The Gulf

27th February 2022: Women’s FA Cup 5th Round: Prenton Park: Liverpool vs Arsenal

I have decided to leave my experiences at England’s final match of the Arnold Clark Cup for a blog that will form part of a series building up to the Women’s Euros in the summer. So we jump past that mid-week journey to Wolverhampton and land far closer to my abode on the final Sunday, as I popped across the Mersey to watch the leaders of the WSL take on their hosts who are soaring away from the rest of the Women’s Championship.

These two teams leading their respective leagues clashed in the final 16, also known as the 5th round, of the Women’s FA Cup. Arsenal lead the WSL by just 2 points coming into this match with Chelsea breathing down their necks with a game in hand. Their defence came into this match with an excellent record of conceding just 8 goals in 14 games in the league and they had only lost once in the league all season.

Liverpool for their part came into this one with a 10 point cushion over the chasing pack in the championship, with just the 5 goals conceded in 15 league game and just the 1 loss all season. They came into this match having won their last 5 on the bounce whilst their visitors have drawn 3 of their last 5 and only have 1 win in that time. The FA Cup is known for it’s shocks, so would it see another today?

With the match kicking off at midday I had to be up way too early for a Sunday and grab a bus to the stadium. Whilst on this bus ride I decided to use the free-wifi on board to check the team sheets, but I got a little distracted by the breaking news of Bielsa’s sacking by Leeds United. This was Leeds telling the man who had masterminded their return to the EPL to take a hike, it seemed unreal. That’s like Liverpool sacking Klopp because he won them the top division title for the first time in 30 years. Insane.

I had recovered from the shock of this news by the time I arrived at the stadium. There was still 45minutes till kick-off when I arrived, but I decided to head straight inside anyway. On the way in I passed the burger van in the carpark and the blue van from fans supporting foodbanks, it’s awful that foodbanks are still needed but good to see them being supported by those with the means to do so. I bought a programme, a cheeseburger and a drink on my way to my seat. There was a little mix up on the programme price though as one seller told me it was £2 but when her colleague served me the price was set a £2.50, now the programmes did say £2.50 in them so I paid it but I could’ve done without the confusion.

When I got into the stands it the teams were already warming up, with Liverpool in the shade at the fans end and Arsenal bathed in sunlight at the far end of the pitch. The back up Liverpool keeper was earning her keep with calls of “heads” in the warm up as the crosses the coaches thumped during catching practice were perhaps a little over zealous. I was certainly glad that the seat I had chosen to rest in was further back than I had first intended to be and that I was positioned just nicely behind the posts, in such a way that any crosses that were aimed towards me would bounce off the posts and away from where I was sitting.

The other thing that caught my eye in the warm-ups was the different way that the teams ran their cones drill. I don’t actually know if it’s technical name is the cone drill, but it’s what I know it as. This drill sees the starting outfield players split into 2 groups and tasked with maintaining possession of the ball whilst keeping it in a small coned off box area. The normal way of running this is that the groups consist of 4 players each and 2 designated neutral players, this duo tend to be the team’s playmakers who can see passes that most of their teammates can. They are the creative powerhouse of their team and as neutral players in this drill they have to be the most focused. This set up of 4,4 and 2 is the normal way because it forces the players to rely on each other. Liverpool had the drill set up differently, with 2 groups of 5 players and 2 coaches playing the neutral roles. Why they chose to do it this way is a private matter for them, but it seemed to defeat the object of the drill to me. Just one man’s opinion.

The team sheets were announced 10 minutes before kick-off and with no screens in Prenton Park it was difficult to ensure I had them down right. I know you’re in League 2 Tranmere and surviving at that level is difficult enough without spending money on stadium improvements, but a screen would make it so much nicer to attend matches and you are the best team the people of the Wirral have and you can only grow by enticing more of them to come to matches.

The team sheets themselves revealed a strong team for the hosts, with Melissa Lawley, Taylor Hinds, Missy Bo Kearns, Leanne Kiernan and captain Niamh Fahey all in the starting 11. However, there was no place in the squad for defender Meikayla Moore who had scored a perfect set of own goals over the international break the week before.

