Arsenal were 4-0 winners away at Liverpool in the 5th round of the Women’s FA Cup on Sunday thanks to a brace from Caitlin Foord and goals from Katie McCabe and Kim Little. Jonas Eidevall spoke to Arseblog News post match.
On starting Leah Williamson and Rafaelle at centre-half…
The team selection was in some parts about building some relationships and in some parts it was about giving some players a chance who haven’t played for a while. It was a mixture.
On Rafaelle’s assist and the importance of being able to push the defensive line higher…
It’s very important, especially when you want to be a pressing team, you will be left in one v one situations. It is impossible to construct a system where you will never be exposed to that and if you want the players to press and cut off the short options, then you need players who can handle those situations and Rafaelle was very strong and brave there and that works very well for us.
The vision from @Rafaelleleone to thread one through for @CaitlinFoord! 👀#WomensFACup @ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/8sGu4lw4s3
— Vitality Women's FA Cup (@VitalityWFACup) February 27, 2022
On Katie McCabe and Caitlin Foord swapping positions shortly before the opening goal…
We do that quite a bit, the players are good at that. Sometimes when we are counterpressing or we lose the ball and we have to start to defend in positions, instead of losing time by players interchanging back into their natural positions, we can be comfortable and confident enough to stay where we are and start our defensive actions there. Their positioning was a consequence of that and both players know their roles into different positions well enough, they can handle that.
She only scores bangers, even in the #WomensFACup! 🤩@Katie_McCabe11 @ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/vrgqGiVD2p
— Vitality Women's FA Cup (@VitalityWFACup) February 27, 2022
On Caitlin Foord’s performance…
When she plays like she did against Chelsea, or like when she came on against Manchester United and like she did today, she helps us so much. She is not only a player that can create offensively, she is really good at understanding her positions and helping the team off the ball, it gives us a little more solidity.
Worldie after worldie for the Gunners! 🌍@CaitlinFoord with a STUNNER!! 🔥#WomensFACup @ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/nQQ0qgPh4g
— Vitality Women's FA Cup (@VitalityWFACup) February 27, 2022
On Beth Mead not being in the squad today…
She picked up a small knock with England, we just decided to manage that. We had a couple of those today that we wanted to manage but we have high hopes for her for Reading. We decided that because Liverpool press a little bit differently than what we are used to to keep her ready for Reading.
KIM LITTLE!! pic.twitter.com/BlzUgZcmMF
— womensfootyy (@womensfootyy) February 27, 2022
On Liverpool’s tactical approach…
They played like we expected, they played like they do in the Championship. They are an aggressive man marking team, I think you can see today that can leave spaces at the back and created a lot of one v ones with our players. You have to be able to cope with the other team’s players one v one. If you look at Leeds in the men’s Premier League, they played the same in the Championship and it took opponents in the Premier League time to work them out.
I remember Arsenal playing Leeds in the FA Cup when Leeds were in the Championship and you could really see how overwhelmed Arsenal were because it was a surprise. But once you get used to it you can see the different spaces that open up. I totally understand why Liverpool tried that today, they are going to get promotion and for them it was very important to see how that playing style fits in against a WSL team because that will help their decision making for next season so much and their recruitment and how they build their squad. So I totally understand why they played like that, it will help them to plan.
18.Williams, 16.Maritz (77.Heath ‘71), 6.Williamson (20.Boye ‘61), 2.Rafaelle (5.Beattie ‘61), 7.Catley; 13.Walti (8.Nobbs ‘83), 10.Little(c), 23.Iwabuchi; 14.Parris, 15.McCabe, 19.Foord (12.Maanum ‘71).
Nice interview. I love the depth of tactics Tim and Jonas go into during post match interviews. Thanks and well done.
Glad to see Viv given a breather and Manu in the 10 role. This will serve well for the rest of the season.
Let’s push on and finish off the league by winning all our remaining matches.
Jonas makes an interesting comparison. I think Bielsa could use some of those insights about why his team is shipping four goals or more every match.
Interesting comparison by Jonas. I think Bielsa should take notice.
That Katie McCabe goal got me feeling some type of way! Shades of Rambo at Galatasaray, how dare you be that good!
She doesn’t score tap ins does Katie. She looked so surprised by it, I thought she’d be use to scoring belters by now
at least we get to beat liverpool fc.
Very pleased to be able to see the game as it wasn’t on Sky!
Hugely impressed with every aspect of new Brazilian Rafaelle, who looks like being a brilliant signing. Caitlyn very effective once again, often deceptively so.
Jordan getting better with each game, slowly but surely edging back to her best – her link-ups with Kim Little are telepathic.
As for Kim herself, she was immense – “say no more” to quote Eric Idle!
And I’ve a feeling Tobin Heath is going to make some spectacular contributions in our biggest games, such as the CL.