Arsenal 5-0 Brighton: So Long, Vivianne Miedema
As Beth Mead surged forward with Vivianne Miedema in front of her, it was a move all Arsenal fans had seen before. Mead played Miedema in, and with an assured stroke of the ball, she had it in the back of the net.
It was the striker’s first touch of the game and yet it would prove her last goal for the Gunners. A cruel vision for the home support as the all-time WSL top scorer peeled away to celebrate in next season’s Arsenal’s kit. What could have been…
In just thirty minutes on the pitch, Miedema contributed a goal and an assist. Two contributions to a team that will miss her sorely and two fingers up to a manager who claims he won’t.
The tremors in the stands as Arsenal fans applauded their departing striker in the 11th minute proved almost as seismic as the announcement of her departure earlier this week.
The support for the Dutch forward was clear to see, and hear, as ‘Viv will tear you apart’ and ‘We want Viv’ rung round Meadow Park inumerable times on a melancholic Saturday afternoon.
Her departing speech, “I’ve proven myself. I’m funny, I’m a pain and I can score goals” was certainly visible today, if being a pain was in relation to the opposition’s defence.
It was perhaps a nod to the fact she could do little more, and yet manager, Jonas Eidevall, had made the decision not to offer her a new contract. The decision, to many, appeared incomprehensible and today’s performance will have done little to dissuade doubters, of whom there are many.
Her goal, to put Arsenal 3-0 up, was just one of the three that Arsenal scored while Miedema was on the pitch. The fifth was a result of her direct involvement too as she crafted a through-ball to put Frida Maanum in behind the Brighton defence to slot past Sophie Baggaley.
At just 27 years old, it is unlikely she has reached her prime despite already being considered one of the greatest football players of this era with 125 goals in 172 appearances at Arsenal.
Miedema is a player not reliant on pace but with the gift of vision and intelligence. In this way, loss of speed or energy with age will not hinder her game, and instead, her experience will only enhance an already stellar football brain.
It does seem strange then, for the club to not offer a contract despite her recent injury concerns. Eidevall was met by signs of “Miedema in, Jonas Out” which provoked a wry smile from his soon to be former striker.
He said post-match: “You can never write your own farewell unless you are her. I was 100% sure she was going to score today. She has that special ability to make that happen.”
Yet, in failing to offer her a contract, Eidevall did not allow Miedema to write her own farewell. A rumoured move to Manchester City this summer may prove fatal for his own hopes of a WSL title next season.
His decision, however, will be heavily influenced by the arrival of another striker last summer who today took her season total to 12 goals with a first-half brace. Alessia Russo’s performance will perhaps soothe any self-doubt Eidevall carries.
Having operated as a number 10 and number nine this season, similar areas to Miedema, Russo has occupied a bigger role in Eidevall’s plans. More recently even playing alongside Stina Blackstenius in a shared attacking role.
Her first goal today showed astute goal-scoring instinct as she received the ball from the right and turned to fire in at the far post. It is an ability which has been questioned at times but a double today and a further 10 goals across the 21 other WSL games prove a respectable first season in north London.
A Brighton own goal completed the five-star Arsenal rout today with a calming sun soothing the tumult of emotions for the 3,553 red and white shirts.
As Miedema choked through her goodbye speech after seven years in north London, each and every fan felt a lump in their throat as she was asked about her enduring support for playing at the Emirates.
“I really, really hope you sell-out all the games out next season because we- *corrects* -they need your support,” she uttered with the correction simultaneously breaking every heart in the ground.
Her advocacy to play permanently at the Emirates coming to fruition a season too late for her to enjoy the fruits. It was a cruel reminder that for all Miedema has given to Arsenal, that faith appears not to be returned and north London feels all the worse without her.
For years, Arsenal fans have ‘hoped they never lose her, hoped it never ends’, yet as Taylor Swift’s Cornelia Street flowed out of the Meadow Park speakers, Arsenal fans faced the first minutes of coming to terms with that very reality.
‘That’s the kind of heartbreak time could never mend.’
