I agree that the goals OL took were freaky, but of course their defense was an horror-show ad their offense (as incredible as it can sound, given the players and what they've done so far) looked toothless for this level of challenge. I wouldn't have thought Arsenal were going to make it, but in fact they deserved the final (as it was mentioned in the comment of the game, they had only played one 18 years ago, in 2007, when they won their only trophy). Winning vs Barcelona is a different thing: Arsenal have good players, but some of them are a little on the old side (Kim Little, for instance) and they anyway look one level below Barça's ones (even Mariona Caldentey: it's not a coincidence that Barcelona decided that they could do without her). Of course, a single game can go either way, as OL-Barça itself from a few seasons ago showed, but let's say I will be really surprised if the cup will go to the London team. Highlights of this game also:
Tactically Joe Montemurro got it wrong, he selected the wrong striker Hegerberg which means Dumornay moved back to midfield and sent van de donk to the bench so no midfield creativity and this did not work against the Arsenal pressing.
Also eight starters for Barcelona are starters for Spain, kind of like the other Barca from the Xavi, Iniesta et al days. Chelseas' less cohesive, not really established who the best starting unit is. Arsenal saved Lyon from embarrassment had they gone through to finals where I think they'd lose like Chelsea. Arsenal might have the advantage of being less familiar to Barcelona. But don't expect a miracle, hopefully some bright spots for Arsenal. My take on Caldentey, she's at least a top five player in WSL if not the best. She's the reason Arsenal made it to the finals.I'm sure she doesn't have the goal/asst numbers others have but she does absolutely everything well.
Absolutely! In FA WSL she's always going to make the difference. What I meant is that, on a completely different level, Barça have several offensive players who are better than her, in my opinion.
You read my mind. I was really not taking issue with you, just wanted to give a shout-out to Mariona, who surplus or not, stands-out to me as more valuable to her English club because her qualities there are so rare.
This debacle is primarily because of Montemurro. Are you starting a lineup for the second leg of a Champions League semi-final that you've never tried all season? When you're only leading by one goal? And in an unusual 4231 format when you play almost exclusively in 433? Professional misconduct. With players who are too slow and not very creative (Heaps, Damaris), so a very poor midfield, or almost useless and ineffective (Chawinga, Ada), and when you know that others aren't at their best, nervous, tired, or slightly injured (Gilles, Diani, Renard, etc.). While you have other solutions, but it requires a little creativity, imagination, courage, or at least just lucidity and a sense of concern, which doesn't seem to have been the case. Attack line and midfield like : (Majri / Dumornay / Diani ) (VDD/ Damaris / Dabritz ) --> would have been much more effective. But Montemuro preferred "famous" names rather than those that were in shape at the moment. Majri came back very well since last february, everyone saw that except JM, Dabritz always responded efficiently and with concern when the team needed her, but the coach never started them. At the back line, starting Sombath with Gilles could have been better. Sombath is a good CB, she did a good match in the first leg in London, her only flaw is her small stature. Then, replace at 46" an awful Gilles by Renard who still a little injured could play only one half. But in the configuration that JM chose, he kept Gilles until the end because after bringing in Sombath in place of Renard he had no more solutions !! Terciane showed at the last Olympics that she was not, how can I say, a clown, but JM does not trust her. Could she have been worse than Gilles? Many of us have pointed out insufficient turnover and somewhat deficient coaching throughout the season. Like svava for example who played pretty well the whole first part of the season in place of the injured Bacha, then practically disappeared when the latter returned. Huerta who could have played more "easy" matches to rest Carpenter, idem Dabritz to rest Heaps, Majri who didn't play enough etc... And at the most important moment of the season, some players arrive tired or slightly injured, others not sharp enough. And to finish with JM, he has always relied on individuals rather than developing a true team plan. I haven't seen a single good game this season (those won by huge scores against weak teams don't count). Glad this coach is leaving, far, far away.
