Paris FC vs Arsenal Women: What Would an Answer Look Like Tonight?

I spent a lot of time after the Chelsea game asking questions about Renée Slegers and this Arsenal team.

Well, tonight she gets her first opportunity to start answering some of them.

Arsenal are playing away v Paris FC in the Champions League tonight, and I think this is quite an interesting game to preview because normally at this point I’d start telling you about Paris, who their dangerous players are, how I think Arsenal might line up and where the game could be won.

And we will get to all of that, but after Chelsea on Sunday, I think there’s something else I’m going to be watching first.

I want to see what Arsenal do differently tonight.

We spent a lot of time on Monday talking about the extra touch, the hesitation in front of goal, the substitutions that didn’t seem to improve us and whether some of the clarity we saw when Renée first took over has started to disappear.

Renée obviously sees what’s happening quite differently from those of us watching from the outside.

She was asked again yesterday about Arsenal’s problems in front of goal and she remains incredibly confident that this is going to turn. She said she sees the players every day, she sees the quality, the work they’re putting in and how close everything is to coming together.

Her words were, “We know that it will come and we know how good we are when we’re unleashed.” 

Georgia Stanway was sitting next to her and said much the same. She believes that when it clicks, it will really click.

I really hope they’re right.

And I don’t mean that sarcastically because, as frustrated as I was after Chelsea, we saw enough during that opening half an hour at Stamford Bridge to know this team hasn’t suddenly forgotten how to play football.

For 30 or 40 minutes Arsenal were aggressive, we moved the ball well, we found space, we created opportunities and we put Chelsea under a lot of pressure.

What we didn’t do was score. Again.

So when Renée talks about Arsenal becoming “unleashed”, I think tonight gives us an opportunity to look for some signs of what that might mean.

Do we take the shot when it’s there rather than looking for one more touch?

Do we move the ball quickly enough that Paris don’t have time to get themselves back into defensive positions?

When someone like Reuteler finds space between the lines (and yes, I want to see her start tonight), are the players around her looking ahead quickly enough to see it?

And if the game isn’t going the way Renée wants after 50 or 60 minutes, does she try something different rather than automatically reaching for the same solutions?

Because this isn’t just about beating Paris FC for me.

Of course Arsenal need the three points. We won our opening Champions League game against Køge, but Barcelona and Lyon are still sitting there later in this league phase and you really don’t want to start making qualification unnecessarily complicated for yourself.

But I also want to come away from tonight feeling like Arsenal have started answering some of the questions we’ve been asking.

And Paris FC are going to make us earn those answers because, if anybody thinks Arsenal are flying over to France tonight to play an easy little Champions League game to warm up before Manchester City on Sunday, I’d probably go back and watch what happened the last two times we played them.

Because Paris FC have already shown us exactly how awkward they can be. 

What exactly are Arsenal up against tonight?

Paris FC are one of those teams where I think the name can fool you slightly if you don’t watch much French football.

This is not Paris Saint-Germain and they don’t have anything approaching Arsenal’s resources or the collection of international players that Renée has available to her.

But they are very awkward.

We know that ourselves because the last competitive meeting between these two teams is one Arsenal supporters probably don’t particularly enjoy remembering.

Back in 2023, Paris knocked us out of Champions League qualifying on penalties after a completely ridiculous 3-3 game in Sweden. Arsenal went 2-0 down, fought back to 2-2, went behind again in extra time, Alessia Russo equalised again and then Paris goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie saved from both Frida Maanum and Russo in the shootout. 

Different Arsenal team, different Paris team and more than three years ago, so I’m not suggesting that tells us much about what will happen tonight.

But we don’t even have to go back three years to know Paris can make things uncomfortable for us because we played them at Meadow Park in pre-season just over a month ago.

Arsenal won 1-0 through Olivia Smith, in the last seconds I might add, but that was a really competitive game and Paris made us work for it. So if you’re expecting Arsenal to arrive tonight, dominate the ball and eventually Paris will politely get out of the way, I don’t think that’s what we’re going to see.

