Watching Arsenal Women in recent times has been a new experience of being opened to more minutes of watching the ladies’ game.
But the Arsenal I’m seeing has the DNA imprint of the club I’ve grown up watching from the men’s side of things too.
The possession play of the women is at once, patient and reactive. There is clear calculation to every pass in their build-up. Simultaneously, there is also a readiness to pounce on any opportunity, generated by a lapse of concentration from the opposition.
This is a trademark of any Arsenal team from bygone times. Hence, the philosophy of the club does not bend at the fickleness of personnel change or growth in stature, which is what the women’s team has seen in the past few seasons.
The Arsenal women team has been able to create at once an identity and fanbase independent from their male counterparts, but still tap into the institutional heritage of the club.
That is a commercial and sporting achievement for the Arsenal executives.
Investment and recruitment working effectively, in harmony with one another. Spending money on quality players, such as Kyra Cooney-Cross. Swedish publication, Aftonbladet reported that her summer 2023 signing was actually one of the most expensive signings ever in the women’s game.
Not to forget, that the cost of selling a unique women’s team shirt is also an investment. It’s a vote of confidence that shirt sales will justify the costs incurred by establishing a fresh line of production for a new form of clothing. And a vote of confidence that from the outsider looking into the club, seems a no-brainer as well.
But, to arch back to the purpose of the piece, the commercial decisions of the ladies team are all upheld by that matters the most: the product on the pitch.
Arsenal women deliver quality performances on the pitch. Not the traditional, condescending notions of the past, that maybe a lot of us were culpable of, that women’s participation and effort was enough to be applauded.
No, the ladies team at Arsenal is a joy to behold, because the individual excellence of the players, and their due diligence in following team tactics.
That is not patronising praise, those two traits are often seen in isolation in the Premier League.
Arsenal women do both. There’s passing moves with intent, reminiscent of Wilshere’s vintage goal. Or Blackstenius ripping it up without being a guaranteed starter, bringing Sylvain Wiltord invincible season vibes. This is the Arsenal DNA imprint. One that I grew up fearing as a rival fan. And one that in a less inclusive time, my group of boys and were still beginning to realise at school, was also imprinted in the women, as we heard legendary tales of a formidable Arsenal women’s team, on the rise.
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