The players are also responsible for this defeat. First and foremost, Gilles, who had a pretty good season, but who seemed completely overwhelmed by the event. This isn't the first time she's shown signs of nervousness in key moments. But she's not the only one to blame. If I had to rate the players, I'd give them between 1 and 3, with the exception of a 5 for Dumornay. Ada is no longer at the level of the CL, Heaps is getting slower and slower and hasn't had a good game since replacing Horan (). Chawinga? She's OL's biggest transfer flop. Almost completely useless since the start of the season. She was good at PSG, but her style of play doesn't match OL's. She hasn't progressed, or hasn't tried, or the coach has failed to help her progress or integrate her properly into the team. But she's also a fairly limited player. Her only abilities are speed and power. But she can't dribble an opponent, loses almost all 1 VS 1 duels, doesn't cross well into the penalty area, and doesn't come back to defend when needed. In D1 Arkema, she scored only 7 goals: 3 against Guingamp, last in the league, 2 against Strasbourg, 11th, and 1 against St Etienne, 9th. That's low, very low for one of the highest-paid players in the world. Only 1 goal in the Champions League. Carpenter lost a lot of balls, missed simple passes, the same for Bacha, Diani closing down too much on the wing, etc. This may be the end of a cycle for OL. Many players will leave this summer. Others are getting older. So rebuild, with a new coach and young players, and be a little patient.
One of the most bizzare thing with Montemurro is he did the press conference in English and the post game questions where French journos struggled to ask their question in English was funny. They had a translator but her quality was not great actually.
Unexpectedly (at least to me), Arsenal just won their second Champions' League, at a whopping 18 years from the first one, with a goal by late-sub Stina Blackstenius! Mighty Barcelona had to bow.
Dogged defensive performance by Arsenal today. They stayed well organized and compact and didn't give Barca many clean looks all match. Arsenal played well in a competitive first half. In the 2nd, Barca dominated the ball in the first 20 minutes and looked likely to score against a somewhat flat, reactive Arsenal. But the Gunners managed the pressure well and then got a big attacking boost with the insertion of Blackstinius and Mead. The former got in behind Barca's defense not long after she entered the pitch and nearly scored. Nice save by the Barca keeper. Minutes later, Blackstinius did score off a nifty pass from Mead, who pulled the ball to her left, taking Barca defenders with her, then slotted it right to an open Blackstinius in the box, who put the ball in the net. Fox and Williamson were stout all day in defense for Barcelona, and Williamson had to be the player of the match--as she blocked numerous shots and passes in and around the box by Barca. Great win for Arsenal and the WSL.
You could argue that Arsenal had the best chances in the 1st Half, with Irene Paredes' own-goal that was disallowed for off-side and with Frida Manuum's shot that was save by Cata Coll with her fingertips. Barça had some good chances in the 2nd Half (especially with Ewa Pajor) but maybe no-one that was actually as dangerous. Both substitutes were great and this shows how deep Arsenal's team have become to afford not starting them (depth is key in the Champions' League and probably Arsenal won because their depth could finally be properly compared to Barcelona's one). Beth Mead's movement and through-pass were brilliant, but Stina Blackstenius was especially good at remaining on-side (something some otherwise very good strikers seem unable to pay attention to), before slotting home that ball. It meant a lot for some players who had had a very good career so far, but without an actual memorable peak that were sending them in the "greatness" category. Of course Mariona Caldentey had already won the cup with Barça and some of the English players (Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, Alessia Russo, Chloe Kelly) were among the winners of Euro 2022, but other ones (captain Kim Little, Caitlin Foord, Frida Manuum, Daphne Van Domselaar, Stina Blackstenius herself) had won nothing more than national titles at max, so far. Highlghts of the match:
It has to be said, Renee Slegers and her coaching staff did a great job planning how to defend against the Barca attack. They had two weeks to set up their game plan and the players applied it perfectly. I was not expecting her to be that good when she came in.