And then your main striker gets injured, you stick someone else up front instead, and they go and score the only goal as you beat the league leaders.
Of course, things are more complex than that. But had Stina Blackstenius been fit to start for Arsenal against Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, Olivia Smith would have been on the bench.
The 21-year-old Canada international was suspended for the impressive 2-0 win at reigning WSL champions Chelsea a fortnight ago, and there was little reason for Renee Slegers to change that XI for City’s visit. Blackstenius would have run the channels, Alessia Russo would have played just behind, and Beth Mead and Caitlin Foord would attack from wide areas.
But then Blackstenius was ruled out with a calf problem, and Slegers had to adapt. And, to give her due credit, her solution was highly effective.
Other coaches might have used Smith in an attacking midfield role and pushed Russo on to play as the striker. Frida Maanum could also have come into the side, to provide extra physicality against City’s midfield. But Slegers stuck to Plan A as closely as possible. And Smith was tasked with, essentially, being Blackstenius.
“It started growing in the week,” Slegers said. “When you put the game plan together, we look at the strengths we have in the squad — the partnerships and connections in our team are very important — but we also look at what the opportunities are against the opponent. We have been successful with Stina as the No 9, with her physicality and her speed, so we wanted similar qualities, even though Olivia and Stina are very different players.”
Smith isn’t entirely unfamiliar with the position. She played through the middle for previous club Liverpool when, to be frank, it felt like there was nobody else in the squad who could do it, and similarly was fielded there a couple of times in pre-season last summer when Arsenal’s regular strikers were still recovering from European Championship action with their national teams. But she prefers playing out wide, largely because there’s more space to run into out there.
Against City yesterday, though, the space was going to be in behind, and Smith exploited it perfectly, partly thanks to preparation on the training ground.
“Liv had two, two-and-a-half training sessions in the (No) 9 position,” said Slegers. “And a lot of meetings with coaches, giving her the detail without giving her too much information, so she can play off intuition, because that’s where she’s really good. She picked up the role really well, and the goal was exactly what we wanted to create.”
The only goal of the match capped a lovely move that featured Mariona Caldentey exchanging passes with central midfield colleague Kim Little, then sending a delicate through ball in behind. Smith, showing an awareness of the offside line that Blackstenius often lacks, put herself in Rebecca Knaak’s blind spot, sped past her to reach the ball just before goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita, and slid a finish into an empty net.
Smith has a habit of making the breakthrough from positions she’s not meant to be playing.
Her stunning debut goal for Arsenal in a 4-1 home win against London City Lionesses in September came after she drifted inside from the left, on a day when she was playing at right-winger. She was only on the left because she and fellow winger Chloe Kelly hadn’t switched back over after a set piece.
On Sunday, City suspected that Arsenal would go with Smith up front, but still couldn’t stop her. “When we saw the line-up, we were pretty sure Olivia Smith was going to play as a No 9,” said head coach Andree Jeglertz. “Because we thought Blackstenius was going to be the one to play there, so we thought that was part of their game plan.
“We knew about her qualities (Smith) and knew that was one of their game plans, to utilise her in behind, and it’s always going to be challenging for the defenders… the back line don’t know: should they step?, should they drop? It becomes a little bit of a difficult situation for them.”
The question is how often this happens in future.
Blackstenius isn’t expected to be sidelined for long, but she is on course to be out of contract in the summer, and it remains to be seen whether Arsenal will offer a new deal to a player who turned 30 last Thursday.
“We have different options for the No 9,” said Slegers. “This was very specific to today — like I said, Olivia hasn’t done it for us before. But she performed really well, so of course we’re going to continue to see this as an option.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Arsenal, Women’s Soccer
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