Jonas Eidevall reacts to victory over Birmingham City

Arsenal Women were 4-2 winners over Birmingham City in the WSL on Sunday afternoon thanks to goals from Rafaelle, Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead and Caitlin Foord. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the media post-match, the first three questions are from Arseblog News.

On the overall performance…
My assessment is the same as yours, we largely played well but lost a little bit of rhythm in the second half. We conceded goals from strange situations where we can do better, I think for a minute there after the second goal went in that we just wanted the game to end and didn’t want to play anymore. That’s not the right way to go about it, you can’t play with a fear of losing, you have to stay with the attacking mindset and be brave and I am happy that we at least got back to that and scored the fourth.

That is the big takeaway other than the goals we concede, it was a controlled performance against a Birmingham side who are not easy to beat. They are so compact and give away so little, basically the only thing they give away are the sides for you to cross. I think we see that constantly during the season that when they play against teams with good crossing ability and good players in the air they concede. Apart from that, they are solid defensively and hard to break down and we did that really well today.

On Miedema enjoying the number 10 role…
I think Viv enjoys the role, Viv enjoys feeling involved in the team and feeling connected. I think that is such a big part of football, how do you make players feel like they are not isolated. It’s the same with pressure and defence, if you feel like your pressing runs are the only ones and nobody else is pressing, you feel alone and it’s not nice. When everyone does it together it is a great feeling. The way we play at the moment makes her feel involved and connected I think she is enjoying that.

A first league goal for Rafaelle! 🙌

The Arsenal fans LOVED that one! #BarclaysFAWSL @ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/14mnHRoCJB

— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) March 6, 2022

On Rafaelle’s aerial ability…
It was very important. We looked at many different qualities when we wanted that central defender, the left foot and the ability to play out from pressure were really important but then you also see for the duels, she is so front footed and that is also important because if you take into account our central midfield and defence, we can put a lot of good football players on the pitch but we could look weak in aerial duels. That balances up very well now that she is dominating there, it helps us in defence and offence.

Who else but @VivianneMiedema? 🔥

Watch the #BarclaysFAWSL live on @BBCTwo 📺 pic.twitter.com/TJ1XXELL44

— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) March 6, 2022

On Vivianne Miedema becoming the first player to record 100 goal contributions in the WSL (70 goals, 30 assists)…
Yes so much history today! I forgot everything during the game but checked afterwards and Beth Mead scored her 50th goal for Arsenal and Jordan Nobbs making her 250th appearance, which is a huge achievement and we are so proud of her and what she has contributed to the history of this club. Then you have Viv, I don’t think she will care about the record personally, she only cares about the next game and how to help the team. But it’s obviously a result of all the great things she has done and we are happy and proud to have her here.

Meado gets in on the act! 🔥

Watch the #BarclaysFAWSL live on @BBCTwo 📺 pic.twitter.com/pm1ZpoT5Z3

— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) March 6, 2022

On what the team can take from today’s game…
Every game is different but we were playing against a low block today and it’s a mix of position, patience and being able to change gear at the right time to break that down. We have played Brighton before this season too and we have seen that that has also been the case so there are things we need to continue to do well next week. We need to continue to defend counter-attacks and defend direct play and second balls. There are things we need to continue to do to be successful against Brighton but there will also be things that will be completely different on Sunday. We need to be humble and play game by game and reset but also have confidence in the things we have done well.

In whether there was a desire for revenge after losing to Birmingham in January…
Not at all, we go into every game wanting to win. It was very clear what we needed to do better because we didn’t do well last time, we wanted to show we could handle a team playing like this in a much better way, the most important thing was to win the game.

How to deal with the pressure of having to win every game…
I know nothing else, this is my life and my job it’s been a part of my life in Sweden. I am used to coaching clubs who need to win every time they play, for me it’s just about preparing well, enjoy, focusing on performances and what we can control. If you feel fear and you feel you want to hide from it, not taking risks is a risk. For me it is important that we keep attacking and keep being positive and enjoying the situations we are in. Pressure is a privilege.

On the importance of being able to recover when Birmingham threatened a comeback…
Really important, of course you are going to be in situations where you feel you have things to lose and it’s so important to know that we can be brave and when things matter, people still want the ball and to create and to run and to score. It is much better to attack and get the next goal than to sit back and to try to defend and just play long. I much prefer we go about it this way and as a takeaway that might be the biggest one today.

Vintage @CaitlinFoord™

What an assist from Lia Wälti 🙌#BarclaysFAWSL @ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/FA70Cidh2V

— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) March 6, 2022

1.Zinsberger; 26.Wienroither, 6.Williamson, 2.Rafaelle, 7.Catley (77.Heath ‘70); 13.Walti, 10.Little(c) (12.Maanum ‘70), 11.Miedema (23.Iwabuchi ‘70); 9.Mead (8.Nobbs ‘90), 15.McCabe; 25.Blackstenius (19.Foord ‘59).