Arsenal kicked off the 2022-23 season in style with a thumping 4-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion. Goals from Kim Little, Stina Blackstenius and a brace from Beth Mead won a contest that the Gunners dominated from the first whistle to the last.
The question going into this season was how Arsenal would respond to the trauma of the season prior. They had missed out on the WSL title by a solitary point, losing only one game (to relegated Birmingham City). To make matters worse, at halftime in their final game, they still had one hand on the title, only for Chelsea and Sam Kerr to blow Manchester United away in the second half. With the chaos of Covid, Champions League qualifiers and Jonas moving to England last summer, his attempts to mould his side were done throughout the season instead. We saw moments of his high intense pressing throughout, but they were sporadic, rather than a staple of the side. However, with a clean summer, a training camp in Germany, and a chance to further bed in his philosophy, this would hopefully be the season we see ‘Eideball’ in action. Friday night was their first performance, and they showcased it in brutal fashion.
Brighton, under the stewardship of Hope Powell, are a well drilled defensive unit. They are known for bruising the noses of the bigger teams, having taken points of the likes of Chelsea, Man City and Man United over the last two seasons. Yet Meadow Park has not been a happy hunting ground, as they have lost every time they have played Arsenal there. In the opening exchanges, they showed a surprising amount of ambition, pushing high and attempting to play on the front foot from the off. But Arsenal were able to fend them off, and then exploit the space behind. A ball is played over the top for Stina to run onto.
Brighton win the header, but Walti is immediately in to steal the ball, and then play an attacking pass straight through to Stina.
Brighton have numbers back this time, and Stina can’t reach the ball. Walsh gathers it.
However, Walsh then looks to play out form the back, rather than go long
They only get as far as the Away dugout. Arsenal hound them, rob them of the ball, and force Brighton into reverse.
Brighton fend off the attack, and try and play out again. However, they don’t make it past the halfway line. This time, Rafaelle Souza (who now has her own very catchy chant) steps in to rob the ball.
Arsenal are able to work the ball quickly from the turnover, and get themselves into a promising position in the channel. Sadly, the attack comes to nothing.
In a 1-minute period, Arsenal had pressed and forced 3 turnovers out of Brighton’s attempts to play out from the back. And the game had barely started. Brighton were struggling to escape, Arsenal’s play was keeping them hemmed into their own half. And it got worse.
Balls in behind were creating havoc with Brighton’s high line. Employing a more direct approach in attack over pure possession was a noticeably addition to Arsenal’s arsenal of attacks (pun intended) last season. Throughout, Balls would be direct for Stina to chase, or to Viv, who could control and find a pass to Stina, Beth or Foord as they bombed on ahead of her. On this occasion, they went direct, Stina was clean through, and on the edge of the box, had her heels clipped. As the last player, Kulberg was rightly sent off, however, it looked as though Stina’s run wasn’t as well timed as the assistant referee may have thought.
It was a cruel blow for Brighton, who now suffered the pain of having to play the remaining 85 minutes with just 10 players.
Yet perversely, the red card did more damage to Arsenal, than it did for Brighton. The Seagulls changed shape, with 2 banks of 4, and Terland as the lone outlet. Arsenal now had plenty of possession and had the freedom of Meadow Park to play with it. But that suited Brighton. They could defend deep and frustrate Arsenal. It also meant that Arsenal could no longer exploit Brighton with turnovers in transition, as they were no longer looking to play up the pitch in possession, instead opting to go long and then reset their defensive shape. Arsenal would have to change tack, be patient, and find the spaces with their passing, rather than with their pressing.
The width would be the key to Arsenal taking the lead. Brighton clogged the centre with their remaining numbers, forcing Arsenal wide. From here, Foord profited. Brighton had already faced a warning shot when she beat Fox and Lee for pace with a dart into the box 4 minutes earlier. Back then, she shot straight at Walsh at an acute angle. No such mistakes this time around. Again, she beat the defender to the by-line. This time however, she cut the ball back, and Little was there to control and slot home the first WSL goal of the new season.
