Manchester City 4-2 Arsenal Women. Arsenal led twice at the Etihad and still lost.
Lisa Baum opened the scoring on 43 minutes, the ball going in off her knee after the City keeper parried Lotte Wubben-Moy’s header. Lauren Hemp equalised in first-half stoppage time with a shot that took a nick off Emily Fox.
Alessia Russo curled Arsenal back in front early in the second half. Then the benches decided it.
City changed three players on 61 minutes. Casparij, one of the new full-backs, scored two minutes later.
Hemp made it 3-2 on 72. Shaw finished it on 84, the ball going in via Williamson.
Arsenal’s changes came at 2-2. Olivia Smith replaced Baum and Stina Blackstenius came on for Georgia Stanway. Russo dropped into the 10.
City scored twice after that first round of Arsenal subs. That’s why I’m with Arseblog News that the in-game changes are doing more harm than good.
Renée Slegers saw the contrast. City “get immediate effect when they make their changes,” she said. She admitted “we haven’t had the same effect as last season”.
Mariona injured her hamstring blocking a pass and went off after the 1-1 goal.
Arsenal are 10th, 10 points behind City. It’s the second-worst start of their WSL history.
Slegers promises “a big review of our season so far” over the international break. If that review doesn’t start with the substitutions, it’s missed the point. Birmingham visit on 17 October.
Martin Ødegaard got an assist in Norway’s defeat in Porto, while Bukayo Saka scored twice for England and Mikel Merino also scored for Spain.
James Scanlon, an Arsenal U21 player who’s only just turned 20, scored in Gibraltar’s 1-1 draw with Malta. That’s six goals in 27 senior appearances.
Ceadach O’Neill won his fourth senior Northern Ireland cap off the bench in a 3-0 win over Ukraine. He’s already been named on Arsenal’s first-team bench. I’d expect a competitive debut before long.
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