Mariona Caldentey’s 93rd-minute penalty delivered a win and a hefty dose of relief to fans bouncing behind the goal in the North Bank after the ball hit the back of the net, but Arsenal’s narrow defeat of HB Køge in their Champions League opener left more questions unanswered than answered for the struggling Gunners. The puffed cheeks of the manager, Renée Slegers, said it all when the full-time whistle went. If it had been revealed after the final whistle that a force field surrounded the opposition goal at Meadow Park, many would have believed it, such was the extent of Arsenal’s ridiculous profligacy in front of goal in their league-phase opener.
Yes, teams are defending excellently against them, as a battling Køge and their goalkeeper Alberte Vingum did on Tuesday night, but this feels like an Arsenal problem: a mentality one, a training ground one, a ruthlessness one. Practically solving the issue is a multifaceted undertaking, but “making things simple and easy to understand and easy to execute are probably the main two” focuses for Slegers. Getting their input: ‘What do you see?
What do you feel on the pitch? What’s your perception in the moment and your analysis afterwards?’” The shadow of Sunday’s trip to Stamford Bridge loomed large at Meadow Park with eight changes made to the team that salvaged a point against Manchester United deep into added time on Saturday. The hope, without being disrespectful to their Danish opposition, was that this game would alleviate the frustration the Gunners are experiencing in front of goal, breaking the mental block several players seem to be suffering from. Unfortunately, the A-Liga leaders had other ideas.
The Gunners’ pressure in the opening 20 minutes, which the Køge manager, Kristian Mørch, described as “like plunging into ice-cold water” that they just had to “try to survive, calm the panic, calm the fear, and then act our way out of it”, seemed to have yielded the breakthrough in the 13th minute, when Caitlin Foord kept an attack alive before sending the ball to Taylor Hinds. The full-back fed Kyra Cooney-Cross and the Australian midfielder’s neat flick was turned in by Chloe Kelly on the volley with the outside of her leg. It was a fine finish but the video assistant referee intervened to penalise an offside Stina Blackstenius for straying into the line of sight of Vingum.
Had the hosts got an early goal, the game may have opened up for them a little. That the match reached half-time still goalless was somewhat inexplicable, but also symbolic of Arsenal’s stuttering start to the season, with just five points from their three Women’s Super League games after consecutive draws, against Crystal Palace and Manchester United. The scale of the achievement for the visiting team was demonstrated by the buoyant celebrations of their coaching staff as soon as the half-time whistle was blown.
Mørch bellowed “good job in here”, before tripping on a railing and receiving a chorus of boos from the home fans behind the opposition dugout. He walked across the pitch towards the dressing room with a smile on his face and a finger to his lips shushing the crowd. Their decision to celebrate every positive action was a conscious one.
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