‘I will never be a player to change to please coach’
⮞on the eve of Arsenal’s return to Wembley, outspoken Vivianne Miedema says WSL leaders are heading in right direction again
If all you had to go by was Vivianne Miedema’s training demeanour, anyone who did not know her track record – she is the leading Women’s Super League and Holland goal-scorer of all time – might question her effort.
There is a nonchalance to the way she roves around the pitch at the Emirates Stadium, a verging-onlanguidness to her rangy strides. It is Arsenal’s final session ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup final and, as head coach Jonas Eidevall yells “too many touches!” animatedly at some of her team-mates, Miedema is relaxed and expressionless, passing the ball in a triangle with wingers Caitlin Foord and Nikita Parris.
It is a similar scene to match days, when she will spend spells quietly dropping in and out of play, mapping out the best space from which to launch an attack. But as soon as she needs to step up the intensity in the big moments, Miedema can flick the switch.
It happened at the north London derby last month, when she clambered over three Tottenham defenders to head in the stoppage-time equaliser and steal a crucial point to keep her team’s unbeaten league record alive. “It was very not me, to be honest,” she says, smirking. “The girls were all laughing, saying, ‘You never go up for headers in training’, and I’m like, ‘nope – but it’s a game’.”
When Eidevall arrived at Arsenal in the summer, armed with star signings such as Tobin Heath and Mana Iwabuchi, Miedema was not worried about how she might be perceived. Everyone has adjusted to Eidevall’s very energetic and vocal style, she says, but it does not mean she always answers his calls for explosive sprints. “I’m never going to be a player to change to get the coach on their side,” she says, leaning back on the sofa and sipping on a cup of tea, her mousy hair still damp from her post-training shower. “I’m me and that’s my strength.”
Miedema, 25, is more confident than ever in that regard – both on the pitch and off it. Eidevall’s arrival has ushered in a new era at Arsenal. Currently leading the WSL, thanks in part to five goals from Miedema, tomorrow they will be vying for their first silverware since they won the league title in 2018/19, during Miedema’s second season in north London.
The new high standards, Miedema explains, come in part from the increased support the women’s team are getting behind the scenes. “Arsenal has always been the club in England, I think the club has kind of let that slip over the last decade,” she says bluntly. “I’m happy to say that they definitely are moving in the right direction again.”
The women’s team are training more consistently at the club’s London Colney ground, where the men are based, and there was a recent internal review which resulted in increased investment in the women’s backroom staffing. It is a good start, Miedema says, but she is not shy about voicing her opinion on how the previous loose standards troubled her. “Out of the blue we won the league [in 2019] and I don’t think the club was ready. The last two years, we should have made the next step.”
She says the club’s ambitions have improved, for now, after being convinced by conversations with “the big bosses” such as Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham. “That’s one of the great shifts we’ve had over the last six to 12 months, that the connection with people higher up in the club has been really
good. They’ve been able to connect with us, and improve things directly. If people want to have a strong opinion, they know they need to come to me.”
She laughs then, and says her outspokenness – and honesty – is something she has developed over time. “Being Dutch, growing up in the north of Holland where nobody agrees with anything, you develop your own opinion. Sometimes I get in s---, and say stupid things and think after ,‘Viv, you didn’t think that through, what the f--- are you doing’, but you learn along the way. I won’t stop doing that. It won’t make me the most popular player out there but it’s needed.”
As much as things have improved, she is cautious about over-praising. She was linked with a move to Lyon
last summer, and is noncommittal when asked if she will be staying when her contract runs out at the end of the season.
“I’ve not made a decision. The good start to the season has definitely helped make me feel better about being at the club, but – and I’ve said this to the club – I’d like to see where we’re actually going and what the plans are. I want to win the Champions League and win league titles. I’d love to stay. But if I feel the club is not going in the right direction then I’d probably have to move to win the Champions League somewhere else.”
She got an idea of how far Arsenal may still need to go when in October they were given a 4-1 humbling by European champions Barcelona in the Champions League group stages. They play them again, this time at the Emirates, on Thursday and Miedema raises her eyebrows when asked about their previous
meeting. “Different team,” she says, shaking her head when the word “Barca” is uttered. “It was a massive reality check. In my whole life I’ve never played against a women’s side as technically and tactically better.”
She says Arsenal are ready for the challenge now. Last season she played every single minute of their season, but has been given rest opportunities by Eidevall. But it will always be on her to deliver in the big moments: “No matter who we play, who’s on the pitch, I always carry that pressure of having to do something for the team.”
Just as soon as that flicker of intensity comes though, she returns to her relaxed default. When a press officer ushers her away to a photoshoot, she shrugs. “If it doesn’t look good then whatever. What you see is what you get – I don’t care.”
If he has an iffy first spell, the media will be saying he cannot bowl with the added pressure