Arsenal Women are back at the Emirates this Saturday, and after a brilliant international break for several of our players, I'm hoping they've remembered to bring their scoring boots home!

But there's some worrying injury news to discuss before Birmingham City arrive.

Mariona Caldentey faces eight to ten weeks out with a hamstring injury, while Selina Cerci has undergone knee surgery. Two significant setbacks for Renée Slegers, but could this finally be Géraldine Reuteler's opportunity to establish herself in the Arsenal starting eleven?

In this episode, I'm looking at what those injuries mean for the squad, who moves up the pecking order and why I'd love to see the Smilla Holmberg and Lisa Baum partnership reunited on Arsenal's right.

We also preview Birmingham City, including the threat posed by Océane Hurtré, who's already scored five league goals this season.

I'll share my preferred Arsenal starting eleven, explain why I'd make some changes following the international break and give you my score prediction.

And congratulations to Trailblazer Aris from Kentish Town, who's joining me in Club Level on Saturday after winning my spare ticket!

My prediction? Arsenal 4–1 Birmingham.

Perhaps all those international goals have gone to my head, but I'm feeling optimistic!

Arsenal Women: Trailblazers is a regular fan podcast dedicated to Arsenal Women. Join host Roberto Revilla for latest news, match previews and reports, tactical talking points and the stories that make Arsenal Women true trailblazers.

Connect with the show on Instagram @arsenalwomentrailblazers

Find us on BlueSky Social @arsenalwomentb

Our website can be found at www.arsenalwomentrailblazers.com

Intro/Outro Music thanks to raspberrymusic from Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We only had a good news episode on Monday, but apparently the Arsenal Women players decided we needed another one!

It's been a remarkable few days for our Gunners on international duty, with Alessia Russo, Georgia Stanway, Stina Blackstenius, Smilla Holmberg, Caitlin Foord and Olivia Smith all finding the net for their countries.

Alessia scored twice for England, Stina bagged another brace for Sweden and Smilla celebrated turning twenty with a goal and an assist.

Seven Arsenal goals on Tuesday alone, plus Olivia's contribution for Canada on Monday. Not bad!

After a difficult few weeks at club level, Roberto takes a few minutes to celebrate the players, enjoy their international success and look ahead to their return to Arsenal.

Sometimes it's nice to have absolutely nothing to complain about.

Trailblazers: The Arsenal Women Podcast follows Arsenal Women, tells the stories of the players behind the shirts and explores the why of it all.

Website: https://www.arsenalwomentrailblazers.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arsenalwomentrailblazers

Arsenal Women: Trailblazers is a regular fan podcast dedicated to Arsenal Women. Join host Roberto Revilla for latest news, match previews and reports, tactical talking points and the stories that make Arsenal Women true trailblazers.

Connect with the show on Instagram @arsenalwomentrailblazers

Find us on BlueSky Social @arsenalwomentb

Our website can be found at www.arsenalwomentrailblazers.com

Intro/Outro Music thanks to raspberrymusic from Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a good few days for Arsenal Women on international duty, and Roberto Revilla is back with a shorter, more cheerful edition of Trailblazers.

Alessia Russo has been named England Women's Player of the Year and celebrated with a goal against Greece. Georgia Stanway was on the scoresheet too, while 19-year-old Lisa Baum made her senior Germany debut against Australia.

There's more good news from Sweden, where Stina Blackstenius scored in a 5-0 victory over Lithuania and Smilla Holmberg returned to action following her recent foot injury, just in time to celebrate her 20th birthday.

We also catch up with Caitlin Foord and Steph Catley's international appearances, the Netherlands' emphatic victory over Hungary and the latest ahead of Arsenal's return to Women's Super League action.

No lengthy tactical analysis today. Just a chance to celebrate our players, enjoy some good news and look forward to what's coming next.

Follow Trailblazers:

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If you enjoy the podcast, please follow, rate and share it with another Arsenal Women supporter.

Arsenal Women: Trailblazers is a regular fan podcast dedicated to Arsenal Women. Join host Roberto Revilla for latest news, match previews and reports, tactical talking points and the stories that make Arsenal Women true trailblazers.

Connect with the show on Instagram @arsenalwomentrailblazers

Find us on BlueSky Social @arsenalwomentb

Our website can be found at www.arsenalwomentrailblazers.com

Intro/Outro Music thanks to raspberrymusic from Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a difficult start to the season for Arsenal Women, but there's still plenty to celebrate, and sometimes it's worth reminding ourselves of that.

