Casey Stoney says Sunday’s defeat against Liverpool must act as a learning curve for Arsenal Ladies’ younger players.
The Gunners found themselves 2-0 down after just 17 minutes and, despite battling back after half-time, could not avoid their first WSL loss of the season.
Teenagers Jade Bailey, Carla Humphrey and Leah Williamson all started while Chloe Kelly made her first-team debut off the bench, and Stoney believes the experience will only help her team-mates.
"We’ve got to take our chances and we’ll kick ourselves if we look at the amount of chances we spurned"
Casey Stoney
“It is definitely a learning curve for them,” the England defender told Arsenal.com. “Carla and Leah were in there and they’re very young players. We had two new players coming in and playing as well, so it was difficult circumstances for us.
“Even saying that, though, we can’t afford to start games like that and you’ve got to make sure you can’t get physically outmuscled. We’ve got to take our chances and we’ll kick ourselves if we look at the amount of chances we spurned.
“If you don’t start well, like we did, then you do get unstuck and we did come unstuck. We had six weeks out of the WSL and we were a little bit rusty coming back in. The second half was far better.
“We were the far better side and to get caught on a counter like that for the third goal is poor from us but I think we had enough chances to be in front. If you don’t take your chances, you get what you deserve.”
Casey Stoney
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