Frida World

Last season, Frida Maanum made seven WSL starts for Arsenal scoring three goals and not registering an assist. This season so far, Maanum has already matched last season’s total of seven WSL starts, has scored four WSL goals and registered an assist. Essentially, if she does nothing else for the remainder of the campaign she will have already provided greater end product this season than last.

She is trending far more towards her career best 2022-23 season when she produced nine goals and four assists in the league and won Arsenal’s player of the season vote. On top of that she has two UWCL goals this season too. So what has changed? Well, firstly, the injury to Victoria Pelova has cleared more of a space for the Norwegian.

Last season, Pelova was undroppable and the Little Walti partnership has been set in stone for the last six and a half years. It made Little, Walti and Pelova the de facto midfield combination for Eidevall last season. This interrupted Maanum’s rhythm. She did not manage consecutive starts at any stage last season which prevented her from establishing any momentum.

The issue with playing in a secondary competition like the Conti Cup group stages is that it can often draw an imaginary line between the first choice players and the deputies and bifurcate your squad. With UWCL group stage competition, rotation can happen a little more naturally and you don’t have a ‘first team and support team’ dynamic.

Maanum has also undoubtedly benefitted from the fact that Rosa Kafaji is being introduced into the team more slowly. I was always told it would be the case that Kafaji would be a slow burn initially, she is still a little raw and she started her domestic season with Hacken in February, it is going to be a 15 month season followed by the Euros for Rosa and there was always a sense that she would be ‘looked after’ in terms of her minutes.

That has given Frida the chance to properly establish a run of games in the position. Against Manchester City and Hacken in September, Maanum scored goals from approximately the penalty spot from cutback situations. Against Leicester, Maanum scored from even closer range, benefitting from Alessia Russo’s work by the touchline. Maanum has always been venerated for her long range shooting but, as a 10, Arsenal wanted her to get onto the end of moves in the area more often.

Arseblog News asked Eidevall about Maanum’s early season scoring form prior to his resignation. He said, ‘She has a really good long distance shot, we haven’t seen as much of that yet, this season. But her consistently getting into these golden zone opportunities and she has really improved in that and she is getting the rewards.’ We did eventually see her excellent long range shooting with her effort against Brighton in November.

However, that isn’t a sustainable path to scoring lots of goals during a season, no matter how good a player is from range. Eidevall also pointed to Maanum’s capacity for self-improvement. ‘We have worked a lot with her but, more importantly, she has worked very hard on the training pitch. She is really ambitious about improving her game and to find the next level.’

This was a theme that Renee Slegers touched on after the 4-0 win over Juventus in Italy in which Maanum opened the scoring with another close range effort. ‘She is a very hard working player and a player that takes ownership of her own development and what she can contribute to the team. As a coaching staff we have a lot of discussions with Frida so I am really happy for her, you always wish the best for players who work really hard and take ownership of things, they deserve to be successful.’

While Maanum’s form predated Eidevall’s departure, I think there is little doubt she has taken another step since Renee Slegers slightly tweaked Arsenal’s build up shape. The 3-2-5 shape with McCabe pushed up as a left winger, allows Mariona to move inside and combine with Maanum and take defenders away from her. Essentially, Arsenal have moved from a sole 10 model to a dual 10 model and Maanum has benefitted from that extra creative support.

I think her shot selection and her judiciousness in front of goal has improved too. Her goal against Spurs, for example, sees her calmly lay the ball off for Kim Little with her back to goal. When she receives it again in the area, she calmly rolls the ball into the corner. I think there were times where she was too inclined to reach for the 3 wood. For this goal against Spurs, she reaches for the putter.

Her finish against Juventus in Italy too also showed growth in the finesse of her finishing, dinking the ball calmly over the advancing Peyraud Magnin so gently it barely touched the net. There is a greater serenity to her finishing. Too often last season, she was isolated in the number 10 position, crowded out with her back to goal and left to try to get shots from suboptimal situations.

The data shows she is actually averaging fewer shots per 90 this season compared to last season, she averaged 4.60 shots per 90 last season compared to 3.48 this so far. (That is much more comparable with the 3.26 shots per 90 she averaged during her career best 2022-23 season). Her average shot distance has moved forward by more than a yard and now sits inside the penalty box. Her shot selection, probably aided by a smoother overall Arsenal attack, has improved along with her finishing. There is less desperation.

Of course, last season Maanum was not helped by a medical issue which caused her to faint during the final minutes of the Conti Cup Final against Chelsea. Primarily, it was an incredibly scary moment that initially looked as though it would be much worse than it ultimately was. But it also robbed Frida of momentum at a crucial time, off the back of what was probably her best performance of the season.

Eidevall said as much in his post-match press conference following the final, ‘She kickstarted her season last season at Lyon away with a performance like this, where she was incredible in defence. That is a great way for Frida to get into the games and from there expressing herself on the ball and this game has a lot of comparisons. It is really important for the team and for Frida to get this performance in defence that she does, that is really pleasing to see and it was a massive piece of us being successful today.’

Last summer, Maanum had the bitter taste of Norway’s poor World Cup campaign followed by Arsenal’s own summertime trauma in exiting the UWCL at the preliminary stage. This time around, she had a full summer to think about her game, which she has clearly done with her smoother finishing, better attacking runs and more careful shot selection. In recent weeks, the team has taken a step towards her too with greater numbers in attack.