Kim Little

I'm recording this preview really, really late, just to give you some insight.

The Kim Little audio doc that went out today, Thursday, took me, basically since I stopped, since I released the Geraldine Roisler one, it's now taken me that amount of time to work on the Kim Little one.

And then I had to be thinking about this in between doing my day job and I am absolutely bloody shattered.

Right.

On the afternoon of Sunday 13th September 2026, Kim Little stepped onto the Emirates pitch for her 182nd Women's Super League appearance for Arsenal, more than any other player has made for this club.

There was no big ceremony.

Kim came on as a second half substitute, took her place in midfield and immediately got on with trying to win the match.

which when you think about it may be the most Kim Little way imaginable to make history.

Hello and welcome back to Trailblazers, the Arsenal Women podcast where we follow the players and the people behind the shirt.

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There were plenty of Arsenal players who could have helped mark this milestone, but once I thought about what the number 50 should represent rather than who'd get the most attention, the answer was obvious.

I just felt like I, I just had probably one of the best games of my whole career.

Um, you know, scored to put us 1-0 up, and obviously only went 1-1 with Kim Little's penalty.

Then Faye White for them scored an own goal.

Then I think it was Judy Fleeting that got their goal to make it 2-2.

They selected, same with Kyra coming in actually.

I'd, I forgot to mention that as well, in for Kim Little.

Um, you know, the, uh, the clearly there was something about getting the ball out to that left-hand side and getting that underlapping run.

When it comes to the squad, I wa- I, I certainly wasn't expecting Celina Čerčý to not be in the squad, and obviously they have to plan for certain scenarios.

Um, I will say, though, I got frustrated by the kind of lack of urgency in terms of when we had possession, and I think that came from a confidence perspective, and that came from the fact that we thought that the goals were coming.

I just thought we hold on to the ball too long, and sometimes we make decisions that just you need to be able to, to break the line, and sometimes we don't.

And sometimes when Kim Little's not in that team, you kind of begin to see that.

Like, Kyra and Georgia Stanway are some of the best long ball players in the league.

You really do.

I mean, Kim Little, there are games where Kim Little's not going to be able to play every single game, but I think she's a major loss when she doesn't play.

You know? And I don't know, it's gonna take a little while maybe for Rene Segers to implement her best 11.

We could see a few tinkers going on there.

This is now hypothetical because it couldn't have happened.

But yeah, but Frida Mornem I felt was the wrong choice because when Frida comes on earlier in a half she has more time to settle in and then she potentially has the ability to affect a game um and I think that change was made too late Caitlin Ford I'd have maybe thought about bringing on her on a little bit like five minutes earlier because again she was brought on too late to affect the game and in fact she's been getting a bit of hate again people saying she shouldn't have had her contract renewed you know she's absolutely useless um she contributes nothing to the team I'm really sorry but she actually chased back to almost I think it was the edge of our area to to make a ball recovery to stop a palace attack so you know I don't think that that is a fair assessment of her performance today I just I don't think you can put give her a rating I mean she had a couple of really great runs into the box as usual but then palace had three players on her and and speaking of three players on her Alessia Russo is another one every single time Alessia Alessia Russo got the ball she seemed and I'm saying she seemed because I have not had the chance to watch the match back properly um but she seemed to be swarmed with palace players they literally just stuck to her um and that made it very very difficult for her to do what she would normally do now do I feel that we could have moved their defense around a bit yes I do I think when you're facing again a very stubborn low block uh where they're very compact and organized through the middle of the park you've got to find ways to move them from side to side move them from side to side or stretch them which again you know Stina Stina Stina probably should have come on just again five minutes earlier so you know and there were other things that just weren't working you know Olivia Smith she had a couple of of shots and skied them a free kick that was very poor um people have said that Chloe Kelly had a stinker today I'm not going to pass judgment on that I think she did all right she got some really good balls into the box but the thing with Chloe Kelly is you need someone who can attack her deliveries and we didn't have that and if pre-season is anything to go by again the player that needed to be in the squad for Chloe to have the effect that we want Chloe to have is Selena Churchy so you can if you disagree with me by the way and like I say please remember this is an instant reaction I've just got home um it's been a long day of very very mixed emotions um and it's been raining and I'm tired and uh you know I I am feeling a little bit deflated at the same time I I'm aware of all of that and I'm aware that I missed I didn't there are parts of the game that I kind of missed a little bit because that's what happens when you're in the stadium but um you know uh I I may well as I may well have got things wrong so if anyone's listening that did watch this on tv where you maybe had a better view and you have the benefit of replays and things then please you know let me know if there's anything that I've missed um if there's anything you think I'm wrong about let me know um but just just I will caveat that with the fact that you know I watched it live I was in the stadium it was very busy loads of distractions I might have got some things wrong and there are some things that I've obviously missed that I'm not talking about you know um you know Kyra it was really really really good to see her start today although again if we go back to the match preview um my belief that we should have started with the same 11 as we did against Brighton for me is hasn't changed I still would have started with Kim Little today um I still would have started with Steph Catley instead of Lotte Wubbenmoy because I believe that Steph is much better in terms of long ball distribution which is what you need when you're facing this type of setup against you and oh geez I've got such a migraine at the moment it's completely gone out of my head who was I just talking about um Kyra Kyra I she would have been second half weapon for me um you know I would have started with Kim we needed um we needed Kim ahead of Georgia doing that thing that Kim has started to do with Georgia where Georgia drops back collects the ball in the center of defense starts to to then progress it with Kim ahead of her as almost a defensive kind of shield Kim links really really well with Emily Fox and was you know doing quite a good job with Lisa Baum I thought and um you know that would have just freed Stanway to just play a bit more on the left hand side linking with Chloe and with Onubadje Onubadje by the way I thought didn't have a bad game at all again a couple of really good track backs um she was getting nice and high and um she wasn't perfect but she was getting some dangerous balls into the box and getting herself into some really really good positions I think when that lady settles down Um, and she's kind of adjusted herself to the pace of the WSL, then, you know, sh- she's gonna be really, really good.

Again, I've seen people going on about the fact that she should be playing where she's comfortable at right back.

Well, newsflash, and the lady said it herself, go and look at her most recent interview, she can play right back or left back.