And then there’s what Paris did against Barcelona last week.

They lost 5-2, which obviously doesn’t sound very impressive until you look at how the game started.

Five minutes in, Mariam Toloba won the ball high up the pitch, immediately released Evelyne Viens in behind and Viens scored.

And that sequence is probably worth remembering tonight.

Won the ball. Looked ahead immediately. Attacked the space before Barcelona could recover.

Paris eventually got overwhelmed because Barcelona are Barcelona after all, but even at 5-1 down they didn’t stop trying to attack them. Aurélie Reynders found Clara Mateo running in behind in the 73rd minute and Mateo scored their second. 

So Paris scored twice away to Barcelona by doing something Arsenal have really been struggling to do recently.

They saw the opportunity and acted on it.

There wasn’t another touch to make absolutely certain. There wasn’t another pass because maybe someone else had a slightly better angle.

The space appeared and they went for it. Considering what we’ve spent the last few days talking about, I find that interesting.

Because if Arsenal are careless with the ball tonight, particularly when the likes of Ona Batlle and Emily Fox are high up the pitch, Paris have already demonstrated against probably the best team in Europe that they’re capable of turning a mistake into a chance very, very quickly.

They’ve had a slightly strange start domestically as well. They’ve beaten Nantes 2-0 and Strasbourg 2-0, but Lyon absolutely took them apart 7-1 between those two games. Then came the 5-2 defeat to Barcelona.

So they’re conceding goals against the very best sides, and that’s encouraging for an Arsenal team desperately trying to rediscover where the goal is.

But Paris have also scored against Lyon and twice against Barcelona, so I don’t think this is a game where we can become frustrated, start throwing bodies forward and assume there won’t be consequences at the other end.

The two names I particularly have in my mind are Evelyne Viens and Clara Mateo.

Viens is the one who punished Barcelona within five minutes and Mateo is an experienced French international who gives Paris another threat when they can get her moving into space.

So I think Arsenal should have opportunities tonight, the question is what we do when we get them.

Because I really don’t want to be sitting here tomorrow telling you Arsenal had 25 shots, loads of possession and somehow we’re still discussing that extra touch.

Tonight I want to see Arsenal recognise the moment and GO. Which brings us to the really interesting bit.

Who does Renée pick, and has Chelsea changed anything?

This is probably the part of tonight I’m most curious about because, after everything we talked about following Chelsea, Renée’s team selection is going to tell us something.

Not everything, obviously. We’ve got Manchester City away on Sunday, this is the second of three consecutive away games and Renée has been very clear already this season that the reason Arsenal built such a deep squad was so she could use it during weeks exactly like this one. 

So there will probably be changes tonight and some of them will simply be about managing minutes.

But there are a few selections I think are about more than rotation.

First, Géraldine Reuteler.

She finally made her Arsenal debut at Stamford Bridge on Sunday and only had about ten minutes, but I mentioned in the Chelsea review that one of the first things I noticed was her movement.

She was finding little pockets of space and looking to receive the ball, but quite often the player in possession either hadn’t seen her or wasn’t looking forward quickly enough to use her.

Well, tonight I’d like to see what happens if she’s given considerably longer than nine minutes.

Because we’ve spent months talking about what Reuteler can bring to Arsenal. Her movement, her intelligence, her ability to carry the ball and especially her ability to make things happen quickly in transition.

At some point we need to stop talking about Géraldine Reuteler the Arsenal signing and start watching Géraldine Reuteler the Arsenal player.

And Paris might be a really interesting opponent to do that against because I don’t think we’re going to spend the entire evening attacking eleven players standing around their own penalty area.

Then there’s Selina Cerci. I absolutely would start her.

I said before Køge that I wanted to see her and when she eventually came on she gave Arsenal exactly what I thought we’d been missing. She gets the ball and her instinct is to go somewhere with it.

