Sky Sports columnist Laura Hunter analyses the big talking points from the second round of Women's Super League matches, bringing you closer to the key stories at the heart of the women's game. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Renee Slegers has had to put a brave face on things over the past couple of weeks. Arsenal are winless in each of their last four league outings, their worst start to a campaign since 2014.
To judge their alarming league position paints a bleaker picture still. There are not many defensible aspects of such underperformance, despite Slegers' consistent claim that her side are falling foul of fine margins. That argument becomes less and less credible the longer such a stagnant run continues.
Perhaps it even lost its legitimacy completely when Slegers admitted after defeat to Man City that the club will use the upcoming international break to stage a comprehensive review of "not only what we see on matchday, but everything in the background". She added: "We have to turn over every stone." Small margins do not tend to require such investigation. To suggest Arsenal have been hard done by up until now surely misses the point.
Tweaks are not enough to arrest such a talented team from its current malaise. If they were, plenty of stones could be saved from the scour that Slegers has promised over these next two weeks. In reality, Arsenal appear to be suffering a crisis of confidence, a self-doubt that is particularly noticeable in the pressure moments of big games.
It's a multi-pronged problem with tough consequences. Lisa Baum offered exhibit A within three minutes of kick-off at the Etihad on Sunday, escaping the advances of Niamh Charles, as she did many times throughout the game, only to snatch at a near-post effort instead of squaring the ball to Alessia Russo for a tap-in. In isolation, that poor decision is easy to write off.
Baum is new to the league; a young, dynamic winger with a hunger to impress. Having created the chance, she had every right to take the shot on herself. But choosing the low-probability option seems to be a trend that is harming Arsenal in the final third.
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