In today's Trailblazers, we're catching up on everything happening around Arsenal during the international break, from worrying injury news to some fantastic achievements by players who deserve their moment in the spotlight.

Selina Cerci has withdrawn from Germany's squad with a knee problem, Smilla Holmberg has suffered a foot injury and Mariona Caldentey is also facing a spell on the sidelines. But could Cerci's injury explain some of the selection decisions we've been questioning recently? Roberto shares something he noticed in Arsenal's training footage before the Manchester City game that might change how we look at the situation.

There's also some much happier news.

Kyra Cooney-Cross has been voted Arsenal Women's September Player of the Month, Michelle Agyemang has received her MBE from Prince William and Lisa Baum has earned her first senior Germany call-up.

Meanwhile, Arsenal's Academy have given us something to celebrate with a 3-1 North London derby victory over Tottenham, featuring two goals from Mia Dixon and another from Cairo-Evea Antoine.

We also look ahead to Arsenal's upcoming fixtures and what Renée Slegers needs to work on during the international break.

And finally, Roberto has a message for supporters who are finding the constant negativity surrounding Arsenal Women difficult to deal with. Sometimes taking a break from football social media is the best thing we can do for ourselves.

Because supporting Arsenal should still bring us joy, even when the football doesn't always cooperate.

In this episode:

• Selina Cerci, Smilla Holmberg and Mariona Caldentey injury updates
• Could fitness concerns explain Cerci's limited playing time?
• Kyra Cooney-Cross wins September Player of the Month
• Michelle Agyemang receives her MBE
• Arsenal Academy beat Tottenham 3-1
• Lisa Baum's first senior Germany call-up
• What comes next for Renée Slegers and Arsenal Women
• Looking after ourselves when football social media gets overwhelming

Connect with Roberto on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/arsenalwomentrailblazers

Follow Trailblazers for thoughtful, independent Arsenal Women coverage, player stories and the why behind what's happening at our club.

If you enjoy the podcast, please follow, leave a review and share it with another Arsenal supporter.

Arsenal Women: Trailblazers is a regular fan podcast dedicated to Arsenal Women. Join host Roberto Revilla for latest news, match previews and reports, tactical talking points and the stories that make Arsenal Women true trailblazers.

Connect with the show on Instagram @arsenalwomentrailblazers

Find us on BlueSky Social @arsenalwomentb

Our website can be found at www.arsenalwomentrailblazers.com

Intro/Outro Music thanks to raspberrymusic from Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Arsenal led Manchester City twice. They still came away with nothing.

But this doesn’t feel like another episode where we simply list everything Arsenal did wrong.

Because for periods at the Etihad, I liked what I saw. Arsenal pressed aggressively, caused City problems and showed flashes of the team we were watching in pre-season. Then City changed the game from their bench and Arsenal couldn’t change it back.

So what happened?

In this episode of Trailblazers, I look at Renée Slegers’ substitutions, Arsenal’s recurring problems managing leads, why Géraldine Reuteler and Selina Cerci remain so difficult to understand from a squad-planning perspective and why I’m not convinced by the argument that seven summer signings mean we should simply write this season off as a rebuild.

We also need to talk about Renée herself. Has she lost the dressing room? Should Arsenal be considering a change? Or is the bigger problem that she appears to have stopped trusting some of the ideas she was developing with this squad only a few weeks ago?

Five points from five WSL games is nowhere near good enough. But after watching this game back, I’m frustrated rather than hopeless.

The international break has come at exactly the right time.

Arsenal Women: Trailblazers is a regular fan podcast dedicated to Arsenal Women. Join host Roberto Revilla for latest news, match previews and reports, tactical talking points and the stories that make Arsenal Women true trailblazers.

Connect with the show on Instagram @arsenalwomentrailblazers

Find us on BlueSky Social @arsenalwomentb

Our website can be found at www.arsenalwomentrailblazers.com

Intro/Outro Music thanks to raspberrymusic from Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the frustration of Paris, Renée Slegers is back in front of the media and, this time, she’s given us plenty to talk about before Arsenal Women travel to Manchester City on Sunday.

Renée explains why she chose to stay with her players rather than face the media after Wednesday’s 2-2 draw, describes the strongest leadership she’s seen during her time in football and insists this Arsenal group has come together rather than fractured during a difficult run.

But now we need to see what that looks like on the pitch.

