For all of Arsenal’s women’s collective inconsistencies this season, one player who has been reliable week in week out is Lotte Wubben-Moy.
She has stepped up on several occasions to help Arsenal stay in the race for silverware despite their disappointing start to the season. The England international centre-back’s contributions in defense and possession have helped Arsenal settle in, particularly in big home games at Meadow Park or the Emirates Stadium, and they became more interesting after reflecting on a statement that she made after the 2-1 win over Manchester City at the Premier in November.
“I’m at a point in my career where I don’t want to be taken for granted, I want to push and (prove) that I can compete against these players,” Wubben-Moy said in response to a question about how she treated prolific City striker Khadija Shaw that day.
Those familiar with Wubben-Moy know that she thinks before she speaks. The 25-year-old Londoner can express exactly what she wants in a way that can be thorough or concise, depending on what she feels is necessary.
This was evident in May last year when she recalled a “crucial moment” in the Chelsea dressing room following an FA Cup defeat a few months earlier which put Arsenal’s season back on track, and a year earlier when she spoke about her off-pitch role with the charity Common Goal.
Her verbal expression that she didn’t want to be taken for granted stuck. It’s a statement that seems to shine through her performances throughout the season – one she has become most established in since returning to Arsenal in 2020 after three years in the United States at the University of Carolina. North.
When asked to expand on that November statement ahead of Sunday’s Continental Cup final against WSL champions and league leaders Chelsea, she said: “When I look at my trajectory as a player and the next years, which will ultimately be my main years. years as a central defender, I said to myself: “It’s yours, you can take it”. This is your moment. You know within yourself how good you are, it’s just time to show it and share it with the people around you.
“That’s how I see football: it’s an opportunity to share and give to others. It’s when I feel most full, empowered and emboldened to be myself that I can perform at my best. Ultimately, this deserves respect and should not be taken for granted.
“Too many times in the past, I’ve just been there. Knowing that I can be more, and that’s reflected in my performances this season, I look back but more importantly forward and say, “How can I continue to do this and continue to build on what I know who is me?” and who will push? » so that I can be the player I know I can be?’.
Wubben-Moy, who won the Continental Cup in 2015 aged 16 during his first spell with boyhood club Arsenal and won it again by beating Chelsea in last season’s final, has been performing quite regularly since returning to the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In her three full seasons, she started 43 of a potential 66 WSL matches (65%) amid competition from Leah Williamson, Rafaelle Souza, Jen Beattie and Anna Patten. Williamson and Rafaelle were seen as the go-to duo with their right-footed/left-footed balance. However, both suffered injuries at different times, allowing Wubben-Moy to accumulate starts and gain more experience as a young central defender.
Amanda Ilestedt has been his main central defensive partner this season as Williamson returned from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury in April, although Laia Codina was signed in August shortly after helping Spain to win the World Cup.
Although Arsenal signed both players in her position last summer, Wubben-Moy started 16 of her 17 WSL matches, coming off the bench in the other. She is now part of the team’s leadership group and her influence is visible to those watching the games as well as felt by the women playing alongside her.
Still standing despite the level of competition in recent years, Wubben-Moy adds: “It’s not about anyone else. It’s about me. About my mentality and what I brought to it.
“In football we too often look at the great players and say: ‘They won this, they are captain of that’.
“Until you perform on the field, until you’re in the moment and you provide that respect, that’s when you look at yourself and say, ‘C ‘that’s where I get all my inspiration.’ That’s where I get my drive from, that’s what I did this season and what I will continue to do.
Wubben-Moy is not being taken for granted this season at club level. She showed her worth in a different way by scoring the 84th-minute goal that gave Arsenal the lead in the 3-1 away win over Aston Villa last Sunday, and will aim to make a similar impact in the West Midlands this weekend in the final. at Wolves’ Molineux ground – especially given how their recent WSL match with Chelsea went.
“We didn’t perform well (3-1 loss at Stamford Bridge), and that’s not us,” she said. “If we looked at ourselves and said, ‘Oh, we did everything, but we still lost,’ we would be in a different situation. We have a special team with a lot of talent that has not exploited its full potential. Looking at (our) opportunities, we have to do it on the last day of the Conti Cup.
“Interestingly last season it was similar in terms of early elimination from the FA Cup, elimination from the title race and chasing silverware in the Conti Cup, so there are quite a few similarities.
“Having played against Chelsea recently and building, it puts us in a good position in terms of how much we can take from this game, how much we can learn and also the feeling we all have of wanting to repair the problems. wrongs.
“Looking at Arsenal as a whole, it’s not necessarily just about the Conti Cup, silverware is in our blood. It’s in our DNA. At the start of every season we set out with the intention of winning silverware. Ultimately when we think about a season we will be disappointed if we didn’t do it, so we have a great opportunity to do it.
(Top photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)