Arsenal Women beat Paris FC 1-0 thanks to Olivia Smith’s superb 91st-minute winner - but the scoreline doesn’t really explain what was happening at Borehamwood.
In this episode of Arsenal Women: Trailblazers, I take a proper look at Renée Slegers’ developing 2026/27 Arsenal side and some of the things that were much easier to see once you stopped simply waiting for the goal.
Why were Lisa Baum and Smilla Holmberg combining so frequently on Arsenal’s right? Why did Leah Williamson keep moving across to cover that space? What does Georgia Stanway already seem to be adding to the midfield? Why was Selina Cerci causing Paris FC problems even without scoring? And why did Géraldine Reuteler appear relatively quiet after coming on?
There are also some fair concerns. Arsenal controlled long periods without creating enough clear chances, sometimes took one touch too many around the penalty area, the substitutions changed the shape considerably, and - yes - Caitlin Foord really did finish the match at right-back.
But there was another side to this performance: an aggressive counter-press, players rotating intelligently to cover each other, some very encouraging new partnerships and a team that looked increasingly comfortable winning the ball back almost immediately after losing it.
Paris FC deserve some credit as well. They were organised, physical, defended the penalty area extremely well and were further into their own pre-season preparations. Arsenal had to keep trying to solve the problem rather than simply play through it.
Renée described the missing ingredient afterwards as the “final detail”, and that feels about right.
So rather than giving you a minute-by-minute match report, this is a deeper look at what Arsenal were trying to do, what worked, what didn’t, and what this friendly might be telling us about the team Renée is building.
If you enjoy Arsenal Women: Trailblazers, please follow the podcast, rate and review it, and share the episode with another Arsenal Women supporter. It genuinely helps more people discover what we’re building.
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