Manchester City might be flying in the WSL, but Real Madrid caused them serious problems in Europe on Thursday night, taking the lead, creating opportunities and coming extremely close to winning it late on. So what can Arsenal learn from Madrid, and where can they hurt City?

I look at the team Renée might select, Chloe Kelly’s absence, the latest on Steph Catley, the goalkeeper question and whether this is finally the moment to make greater use of Selina Cerci and Géraldine Reuteler.

And after weeks of talking about what isn’t working, I set out what I’ll be watching for at the Etihad that might tell us Arsenal are beginning to find their way again.

Plus, my prediction for Manchester City vs Arsenal Women.

Arsenal Women: Trailblazers is a regular fan podcast dedicated to Arsenal Women. Join host Roberto Revilla for latest news, match previews and reports, tactical talking points and the stories that make Arsenal Women true trailblazers.

Connect with the show on Instagram @arsenalwomentrailblazers

Find us on BlueSky Social @arsenalwomentb

Our website can be found at www.arsenalwomentrailblazers.com

Intro/Outro Music thanks to raspberrymusic from Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For about an hour in Paris, it looked like we were finally going to have a different conversation about Arsenal Women.

Alessia Russo scored her first goal of the season, Georgia Stanway scored her first Arsenal goal and, at 2-0 up, Arsenal appeared to be finding some of the attacking answers we’ve spent the last few weeks looking for.

Then it unravelled.

In this episode, I work through how Arsenal allowed Paris FC back into a game they should have won, what happened to the defensive rotations we saw working so well in pre-season and why I’m becoming increasingly confused by some of Renée Slegers’ squad decisions.

We also need to talk about Selina Cerci and Géraldine Reuteler. I also address one important question around Géraldine: she is fit, ready to play and there are no injury concerns preventing Arsenal from using her. So why are we barely seeing her?

Then there’s that extraordinary late penalty. I’ve checked the law, we’ll work through what the referee appears to have seen and why, despite how bizarre the incident was, I don’t think Arsenal can use it to explain away the result.

And with Manchester City coming on Sunday, we finish by separating what we know about Arsenal’s current problems from some of the much bigger claims being made online, particularly for those younger supporters who might be feeling pretty worried about their team right now.

Arsenal Women: Trailblazers is a regular fan podcast dedicated to Arsenal Women. Join host Roberto Revilla for latest news, match previews and reports, tactical talking points and the stories that make Arsenal Women true trailblazers.

Connect with the show on Instagram @arsenalwomentrailblazers

Find us on BlueSky Social @arsenalwomentb

Our website can be found at www.arsenalwomentrailblazers.com

Intro/Outro Music thanks to raspberrymusic from Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Arsenal lost 1-0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, but after watching the game again, Roberto thinks the conversation needs to go beyond another afternoon of missed chances.

For the opening half an hour Arsenal were good. They controlled the game, caused Chelsea problems and hit the woodwork twice. But once again, when the opportunity came to shoot or make the decisive pass, that extra touch kept appearing.

And then came the substitutions.

Why did Renée Slegers turn first to Caitlin Foord and Stina Blackstenius when Selina Cerci, Géraldine Reuteler and Smilla Holmberg offer something different? Why did Arsenal appear more disjointed after the changes? And what should we make of Kim Little reportedly asking the bench, “Am I the six now?”

With Arsenal taking just five points from their opening four WSL games and scoring only twice, Roberto asks whether this is still simply a finishing problem, or whether questions now need to be asked about the tactics, decision-making and clarity coming from the coaching staff.

This is not a call for Renée to go, nor is there evidence she has lost the dressing room. But for the first time since Slegers took charge, there are some serious questions that Arsenal need to start answering.

Get involved in the conversation over on Instagram @arsenalwomentrailblazers or in the comments on the written article that accompanies this episode at https://www.arsenalwomentrailblazers.com/chelsea-1-0-arsenal-is-arsenals-problem-now-bigger-than-finishing

Arsenal Women: Trailblazers is a regular fan podcast dedicated to Arsenal Women. Join host Roberto Revilla for latest news, match previews and reports, tactical talking points and the stories that make Arsenal Women true trailblazers.

Connect with the show on Instagram @arsenalwomentrailblazers

Find us on BlueSky Social @arsenalwomentb

Our website can be found at www.arsenalwomentrailblazers.com

Intro/Outro Music thanks to raspberrymusic from Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.