The post-match huddle at the Emirates, designed to project an image of togetherness, unity and collective purpose, instead suggested the complete absence of any of the above. The Arsenal squad stood around in a circle appearing shell-shocked. Some senior players avoided looking each other in the eye. The season is not even two months old and Arsenal are out of the title race, a painful reality sinking in with familiar acceptance, the pressure growing on Renee Slegers.
Arsenal have made their worst ever start to a Women’s Super League season. They are without a victory in five games since beating Brighton on the opening weekend, which adds up to the club’s longest-ever winless run in the league. There were boos at the Emirates following the 1-1 draw with newly-promoted Birmingham on Saturday, a result which left the Gunners eighth in the table and already 12 points behind leaders Manchester City.
It is approaching eight years since Arsenal were last champions, a run of underperformance that goes against the club’s historic success and place at the forefront of the game’s growth. They have finished runners-up in the last two seasons but without putting up a proper challenge, ultimately paying the price for too many dropped points in the opening weeks. It was two years ago that former head coach Jonas Eidevall departed just four league games into the season, at which stage the Gunners were five points behind leaders Manchester City. As the wheels fell off and supporters turned, many of the issues the Swede faced – inconsistency, struggles in front of goal and vulnerability in defence – remain strikingly apparent now.
Yet Slegers is under pressure less than 18 months on from taking Arsenal to the greatest heights, the former Eidevall assistant whose interim spell in charge led the club to winning the Champions League with victory over dominant Barcelona. After setting the standards off the pitch, with Arsenal’s average attendance at the Emirates ranking among the highest in England, for men’s and women’s, they have stalled at the next steps. Arsenal were right to back Slegers after the Dutchwoman won the Champions League at the age of 36. But if they had to simply trust their eyes then – observing the tactical sophistication of their Champions League triumph and the response of her players during their unlikely run – the same assessment of performances now could lead to the conclusion that Arsenal are in need of fresh ideas.
Perhaps that is unfair on Slegers. In the WSL this season, Arsenal have scored just five goals from 121 shots while just 14 per cent of their shots on target have found the back of the net. But while they have been guilty of poor finishing, Slegers’ side have also continued to struggle against low-blocks. Arsenal have not only lost away games against the teams who should be their closest competitors, in champions Manchester City and rivals Chelsea at the Etihad and Stamford Bridge respectively, but Crystal Palace, Manchester United and Birmingham have found it all too easy to arrive at the Emirates, face a barrage of possession and shots, but then depart with a point. Slegers and her coaching staff had a full international break to prepare for the visit of Birmingham but then could not find a way to break them down.
Arsenal arriving back at the point they were at two years ago has brought others into the line of questioning, too. If winning the Champions League was supposed to act as the springboard then their recruitment, led by director of women’s football Clare Wheatley, was required to play a pivotal part. Arsenal have deliberately looked to lower the average age of their first-team squad. The signings of forward Olivia Smith, 22, right back Smila Holmberg, 20, and winger Lisa Baum, 19, in consecutive windows has contrasted to the departures of the long-serving Katie McCabe, Beth Mead and Lia Walti after they had all turned 30. This past summer was designed to bring further strengthening with the arrivals of established internationals like Georgia Stanway, Selina Cerci, Geraldine Reuteler, Ona Batlle and Elise De Almeida, but it is all yet to click together.
Despite the departures of McCabe and Mead this past summer and the focus on reducing the age of the first-team squad, there should not be an absence of on-field leadership from a group that still includes Kim Little, Leah Williamson, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Steph Catley and Alessia Russo. But the disconnect that felt so apparent following Saturday's draw with Birmingham, added to Arsenal’s early-season underperformance, means patience is wearing thin and frustration is building.
Defeat at Tottenham, who Arsenal have beaten in 11 of their previous 13 meetings, in Saturday’s north London derby would leave the Gunners seven points behind their neighbours. Such a position would be embarrassing enough without considering how far off the pace they would be to the current top three of Manchester City, Chelsea and the big-spending upstarts London City Lionesses.
That was not the ambition Arsenal wanted to project as they basked in the glow of the Champions League in Lisbon 16 months ago. Slegers could yet turn the ship around and salvage the season by reaching an FA Cup final or embarking on another European run, but they will be left to regret another wasted WSL campaign. As it is, the club are already running out of time to maintain the idea that they should be doing much, much more.