Being a fan is hardest when things aren't going well. But that’s the point. A letter from an Arsenal WFC fan

Arsenal WFC have made their worst start to a season since 2014. Five league games in, they have scored just two goals, while defeat in the London Derby ended an unbeaten run that had lasted almost a year. Even in the Women's Champions League, against semi-professional Køge, a 1:0 win sealed by a 93rd-minute penalty felt well below expectations.

Right now, Arsenal are not giving their supporters much to celebrate. But anyone can support a team when things are going well.

This article might be slightly different from the analysis and profiles we usually publish here on QueenBallers.com. So, in the interest of transparency, I should say this from the beginning: I am writing this as a long-time supporter of Arsenal Women.

I have followed the club since around 2021, when Vivianne Miedema caught my attention at the Tokyo Olympics. Since then, I have watched almost every match, travelled around Europe with the club and, whenever time and finances allow, because I don't live in England, made my way to the Emirates to support them in person.

In those years, I have experienced a lot with this club. Subway League Cup wins. Derby victories. So many goals worth celebrating. The arrival of Alessia Russo. And, above all, winning the Women's  Champions League, which will probably remain the greatest sporting experience of my life.

But I have also experienced plenty of defeats. I watched Vivianne Miedema leave. Jordan Nobbs leave. Rafaelle leave. Beth Mead leave. Arsenal lose a North London Derby for the first time in their history, alongside countless other moments that hurt. But those moments are part of being a football supporter too.

When things stop working

This start to the season has been one of the more difficult periods. At the end of last season, we were in brilliant form. We were winning with confidence and scoring wonderful goals. Ultimately, the draws we had accumulated earlier in the season cost us the league title, but we still finished with the FIFA World Champions Cup. A final I will remember for a very long time.

Then came more painful goodbyes at the end of the season. But the summer also brought some fantastic signings, enough for plenty of journalists and pundits to have Arsenal high on their lists going into the new campaign.

It took the first month of the season to prove the journalists, the experts and us supporters wrong.

We began with a win away at Brighton, a place where Arsenal had struggled and dropped points in previous seasons. Then, after a phenomenal performance from Pauline Peyraud-Magnin helped deny us victory in our first game at the Emirates, many of us began to wonder whether we were simply repeating the mistakes of the previous season: dropping unnecessary points in draws that would eventually come back to haunt us.

When we then needed a late equaliser against Manchester United, despite once again being the more active team in front of goal, it became increasingly difficult to ignore the feeling that something was wrong.

HB Køge only reinforced it. Against a semi-professional side from the Danish league, we couldn't score from open play and needed a late penalty to save us. The derby defeat against Chelsea, followed by another points dropped in Paris, only deepened the frustration.

And yes, I am frustrated

There are many things bothering me.

It frustrates me that we are not scoring despite creating chance after chance, because we simply cannot finish them. It frustrates me that Géraldine Reuteler and Selina Cerci are not getting enough opportunities, and I worry about seeing another Jenna Nighswonger scenario unfold. It frustrates me that the substitutions so often seem disconnected from what is actually happening on the pitch.

And it frustrates me to see so many players being used outside their natural positions, because eventually that shows in their performances. After every game, I am left with the same strange mixture of irritation, disappointment and frustration.

We can still comfort ourselves with the fact that the season has only just begun. But I am worried that we are already being left behind. There are difficult Women's Champions League nights ahead: Barcelona at Camp Nou and OL Lyonnes at home. More than that, I am beginning to worry that this difficult period is slowly finding its way into the players' heads too.

Which inevitably brings us to the question of Renée Slegers. Should she still be Arsenal's head coach?

On one hand, a change would be understandable. This is the coach who led Arsenal to an historic Champions League triumph, and nothing can take that achievement away from her. History will remember what she accomplished with this team.

But it is also fair to say that the performances we are seeing now are her responsibility too. Perhaps she has reached the limit of what she can do with this team.

On the other hand, the pool of genuinely top-level coaches in women's football remains relatively small. If Arsenal were to make a change, who is the right replacement?

I don't think there is an easy answer.

Whatever the weather

In all the time I have supported Arsenal Women, this is the most difficult period I can remember.

And still, I will not stop supporting our players. Our girls.  I would never turn my back on them. I know how much this club means to many of them. I know there are players in this team, like Leah Williamson or Lotte Wubben-Moy, who would give everything they have for the badge.

So I keep believing that, sooner or later, we will rise again. That the goals will come again. That there will be afternoons when everything clicks, when Arsenal dominate and football feels easy again.

Anyone can celebrate when the goals are flying in. Anyone can sing after a dominant win, travel home smiling after a derby victory or feel connected to a team when there is a trophy waiting at the end of it.

The difficult part is staying when none of those things are happening.

So that is what I am asking from you, too.

Because, to me, this is part of the beauty of football. You never really know what it is going to give you. It is unpredictable, occasionally cruel and sometimes deeply frustrating. And as a supporter, I think the moments when standing behind your team matters most are precisely the moments when things aren't going well. When they need us most. After all, it's right there in our anthem.

Whatever the weather.