She drove into the penalty area and won the penalty that eventually won us the game.

Then she gets ten minutes against Chelsea.

Again, I’m not suggesting Cerci has somehow become the answer to every problem Arsenal have after a couple of substitute appearances, because that’s not fair on her.

I just want to see more.

Because if the conversation inside Arsenal at the moment is about playing with instinct and becoming more decisive when the opportunity appears, then surely one way of encouraging that is to put players on the pitch whose natural instinct is to attack the opportunity when they see it.

The other one for me is Smilla Holmberg.

Steph Catley hasn’t travelled, which means Renée has a decision to make at the back. 

She could keep Emily Fox and Ona Batlle as the full-backs and bring Lotte Wubben-Moy into central defence alongside Leah Williamson.

But I’d be very tempted to use Holmberg.

We’ve got Manchester City on Sunday and there is absolutely no reason to run the same back four into the ground, but also Holmberg keeps giving Renée reasons to play her.

We’ve seen the energy, we’ve seen the overlapping runs, we’ve seen the quality of her crossing and we saw her come off the bench at Manchester United and score the equaliser.

So if we’re asking Arsenal to play with more purpose tonight, I’d like some of that purpose coming from the full-back position as well.

Then we get to the midfield.

Kyra Cooney-Cross would stay in my team.

She was Player of the Match against Køge and I thought she was one of Arsenal’s better players again during that opening period against Chelsea. She’s looking forward, she’s carrying the ball and she’s always trying to make things happen.

And after what we were saying on Monday about squad hierarchy, I think this is important.

If somebody is playing well, reward them. Don’t automatically put them back on the bench because the player who normally sits above them in the hierarchy is available.

So I’d be very interested in a midfield involving Kyra and Reuteler tonight, with the third position depending on exactly how Renée wants to structure it.

Then up front, Chloe Kelly is unavailable, which removes one option, but Arsenal still have a crazy amount of attacking talent to choose from.

For me, Selina Cerci starts through the middle.

I’d like Olivia Smith back in the starting eleven as well because she didn’t play a single minute at Stamford Bridge, and if tonight does become more transitional, she’s exactly the sort of player I’d want running into those spaces.

Then you’ve got Lisa Baum, Caitlin Foord and Mariona as possibilities for the other side. My first choice would be Baum but then I have this thought over Caitlin Foord starting instead and getting a proper chance rather than being asked to come on in the last 10 minutes in a panic and make something happen.

I do want Renée to rotate tonight, but I don’t want rotation for the sake of rotation. I want to look at the eleven and understand what she’s trying to do with it.

Because that’s probably the biggest thing I’m looking for after Sunday: clarity.

If Reuteler plays, use the spaces she’s finding. If Cerci plays, get the ball to her early enough that she can attack somebody. If Holmberg plays, give her the opportunity to get forward rather than asking her to spend the evening worrying about what’s behind her.

And if Olivia Smith gets space to run into, find her before Paris have five players back behind the ball.

I don’t need Arsenal to reinvent themselves tonight. I just want to see the players looking like they know what the next action is supposed to be.

Because if we get that part right, I think the goals will probably take care of themselves.

What would an answer from Arsenal actually look like tonight?

I don’t think it necessarily means Arsenal need to go to Paris and win 4-0.

Obviously I’d be delighted if they did, and it would make tomorrow’s podcast considerably easier to record, but after the last few games I’m probably looking for something more specific than the scoreline.

I want to see some instinct come back into this team.

Because when Renée talks about Arsenal eventually becoming “unleashed”, that’s the word I keep coming back to.

What does an unleashed Arsenal look like?

For me, it starts with playing forwards when the opportunity is there.

If Paris lose the ball and there are three or four seconds when they’re out of shape, don’t give them those seconds back.

If Olivia Smith is running into space, find her.

If Cerci has isolated a defender, give her the ball and let her attack them.

