Frida Maanum recently spoke with us about looking ahead to 2024 and the second half of the Arsenal Women season.
What she said was as follows…
Frida: Greetings to all, it’s wonderful to be operational for 2024! We were able to recuperate greatly from the extended Christmas break, and we are now fully motivated for the second half of the season.
My entire family spent the Christmas vacation in Thailand, so my Christmas was a little different. Along with all of my relatives, aunts, and uncles, we went there because my dad used to live there when he was younger. During our two weeks there, it was somewhat odd to celebrate Christmas in the heat, as we were used to -15°C temperatures and plenty of snow back in Norway. Kind of glad I didn’t go through that this year! But I do adore a Norwegian Christmas too.
Even though we were unable to enjoy a formal team Christmas celebration before we all left, we managed to fit in our annual game of Secret Santa. Of course, if no one eventually found out who received what, it wouldn’t be Secret Santa. Viv, who was mine, got me around twenty pairs of gloves! That did seem kind of amusing to me.
Even in warm weather, I wear gloves whenever I play. It’s kind of like a comfort now, in my opinion. Anyhow, I have plenty of supplies for the remainder of the season due to Viv. She wears gloves a lot too, so perhaps I ought to return a few pairs.
Considering how we started this season, returning following the World Cup was difficult. Last season, there wasn’t much time for celebrations because so many of us had to immediately report to our national teams. None of us wanted to play in the World Cup with Norway, so I had to quickly return to the Arsenal style and start performing. Physically, it’s a lot to handle, so any opportunity to turn off and refuel, as we did over the Christmas season, is greatly beneficial.
It’s a good idea to take stock of the season’s key takeaways at this midway point. The Champions League is unique. Reminding us that we didn’t qualify is annoying, but it’s also amazing how fast we reset. Although we learned a lot as a club and individually, I think most people saw that Champions League exit as a terrible experience. Whether you play in the league or the Champions League, you have to constantly be alert. In the WSL match against Liverpool, we didn’t get off to a good start, but we improved as a unit.
The first half of the season will be thrilling. It is thrilling to anticipate the opportunities we have in the league and in the cups.
We played a good FA Cup match against Watford to help us get back into the swing of things. When you’re up against a team from the division below, you have to take them seriously and also understand that there should be plenty of chances to score goals. I think we did well. We’ve already reviewed the game to identify where we might have been more efficient and avoided giving up that one goal, but all in all, I believe it was a solid game to test out the strategies we’ve been working on over the past two weeks.
“Alessia is different to Stina and I change the way I play depending on who I’m playing with”
A large component of our game is pressing. Since he has been here for two and a half years, Jonas has been pushing for this: to press hard at all times, to find opportunities to win the ball high and immediately create an opportunity. Beth applied a lot of pressure and Stina drove the ball well, and we scored a goal moments later against Watford. It is quite difficult to counteract that efficiency. As a No. 10, I press a lot because it gives me so much energy to win the ball high and create opportunities. That’s a key component of both my approach and the team’s mentality.
Football is very intriguing and enjoyable because you always have to adjust based on your teammates. Working with others requires you to put up your best effort when it comes to your individual talents. To start with, Alessia is not exactly the same as Stina. Less is more interested in getting the ball to her feet, which allows me to improve my delivery skills. Next, Stina is a player that runs behind and drags the queue, which gives me room. There are benefits to both. It modifies my playing style in terms of my partner. The midfielders positioned behind us feel the same way. Additionally, each of them has a unique ability to play passes through or driving with the ball.
The season’s second half is going to be extremely important. I can’t wait to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this season, but I’m incredibly enthusiastic about the whole thing. I want to change the fact that I have never won a game at Chelsea on the road. We’re all really motivated, especially following our performance at the Emirates against Chelsea, where we dominated the majority of the game and created a tonne of opportunities. I’m eager to get going and think it’s good to enter the second half of the WSL season with that level of confidence in the team.
