Frida’s Desire

In 2022-23, Frida Maanum was Arsenal’s top scorer in the WSL and she won the Arsenal.com and Arsenal Women Supporters Club Player of the Season and deservedly so. In many ways, her 2022-23 campaign was mimicked by Lotte Wubben-Moy in 2023-24.

Injuries in their respective positions meant both players were asked to step up to the plate and take on more significant roles and both responded in kind. However, 2023-24 was not as luminous for Maanum. I think the main reason for this is that the rhythm of games just wasn’t there for her.

In 2022-23, she forced her way into the team ahead of Vivianne Miedema. Jonas Eidevall opted for Maanum over Miedema in the number 10 position for the 5-1 win at Lyon in the Champions League. Arseblog News asked Eidevall why he made this choice after the game.

‘Frida is one of our strongest runners and she carries the ball very well. We gave her a role that requires an extreme amount of running because she basically had to defend two players. She was absolutely brilliant tonight, on and off the ball. It was an excellent performance from her and she should be really proud.’

After an outstanding performance in the Conti Cup Final in March, Eidevall singled the Norwegian out for praise and referred to that performance in Lyon. ‘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.’

Of course, Maanum didn’t get the opportunity to build on that performance as she collapsed in a scary looking incident towards the end of normal time which, thankfully, did not turn out as badly as it looked it might. Even if that hadn’t happened, the truth is, however, competition for places might have prevented Maanum from really building on that performance in any case.

Stina Blackstenius was both in good form and mulling over whether to extend her Arsenal contract, so Eidevall took to playing Russo behind Stina in those final games of the season. The return of Miedema, Russo flitting between number 9 and number 10, the form of Victoria Pelova meaning Eidevall often wanted Little, Pelova and Walti in midfield at times, all contributed to a crowded picture in Maanum’s preferred role.

The chopping and changing between the number 9 and 10 combinations also, in my view, led to some attacking dysfunction as Arsenal looked to build new partnerships in attack. In 2022-23, Arsenal didn’t have sufficient attacking options to do this. Beth Mead ruptured her ACL in November and Vivianne Miedema ruptured hers in mid December.

After Miedema’s injury, Maanum started all 18 of the club’s remaining games for the season- one of which went to extra time. Of the 1,650 minutes of game time from mid-December 2022, Maanum played 1,588 of them. Not only that but Stina Blackstenius started in 17 of those 18 games (coming on as a sub in the other). Caitlin Foord started 12 of those games on the left wing. Arsenal’s front line became very settled out of necessity.

Not only did that give Frida the opportunity to build rhythm, momentum and a solid understanding with Blackstenius, but it meant the attack was rather built around her qualities. Blackstenius’ willingness to run channels and push opposing defences back gave Maanum the opportunity to unleash her fierce shot with regularity as Arsenal began to rely on her for goals.

I think it would be incredibly unfair to suggest that Maanum needs Blackstenius ahead of her to operate as a 10, I don’t think that to be the case at all. But I think, firstly, that Russo was dropping too deep when she first came into the team and occupying the areas Maanum likes. Secondly, Frida did not start in consecutive games all season, so she didn’t really get the chance to build an understanding with Russo.

Maanum is a player that Jonas Eidevall admires a lot. It is actually a coincidence that both arrived at Arsenal from the Damallsvenskan during the same summer. Eidevall says that, during his interview for the Arsenal job, he was asked which three midfielders he would buy if money were no object. He named Maanum as one of his three, unaware that the club had already signed her.

She fits Eidevall’s prototype of a hard pressing, physical number 10 who is willing to take risks in possession. But interestingly, Eidevall told Arseblog News during the spring of 2023 that he had never really considered her a 10 until that Lyon match. ‘It also shows why sometimes it is so hard to just look at statistics when you look at young players. I think when you see Frida in Sweden, you saw she had a great shot but she didn’t score many goals. When you see it from the statistical perspective.

‘That is something we could have held against her when we looked at her in the number 10 position because you ask whether that would contribute enough points for the team. That is where you need to look at the potential when you work with young players, you have to see the qualities and now you see she is contributing a lot of points playing that position.’

All of this said, the question then becomes ‘can Maanum get back to her 2022-23 form next season?’ Unless there is another unwanted injury crisis, Kim Little, Alessia Russo and Mariona Caldentey are big players, all of whom are capable of playing in that number 10 position. The competition is going to be no less fierce in 2024-25.

A lot of this plays into a bigger overall question as to whether Eidevall can shuffle his deck effectively and balance the need to rotate with the need to forge team chemistry. It is not a manager’s job to keep players happy or to operate a ‘communist’ approach with player minutes, players have to force a manager to do that in the way Frida did in the autumn of 2022.

It is worth remembering that she did manage to force her way past Miedema in the starting eleven initially in the autumn of 2022- her place was not given to her, she took it. But the manager also has to balance his use of resources, otherwise there would be no point in having a big squad in the first place.

I have to say I could definitely see her used in a slightly deeper, number 8 role, where she has spent much of her career. I think her ability to drive the ball forwards and perhaps arrive into attacking positions later in moves would really suit her. The issue for her is that the configuration of the midfield over the last 18 months has involved the double pivot effectively operating as dual 6s.

When two of Pelova, Little and Walti play there, they rotate moving back towards their defenders to collect and distribute the ball. I don’t think that is Maanum’s strength. I think she is better facing forwards, whereas Walti, Little and Pelova are adept at turning away from pressure in tight spaces. In essence, Arsenal play with two 6s and a 10 and Maanum is far better as a 10 in that system.

Whether Arsenal could move to a more defined- 6, 8, 10 model in the middle of the park I don’t know. It might even become necessary on occasion with Pelova out for most of next season and Cooney-Cross still more comfortable as a more of a number 8 as well. It remains to be seen whether Arsenal develop their interest in Keira Walsh, which would absolutely certify the continuance of the ‘two 6s and a 10’ model.

How 2024-25 pans out for Maanum is going to be fascinating to observe. Aged 25, she is no longer a young player and she certainly has the talent and the attributes to be a mainstay in this Arsenal team, but she’s probably going to have to kick the door down again, as she already has done once before.