s exactly what McCabe did. 3 minutes later Arsenal could have taken the lead after Miedema played a 1-2 with Nobbs but shot from the left went wide across the face of Spencer’s goal.
The second half started quite even, Tottenham definately came out more confident than in the first half and made it difficult for Arsenal to create any chances. The first chance of the 2nd half came in the 51st minute when good play by Kim Little found Nobbs inside the area but Zadorsky was tight on Nobbs preventing her from getting a good enough shot away which it ended up being a comfortable save for Spencer. A minute later Arsenal scored through McCabe but her goal was disallowed for a foul by Foord on Zadorsky. 3 minutes later it was Tottenham’s turn to cause Arsenal trouble and Tottenham came close to making it 1-0 when Alanna Kennedy freely jumped to meet a Chloe Peplow corner but put her header wide. Arsenal started to grow into the game and dominated possession but didn’t really do much with it and were clearly frustrated by Tottenham’s midfield and defence. Arsenal had a free-kick in the 62nd minute with McCabe taking it for the Gunners but it swerved just wide of Becky Spencer’s top right hand corner. Still locked at 0-0 the 70th minute saw Tottenham make their first substitute of the game with Josie Green coming on for a injured Chloe Peplow. Two minutes later Arsenal finally got their break through when a misplaced ball by the always reliable Ashleigh Neville fell to Jordan Nobbs who saw Becky Spencer off her line and shot from range to give Arsenal the lead. Two minutes later it was again the always reliable Ashleigh Neville who was put under pressure and miscontrolled the ball after a bad pass from Josie Green which enabled Miedema to get the ball, find Lisa Evans who found herself one on one with Spencer and calmly put the ball away to double Arsenal’s Lead. 2-0 down Tottenham had to respond and made a double substitution with Rianna Dean and Lucy Quinn coming on for Ayane and Neville but Tottenham were unable to get back into the game. Tottenham made their final 2 substitutes in the 82nd minute with Leon and Addison coming on for Percival and Graham but 2 minutes later it was Lisa Evans again who found herself one on one with Spencer after Kim Little’s wonderful through ball and slotted past Spencer to give Arsenal a 3-0 lead Tottenham tried to respond to Arsenal when Davison intercepted a ball in the middle of the park, passed to Leon whos cross found Lucy Quinn but Quinn was only able to get her shot away with her weaker foot making it a easy save for Zinsberger to keep Tottenham out. To add insult to injury Arsenal grabbed a 4th on the 89th minute with Lisa Evan grabbing her 3rd of the night to make the game seem more one sided than what the reality was and sealing Arsenal’s place in the Semi Finals of the restarted 2019-20 FA Cup.
Post match analysis.
We knew it was going to be a tough match away to the 14 time champions but what disappoints me is that we did so well to hold out Arsenal for 70 minutes and then after a mistake from one of our most reliable players we fell apart. This season Tottenham do not know how to respond when falling behind and a lot of work needs to be done in training on the final third as this is Tottenham’s biggest problem at the moment in the 2020-21 WSL season. I don’t want to be too critical of any players as we need to remember Tottenham have only been professionals for 6 months due to the 6 months hiatus so many of these players are still growing.
I have confidence that the coaches will have identified the issues and they will work on these problems but I fear with the difficult 3 matches we have coming up if these issuea aren’t rectrified soon we could find ourselves bottom of the table on 1 point after 6 games with no confidence and shattered self esteem.
I don’t want to critize the coaches because I do have faith in them and I understand that it takes time to settle the new arrivals in and to find the best starting XI but I feel that the errors that the coaches are making are on choosing the right starting XI. I admit we don’t see what goes on in training and whose impressing the coaches in training and who isn’t but for us Rosella needs to benched and when possible sold as she hasn’t proved herself in the WSL scoring just 6 goals in 50 appearances at senior level in England. Angela Addison needs to occupy a position down the wing with Kit/Davison down the other wing with Alanna and Josie in the centre of the midfield. I don’t know the reason why Rianna Dean is not starting for Tottenham, I hope it’s injury related otherwise I don’t understand why our top goal scorer is not playing. Once Alex has settled I would like to see Tottenham play with 2 forwards maybe Dean and Morgan up front in a old school 4-4-2 or in a 4-3-3 with Dean down the left, Morgan in the middle and Addison down the right wing with Kit just behind morgan but I fear for the pressure Alex will be under when she does finally start. We need goals and we need them fast but if Morgan and Dean do not get the service we will be stuck in the same situation. As disappointing as this result was due to the scoreline not reflecting reality, the team must dust themselves off and go to the Academy Stadium and try to get some points away to build up their confidence.
Player of the match.
This was a tough decision for us as we believe the whole team left everything on the field. Shelina was solid as always and played well alongside Harrop but for us the player that stood out the most and that really grew into the game was Alanna Kennedy. Alanna started the game a little shaky but settled her nerves after 15 minutes and was key to Tottenham shutting Arsenal out therefore our player of the match goes to Alanna Kennedy.
Next match.
Next up for our Lilywhites is a return to the WSL with a match away to Manchester City before hosting Manchester United at the Hive.
Alex Morgan interview.
As many of you may have seen, Alex Morgan did her first sit down interview for Tottenham Women’s, those that missed the interview can catch up below.
Many fan’s may wonder what its like to be the new player in the locker room, luckily there is a behind the scenes of Alex’s first day at Tottenham for your enjoyment.
Match-day highlights of Tottenham’s last WSL game away to Everton are below.
I hope this time next week we will be celebrating something against City I mean Brighton managed to get a point at the Academy Stadium so why cant we. COYS!
Women's Soccer Fans 