Arsenal were 1-0 winners against Everton in the WSL on Saturday afternoon thanks to a first half goal from Vivianne Miedema. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press post-match, the first three questions are from Arseblog News.
On whether the game was nervier than necessary towards the end…
Yes, of course but that is always the case when you don’t score the second goal, that they will throw everything up. You either score the second goal or you have to defend those situations. I am a bit disappointed with that part, that we didn’t put the game to rest earlier because we had the chances to do it.
On swapping Lia Walti and Frida Maanum’s positions over after half-time…
In general, our thinking is that Lia is better on the left and Frida on the right. Sometimes in football you end up in different positions. I think you could see quite clearly in the second half when Wally is on the left and Frida on the right they are both getting more out of their games than the other way around. I think it is interesting what you say about relationships on the pitch because that’s what you lose when players are injured, you don’t only lose quality, you lose the relationships between different positions and you have to build again and that is what we are doing at the moment.
On starting Jen Beattie today...
There are a lot of layers. It was important to me to prioritise our most forward like wide players against their wide players, so my choices were Caitlin Foord and Katie McCabe. After that, the other pieces fell into place. But that was important with the way Everton play.
Vintage @VivianneMiedema 🤩#BarclaysWSL @ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/dVC4uu15MN
— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) December 3, 2022
On getting Leah Williamson and Rafaelle back in the squad…
Both very important players in our squad, I think the players that have been playing while they have been away have been playing very, very well. I hope Leah and Rafa feel they are stepping into a strong environment and a strong competition that has increased during their time out. That is beneficial for all of us.
On whether he felt comfortable during the game…
It’s different, you feel comfortable if you have nothing to lose from it! If you want to know how I feel inside, it’s better to ask Tim how he feels! I felt ok until the last five minutes, there i thought it was unnecessary to be in that position. Some things we did well, we defended the setpieces really well, but giving away the setpieces….we can’t do that. It’s their best opportunity to get crosses in we need to be more disciplined in how we defend there. We weren’t punished today but we need to learn from it.
On Everton goalkeeper Emily Ramsey’s performance…
Some of them were really good saves, some of them the finishes weren’t quite good enough.
On the overall performance…
One of the things I am really pleased with is that they set out in a slightly different way than we thought, we had a hard time getting a hold of them in their build up in the first 20 minutes of the game. But together with the players, we managed to figure out how we are going to change our structure, after that we were very solid in our pressing. That requires that we have players who are fresh and want to take responsibility and Viv is a big part of that.
1.Zinsberger; 26.Wienroither (16.Maritz ‘68), 3.Wubben-Moy, 5.Beattie (6.Williamson ‘68), 7.Catley; 13.Walti, 12.Maanum, 11.Miedema; 15.McCabe(c), 19.Foord, 25.Blackstenius (8.Nobbs ‘75).
Glad we won and kept a clean sheet but we gotta be more clinical with all those shots we had on target because at the end of the season it might come to goal difference!
When Man U score 5 and Chelsea score 8 we can’t afford to just be winning 1 nil
Don’t often agree with you, Bill, but you are spot on there mate!
We won but still slipped backwards down the table.
I usually agree with you Peter, but I feel whilst it was of course an average performance only, the main thing is the 3 points.
Leah’s first game back is most welcome and critical, as is Rafa’s likely comeback mid-week, and a host of well-made chances missed too.
I’d have liked the ball to have been played down the right wing more as it seemed like always down the left side versus Everton this afternoon.
There will be plenty other WSL games where we can score a bunch of goals.
I think the fact that we cant play down the right will hurt us against a better team but hopefully we can hold out until we have a playable option
Should have won by more but can’t ignore that Chelsea hammered the worst team in the league and United played a very inconsistent Aston Villa. No one likes the injuries excuse but the fact is our good form has been reset by all the injuries. Wish we had been more prepared for the injuries this season after what happened the last 2 seasons.
About to go on another long rant. Here it is… I don’t think Stina x Viv work together in the 9 and 10 role. I know the United goal last season and whatnot but the larger sample size shows otberwise. Stina looked a bit more liberated when Frida was #10 although her poor overall ability on the ball is always a concern. She can’t seem to pass the ball accurately, her hold up play is poor, and when her strongest asset which is finishing is off, you get a pretty frustrating player. She just seems so be extra greedy when… Read more »
I think today is evidence that at the very least Viv is a very good 10 she created so many chances calmed down play when needed and brought other around her into the game so when Stina becomes more clinical( law of averages) I think it’ll iron out because I think we lose a bit if we play viv up top.
33 Shots, 14 on target, 3.3xG and 1 goal is all kinda concerning but hopefully is just a regression back to the mean and we’ll be extra sharp another game. But really happy with the press today against a Everton side that are pretty good on the ball we won the ball high up the pitch a lot of times but lacked cutting edge. If we keep doing this we’ll put ourselves in good positions to score goals so not too much cause for concern.
It wasn’t one of the better games by the women’s team, but we got the three points. I think that the Everton keeper would have been upset had she let any of the shots in (apart from the one she did) as they were either not hit hard enough, or were straight at her. A better opponent would have punished some of the giveaways when attempting to play out from the back. Not saying we shouldn’t play out from the back, but should be less predictable and mix it up a bit.
Agree with every word of your comments Mr Collibosher.
Yes, l hate the way we play the ball across our back line so much, its so dangerous
I hate to say this (and l wasn’t allowed to post the comment on the fans forum) but is Stina really good enough? She missed 3 clear chances against Juve and a couple of chances against Everton. Just worries me a little. and as others have pointed out and it has been the case in previous seasons, the more goals we score the better chance we have of lifting that title if it becomes that tight 😐 just saying….
no worries I think anyone can express his thoughts, Stina have good numbers nobody can denied, but she need to feel a competitor behind her, same when Tobin put pressure in Caitlin and Nikita on Mead, When Sam Kerr is wasting a lot of opportunities, the lady on charge call for Bethany England straight away, we don’t have that, Viv subbing Stina is like losing the #9 because Viv keeps playing 10 anyway, she just can’t stay up front, maybe we have to bring Gio in January and put some fight upfront.( sorry for take Chelsie as example but I… Read more »
Stina is not the only culprit at spurning excellent chances at the moment. Several players could be tarred with that brush currently!
But, previously she has shown she can finish but what worries me is that it appears her main strength is running on to a long ball over the top but when we try that tactic more often than not she gets caught offside!
You would think that an experienced international would have learnt how to time a run so that the flag stays down at this stage of their career!