Arsenal Women finished the season four points behind Man City, reached the Champions League semi-finals, and lost Katie McCabe to Chelsea on a free. Roberto Revilla gets into all of it.
This is the first proper episode of Arsenal Women: Trailblazers, and Roberto does not ease you in gently. This is a full-length season debrief covering everything: Renee Slegers’s first complete season in charge, the squad depth problems that injuries brutally exposed, a transfer window that is already producing results and a few open wounds, the tactical picture and where it needs to evolve, standout performers, the moments that defined the campaign - and what a realistic ambition looks like going into next season.
Roberto calls it as he sees it. No spin. No hedging. No corporate podcast clichés. Just an honest account of a season that had real highs, a few painful lows, and a summer that feels absolutely pivotal.
Man City won the WSL with 55 points. Arsenal finished second on 51. Chelsea were third on 49. The gap at the top is small. The window to close it is open. But it will not stay open by itself.
In this episode:
Takeaways:
•\tRenee Slegers is the right person for this job. She inherited chaos, won a Champions League, and spent last season learning at pace. The Arteta comparisons are legitimate — back her, give her time, do not panic.
•\tThe squad depth issue is structural, not accidental. Two or three injuries and the options ran out. That has to change this summer. Laia Codina and Victoria Pelova deserved more than they got.
•\tLosing Katie McCabe and Beth Mead to Chelsea and Man City respectively, both on frees, is a recruitment failure, plain and simple. The club’s contract renewal process was too slow and it cost them two world-class players who went directly to title rivals.
•\tThe incoming business looks promising. Ona Batlle (Spain international, free from Barcelona), Géraldine Reuteler (Swiss Player of the Year 2024, free from Frankfurt) and Selina Cerci (26, Germany international, striker) represent genuine upgrades if confirmed. Georgia Stanway links would address the midfield steel problem directly.
•\tAlessia Russo scored 24 goals in all competitions, 13 in the WSL. If you only watch the ball, you miss half of what she does. The Champions League goal against Chelsea was one of the finishes of the season anywhere in European football.
•\tThe Lyon semi-final was a reality check, not a disaster. Arsenal were technically excellent and tactically coherent. They were physically outmuscled. That is a solvable problem and the transfer window is the place to solve it.
•\tThe WSL title is the target. Chelsea are rebuilding. Man City have so far added only Beth Mead (aged 31) to a title-winning squad. Arsenal, if they get this window right, should go into next season as favourites.
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