Borehamwood, England, September 26 2024: Lotte Wubben-Moy (3 Arsenal) prior the UEFA Womens Champions League Round 2 Qualifier: Second Leg game between Arsenal and BK Hacken at Mangata Pay UK Stadium, Meadow Park in Borehamwood, England. (Jay Patel/SPP)
Lotte Wubben-Moy captained Arsenal in their Subway Women’s League Cup match against Manchester United on Wednesday.
But the Gunners lost 1-0 – and were reduced to ten players after Olivia Smith was sent off for a second bookable offence.
And Wubben-Moy admitted afterwards that the defeat was disappointing.
“I think Arsenal Football Club, the team mentality we’ve got, we want to fight for final spots, so to miss out on a final today is very disappointing,” she told the club’s official website. “Disappointing, I think, in particular because the performance was there. We created so many chances, even when we were down to ten women, we were on top, we had a lot of energy and ultimately, the game’s about putting the ball in the back of the net and we weren’t able to do that today.
“Going down to ten players, it’s a lot more running, you’re covering a lot more ground. We went man for man, and I thought that actually suited us. We really put pressure on them and they couldn’t really sustain it – sustain the ball, that is – under pressure, so it created a lot of opportunities for us when we did turn over the ball.
“Like I said, I thought we had a lot of energy when we did go down to ten women. It’s a tough one. We went down to ten, with a formation 4-4-1, you kind of lose that pendulum of press that we have, so it does change the game a lot but I think when you look at mentality, you can’t fault that energy that we put in.”
Lotte Wubben-Moy: I believe in Arsenal players
The centre-half also hinted that she felt the forwards had been struggling to score goals in recent matches, drawing a blank in the Women’s Super League match against United as well.
“I believe in our players and I believe in the forwards and it just takes that next opportunity and I know they’ll bury the ball in the back of the net, take that chance and no better opportunity to do it than on Saturday [against Chelsea in the WSL], and in a final in the Champions Cup [next week] hopefully we can get to.”