If Reuteler moves into one of those little spaces between midfield and defence, somebody needs to have their head up and see her before that space disappears.

And when somebody gets within shooting distance, please just take the shot.

I don’t mean start smashing the ball towards goal from 30 yards every time we cross the halfway line.

I mean trust the decision when the opportunity is there.

Because that’s the bit that has started to look unnatural to me.

These are very, very good footballers, but around the penalty area we’re sometimes watching them behave as though they’re searching for permission to do the thing they already know how to do.

I’d like to see that disappear tonight.

The other thing I’m watching is what Arsenal do if Paris make this uncomfortable.

Because there’s every chance they will.

We know they can attack quickly, we know they’re capable of scoring against very good teams and we know from the pre-season game that they’re perfectly capable of frustrating Arsenal for long periods.

So what happens if it’s still 0-0 after 55 minutes?

Or, even more interestingly, what happens if Paris score first?

That’s when I’ll be watching Renée as much as the players.

Does she recognise quickly what the game needs?

Does she use the different profiles she’s got sitting beside her?

And when those substitutions happen, can we immediately understand what Arsenal are trying to change?

That’s probably the biggest thing I want after Chelsea.

Not perfection.

Clarity.

I want to be able to look at Arsenal and understand why the players are where they are, what we’re trying to create and what changes when something isn’t working.

And then there is the defensive side because we shouldn’t completely ignore that while we’re obsessing over why nobody can put the ball in the net.

Arsenal have conceded only two goals in four WSL games.

So there is a really solid foundation underneath all of this.

But Paris will test that foundation differently.

If Arsenal commit players forward and lose possession, Viens and Mateo have already shown how quickly Paris can attack the space that’s left behind. We saw exactly that against Barcelona.

So being more instinctive doesn’t mean becoming reckless.

If one full-back goes, somebody has to recognise the space behind them.

If Kyra carries the ball forward, somebody needs to give her protection.

And if Arsenal lose it, that first reaction has to be immediate because Paris aren’t going to wait for us to reorganise.

Which is why I think tonight could tell us quite a lot.

I’m not expecting 90 minutes of perfect football four days after Stamford Bridge.

But I do want to see an Arsenal team playing with a little less hesitation and a little more trust in what they’re seeing in front of them.

Because Renée and Georgia are telling us this attack is close.

Tonight I’d like to start seeing it.

And finally, what am I expecting tonight?

I think Arsenal win.

I’m going to go 2-0 Arsenal, although those of you who listened to the Chelsea preview will know my predictions aren’t exactly something you should be building an accumulator around at the moment.

But I do think there are reasons to be positive tonight.

For all the frustration of the last few games, we’re not watching an Arsenal team that can’t create chances. That’s what makes this whole thing so maddening. We’re getting into the positions. We’re having the ball. We’re spending plenty of time around the opposition penalty area.

At some point, some of those chances have to start going in.

And maybe tonight is the night.

Paris will make it difficult. We know that from playing them in August, we know they carry a threat when they turn the ball over and we’ve just watched them score twice away to Barcelona. So I don’t think this is going to be Arsenal wandering into Paris and having everything their own way.

But player for player, Arsenal should have enough.

What I’m more interested in is whether we come away feeling differently about them.

Because three points would obviously be very welcome, but if it’s another evening of 20-odd shots, endless possession and everybody taking an extra touch around the penalty area, we’re going to be having exactly the same conversation again tomorrow.

Whereas if we start seeing players taking the shot when it’s there, looking forward earlier, finding those runs and perhaps some of the newer players being trusted to bring something different, then maybe we start to see what Renée means when she talks about this team being unleashed.

And that would be very useful timing because Manchester City are waiting for us on Sunday.

So, Paris FC tonight. 5.45 kick-off.

I want three points, obviously.

But after the questions we’ve been asking over the last few days, I also want to see some answers.

I’ll be back after the game to talk about whatever Arsenal give us.