Arsenal for their part had not gone with nearly as strong a squad as their hosts. Beth Mead had been left back in London and Manuela Zinsberger, Jordan Nobbs, Tobin Heath, Stina Blackstenius and record goal scorer Vivianne Miedema were all on the bench for the start of the match. Arsenal had followed the tradition of teams naming someone in their squad who is not on the programme with Stenson on their bench being the player allotted for that role for this match.

Before kick-off there was a special presentation to Fahey for reaching 100 international caps for Northern Ireland over the international break. Congratulations to her for reaching this milestone and may she enjoy many more matches with her international teammates. Back to the game I had come to watch though and it was time to get it underway.

The hosts started the match with Katie Stengel the furthest player forward before reverting to their main striker Kiernan leading the line. For the visitors, without the talismanic Miedema had Caitlin Foord leading the line for them.

It only took 5 minutes for the first mistake of the game to come close to a goal. That mistake came from the home captain Fahey, who was getting a little too comfy at the back and under pressure from Foord she put a little too much on the back pass to Rachael Laws. Luckily for Fahey it looked to be heading just past the post, but Laws was able to recover and clear it.

Arsenal made a mistake of their own in the 8th minute, but this one was in midfield. Leah Williamson was a little too casual on the ball and this gave Lawley the chance to nick the ball off her and flick a ball in behind the visiting defence. Kiernan was onto this ball like a shot and managed to out-run the attentions of nearby defenders. Unfortunately for her and the home fans the ball managed to out-run her and it was easily scooped up by Lydia Williams in the Arsenal goal.

Liverpool used this chance to gather momentum behind them and they got on top in the match. They had the next chance of the match when Missy Bo Kearns fired a free-kick miles over the bar from 25yards out. It may not have threatened the goalmouth, but it was a symptom of the control of possession that the hosts had managed to cultivate so far. Perhaps it was this control that lulled Rhiannon Roberts in the hosts defence into a false sense of security. She got far too sloppy in clearing a searching ball over the top allowing Foord to ghost in behind her and beat her to the ball. Luckily for Roberts her blushes were saved by an offside flag.

The first proper threat from the visitors came in the 17th minute as a ball down the left set Katie McCabe running free in the box. She flashed the ball across the 6 yard box just begging her teammates to get on the end of it and tap it home for the opener. None of her teammates were there to tap it home. Roberts got there to slap it away from goal and towards the back post then cleared fully by Taylor Hinds. This was the first time Arsenal had shown any threat in this game.

Two minutes later Arsenal did more than just threaten as they took the lead. A searching ball through the hosts defence made it to Foord with just Laws to beat and she finished it across Laws and it nestled in the left corner of the net. Laws got fingertips too it as it whistled past her but not enough to keep it out. The quality Arsenal showed to go from under pressure and struggling to breaking out and scoring with their first shot on target was exceptional. Despite being in control for the first 15 minutes Liverpool were behind in the match just 4 minutes later and now it was all up to how they would respond.

The first signs of this response were extremely positive as Kiernan flashed a shot right across the face of goal in the 21st minute before a cross from the right hand side was inches too high to go straight in without another touch just a minute later. Then the signs became less positive as another back pass to Laws was once again closed down by Foord and this time there were mere nanoseconds between Laws successfully clearing the ball as Foord closed in. Laws was able to get the ball clear but it was not a great moment for the hosts as they tried to reassert themselves in this match.

Then things fell apart completely for the hosts as the match hit the half hour mark, they conceded 2 goals in just 4 minutes as the game was dragged out of their hands by their WSL visitors. The first of the brace for the visitors came exactly on the half hour mark. A beautiful 50 yarder out of defence by Williamson landed on the head of Kim Little at the left hand post and her header across goal was palmed towards the other post by Laws. At this post Foord was waiting to smuggle it home, but Fahey wasn’t waiting for the ball and got in front of Foord to tap it behind for a corner. The corner was taken short to Little and her cross was punched out to McCabe on the edge of the box who volleyed it straight back towards goal. It flew deliciously into the back of the net and past the despairing dive of Laws to double Arsenal’s lead.

The second of Arsenal’s 4 minute brace was a lot simpler for the visitors, a ball over the top by McCabe sent Foord running free and completely unmarked in the 6 yard box. The home defence had stopped like statues with their feet in concrete expecting an offside flag that never came. Even Laws took on statue form between the sticks and it was far too simple for Foord to knock it past her to increase the visitor’s lead to 3. The tiny score screen at the far end of the pitch showed 4-0 to the Gunners for a second before correcting itself, but even at 3-0 a comeback looked beyond the hosts.

