Arsenal Women coach Jonas Eidevall admits that he wanted one more player in the summer transfer window but is happy to wait until January to get that player.
The Gunners had a very big squad last season and let several players leave, with Anna Patten joining Aston Villa on loan, Nikita Parris, Lisa Evans, Lydia Williams, Simone Boye, Viki Schnaderbeck and Tobin Heath all left the club this summer.
Arsenal brought in American goalkeeper Kaylan Mackerse and Swedish forward Lina Hurtig, while Brazilian forward Gio was procured but immediately loaned to Everton. Arsenal were also linked with moves late in the window for Canadian defender Jade Rose and Malawian striker Temwa Chawinga.
Hey Arsenal fans, here's a little taste of what Lina Hurtig can do 🔥 pic.twitter.com/2garkxgYj4
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) August 18, 2022
Arseblog News asked Eidevall whether he was satisfied with the squad building work over the summer in his pre-Brighton press conference. “I am going to be very honest, ideally I would have liked one more player. When you do transfers it is always like this, there are so many reasons why things can’t go through.
“Our preference was that if we couldn’t find the perfect fit in this window, we would rather wait and do it in the next window. But it’s not really more than one player (he wanted). When you see the list of players in and out with Arsenal it is very skewed compared to other clubs.
“In January, we brought in three players and didn’t release any because of the Asia Cup at that time, so that meant we carried a very big squad during the spring which was a couple of players too large to accommodate.
“It was natural that there were going to be more players out than in and it was more important to keep the key players for us so we can keep building consistency and culture with them. One more player would have been ideal but that will have to be in January.”
Arseblog News also asked about the contingency for the defensive midfield position with Lia Wälti the only member of the squad for whom that is the preferred position.
“Leah (Williamson) can also play there and has played there for England, Kim Little can definitely play there. If Frida Maanum improves her defence and that’s just some small adjustments she needs to make in her positioning and decision making there, I think she has all the other tools to be able to do it as well.
“It’s the same options that we had from last season so we have continuity there and I am comfortable with that. We have different types of players who can play there which gives us different tools depending on which opponent we are playing.”
it will be interesting to see how we manage the squad this season and hopefully avoid an injury scenario that risks derailing our title charge
would have liked to see a good backup player brought in for lia walti
Was just about to post the same. I think we need Rafaelle, Williamson & Walti to play the way we want to in the biggest games. Sticking Leah in midfield just moves the problem….. I hope Lotte steps up with her passing so this isn’t an issue (I’ve seen her pass brilliantly in some, not so much in others). Also, Kim is a brilliant player…but not IMHO as the sole DM in the big games.
Roll on Friday night!
Jonas pointed out we will have the same backups for Walti this season as last season. The problem is Maanum played instead of Walti at Wolfsburg and at Birmingham last season, the 2 matches that derailed our season the most…
Putting the Birmingham loss on Maanum is not justifiable and quite unfair.
Of course that defeat was not only down to Maanum playing the defensive midfield role but the club should have better solutions to Walti’s absence than playing a young attacking midfielder in her place. Ironically I’ve had a similar argument about the men’s side playing Lokonga when Partey is out. They may both become better in that position over time but are not there yet.
But the problem in the Birmingham game was that Lia’s injury happened in the warm-up right before kick-off, and other injuries meant a lack of alternatives on the bench. An unsettled midfield was added to the existing problem of an unsettled back line.
The source of my paranoia also! We have to hope that Jonas noticed this too & has a cunning plan….
One transfer short, light in defensive midfield… good to see squad strategy is consistent across men’s and women’s teams, if not pay.
I don’t think either Rose or Chawinga has enough points to secure a work permit at the moment.