The tragic thing was, only seconds earlier, Brighton had just had their best moment of the match, a swift counter that Terland almost scored from. Having now conceded, Brighton could no longer rely on a defensive lockout to save the day. They began to start playing out again, thus bringing Eideball back onto the menu.
After retaining the ball at the back for a spell, Brighton attempted to attack up the wing. Again though, they only get as far as the halfway line. Foord and Walti double up and win the ball back, Walti quickly passes to Viv who quickly passes to Stina, who sees her effort crash off the crossbar.
From turnover to chance in just 8 seconds. It is one thing to win the ball back, it is another to immediately generate a clear-cut chance from doing so. The frustrating aspect of Arsenal’s play, particularly in the first half, was not the lack of chances, but the inability to capitalise upon them. The signing of Blackstenius and the shifting of Viv to 10 signalled a major change in how Arsenal operated in the forward areas. The mantle of main goal-scorer had passed from Viv to Stina, and early on, it looked as though that mantle was weighing down upon her, with a few rusty touches in the final third, failing to latch onto Viv’s passes in behind, and frustratingly being caught offside. Thankfully, all that was cast aside just 5 minutes in the second half. With Brighton start to lag, the spaces in the middle, absent throughout the first half, began to appear. Leah found Berth, who found Stina, and she found the top corner with powerful uppercut drive. Arsenal’s spearhead was off the mark, and it soon it would be the turn of their Euro Star.
Beth Mead was a player reborn under Jonas Eidevall, his pressing style complimentary to her skill base, and thankfully for England, she was able to carry that rampant form all the way through Euros and to glory in the Final. Having now won the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament, would she be able to sustain playing at that high level for another Arsenal, or better yet, surpass it. On the evidence of this game, the answer is yes. Her two goals were Eideball in glorious action.
Walsh claims a Wienroither cross, and Brighton move out the box. Viv and Stina stand on the perimeter, wating to pounce.
Brighton attempt to play out, but Arsenal harry each player in turn until Little steps in to make the steal
What follows is quick, inscive passing. A 1-2 with Stina creates the space, Little threads Viv in behind…
… and her cutback is swept home by Mead.
12 seconds. 12 seconds between Walsh releasing the ball to picking it out of her own net. Rapid pressing. Rapid passing. Rapid scoring. Eidball.
To execute it once is one thing, but to do so again? Surely not?
With less than 10 minutes to go, Brighton have a throw-in in their own half.
Arsenal win the header and sustain the ball. Substitutes Maanum and Hurtig play a 1-2 off each other…
Maanum takes a shot which Walsh spills. It falls at Mead’s feet, who shifts it quickly away from the prone keeper and smashes it into the empty net.
From Brighton’s defensive throw-in to another goal: 10 seconds. And it could have been more. Nobbs hit the bar. Stina hit the post Hurtig had a tap-in ruled out for offside. McCabe and Hurtig missed low crosses by inches. 4-0 wasn’t a thrashing against Brighton. It was a mercy.
Of course, there are caveats around this. Brighton were down to 10 players for the majority of the game, and as they tired, mistakes and errors were always going to slip into their play as the match dragged on. Also, this is Brighton. This isn’t Barcelona or Wolfsburg. Brighton is a team Arsenal should be defeating and defeating comfortably (which they did so here). Eideball or no Eideballl, there is enough quality in this side to overcome this stubborn but beatable opponent. The real challenge is how this philosophy works against a team of equal stature to that of Arsenal’s, who possess a full complement of players for the entirety of the contest, and who will challenge Arsenal beyond the odd counter-attack across the 90 minutes. Eidvall has had a whole summer to implement his style, and based on this evidence the players appear to be fully in tune with it. The challenge now is to make them more ruthless when the chances appear, and to get it to function effectively against the higher order. If they are able to do that, then Chelsea’s reign at the top of the WSL may be coming.
Written by Adam Salter.
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