The visitors had a penalty appeal waved away in the 38th minute as McCabe went over a leg in the area. It would’ve been soft in my opinion, but it goes in the category of ‘seen them given’. Seconds after waving this appeal away the ref gave the hosts a freekick on the edge of their own box, which did nothing to placate the Arsenal players still appealing for the penalty.

In the 40th minute Hinds attempted to take kick-start Liverpool’s comeback singlehandedly. Her shot from 40 yards out skimmed past the right hand post of the visitors goal. The ambition was awesome to see and it would’ve been a gorgeous goal if it had come off, but the execution was just short of what it needed to be.

The match had reached the 42nd minute before either team picked up a card of any colour, but when it came it was a yellow and it went to the host’s Leighanne Robe. She got this questionable honour for hacking down the visitor’s Rafaelle Souza and ending her gut busting run from midfield up to the edge of the host’s box. Souza needed treatment after having her legs hacked from under her, but she was able to continue. The free-kick was comically wasted as little rolled it 10 yards to the grateful boots of Hinds, but the break she set the hosts on came to nothing.

This was the last noteworthy play of a half that had been competitive in parts but where the quality of the WSL showed itself in the crucial moments allowing the visitors to head down the tunnel with a 3-0 advantage in their pockets. I went to grab some food, but changed my mind when I saw the queues for the kiosks. Returning to my seat didn’t go to plan though as I picked the wrong stairs first time round and had to head back down before finding the right stairs on my second try. This may not seem like a huge inconvenience, but I had fallen off my bike the afternoon before the match and my knee could’ve done without the extra work.

The teams emerged piecemeal for the second half, but Liverpool were shooting towards the fan’s stand in this half so I was hopeful for a consolation goal at the very least. Both managers had faith in their respective teams after their first half performances as neither the hosts Matt Beard nor the visitors Jonas Eidevall made any changes to the personnel at half-time.

The first occurrence of note in the second period was a collision in midfield in the 49th minute that left Nikita Parris and Roberts down flat out. The match was stopped immediately as physios from both teams rushed onto the field to tend to their respective players. It was great to see that the medical procedures were being followed properly and even better when Roberts got quickly back to her feet. Parris was down for a little longer, but she was eventually cleared to continue with the match.

It took until the 54th minute for the first chance of the half to be created and it went to the hosts. They wrestled the ball free on the left and advanced, but with Kiernan on the overlap there was no-one in the box to connect with Stengel’s cross when it arrived and Noella Maritz was able to clear for the visitors. Her follow through on the clearance caught Hinds, but the only thing given by the ref was a throw in. Being caught left Hinds down needing treatment and in the lengthy stoppage Missy Bo Kearns and Roberts took to practising passing to keep warm. Hinds was able to continue and much to my surprise she was not one of those substituted when Beard made his first changes in the 62nd minute. Instead Ceri Holland and Leighanne Robe were the ones who made way for the hosts to be replaced by Megan Campbell and Rachel Furness.

Beard was not the first to shuffle his pack as Eidevall had blinked first 5 minutes earlier and he’d even gone bigger than the hosts double. He went for a triple replacing Rafaelle Souza, Leah Williamson and Noelle Maritz with Jennifer Beattie, Simone Boye Sorensen and Tobin Heath. For anyone who knows the women’s game the fact that Arsenal can consistently utilise Heath as a substitute is incredible. She is a world class winger and I have yet to see her start for the Gunners.

Back on the pitch it was Liverpool who created the first chances past the hour mark with back to back crosses from the right by Lawley. The first was a cross into the 6 yard box that was cleared away by Boye Sorensen with Missy Bo Kearns, Stengel and Furness lurking to turn it home. A minute later the second cross was just a little too high for Stengel to connect with properly and she could only help it past the post.

Having not created anything of note in the first 20 minutes of the second half Arsenal finally sorted out a decent attack in the 68th minute and just like their first attack of the first half they scored with this one too. A beautiful team move was finished off by Little from 6 yards out as she stroked it under the despairing dive of Laws. That made it 4-0 to Arsenal and all without Miedema on the pitch. The gulf between the best team in the championship, who created tons of chances and couldn’t finish one and the best team in the WSL, who created very few chances and were still 4-0 up with 20mins of the match left, was clear for all to see.

As the match entered the final 20 minutes both teams dipped further into their resources on the bench. The hosts bought off the excellent Missy Bo Kearns and replaced her with Carla Humphrey and also replaced Rhiannon Roberts with Charlotte Wardlaw. The visitors removed Foord from the action, thus denying her the chance to complete her hat-trick. They still didn’t bring Miedema on though instead sending on Frida Maanum as the new player for the last 20.

The ref had been doing very well with her decisions so far in the match, but she then blotted her copybook with a howler in the 74th minute. It occurred as Lia Walti and Stengel were tussling for the ball in the Arsenal penalty area. Walti caught Stengel with a hand to the face which normally would have resulted in a penalty being given to Liverpool, but as both players went down the ref instead gave a free-kick to Arsenal. This infuriated the home fans around me so much that they broke into a chant of “you don’t know what you’re doing”. A little harsh on the ref perhaps, but understandable given the scale of the mistake.

This was forgotten a minute later though as Heath went on the attack for the visitors. She found space on the left of the box and unleashed a shot across the keeper that beat the Laws and had to be cleared behind off the line by a covering defender. Great last ditch defending to prevent Arsenal scoring their 5th goal, but I didn’t catch who managed this feat as it happened at the other end of the pitch.

Arsenal were on the attack again in the 77th minute as Heath set Maanum clean through the centre of the host’s defence and it looked like a simple tap in for Maanum. Until the lino’s flag stopped the attack in it’s tracks and saved the blushes of the Liverpool defenders who had been bypassed so simply.

Liverpool had the only attacks of the final 10 minutes of the regulation 90 and they spaced them excellently in the first and last minute of the 10. In the 81st minute a long throw into the box, over the leaping head of Maya Iwabuchi was punched clear to Humphrey on the edge of the box. She lashed a shot goalwards but Lydia Williams was equal to this too and then Hinds toe-poked her shot high over the bar from 6 yards out. Whilst not what Hinds had intended it was still rather impressive as an attempted finish. The host’s final chance of the match in the 90th minute was a fizzing shot from 25 yards by Yana Daniels that skimmed the top of the bar on it’s way behind and was the closest the hosts had come to finishing off one of their openings all match.

In between these chances for Liverpool the visitors took the chance to make their final substitution of the match, but by this point they had decided not to introduce Miedema and to instead save her for closer matches than this one had turned out to be. The substitution that they did make saw Lia Walti replaced by Jordan Nobbs who I always enjoyed watching when I visited Meadow Lane, during my time in London, as her first thought when she gets the ball is always forward.

There were 3 minutes added to the end of the match and in this time Arsenal had two presentable chances to add to their tally for the match. The first fell to Heath when Iwabuchi found her in space on the left side of the box. Heath was in the same position that she had been in when she scored Arsenal’s last minute equaliser against City in the WSL earlier in the season. This time the keeper was equal to her effort.

Heath then turned creator for her teammates as she found Nobbs in space just 20 yards from goal in the centre of the pitch. Her first time shot flew mere millimetres over the bar on it’s way behind and really should have been the gunners 5th of the match. They would never get that 5th though as the ref whistled for full time as soon as Laws had taken the goal-kick.

The match ended 4-0 to Arsenal and they progress to the quarter-finals of the Women’s FA Cup where they will face Coventry United at Meadow Lane on the 18th March. As for Liverpool they had just been subjected to a lesson in how good a football team can be and been given a warning of the level of quality play that they will be up against when they are back in the WSL next season. They will need to improve if they wish to be completing near the top of that league next season, but for now they can enjoy the rest of the league season as they romp to promotion.

For me it was a match with some excellent play but one that also exposed the gulf between the two professional leagues of women’s football in this country. I’m actually heading to another WSL game in midweek as I head to my third Everton women’s match of the season as they welcome Chelsea women to Walton Hall Park as the visitors compete for the WSL title during a testing time for their club as a whole.

That blog will have to wait a while though as I get back in chronological order mode and bring you my experience of visiting Wigan’s DW Stadium for the visit of AFC Wimbledon. Latics vs the Dons, who wins?