Arsenal are on the cusp of qualification for the Champions league quarter finals after a first half goal from Vivianne Miedema was enough to beat Juventus 1-0 at Emirates Stadium. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press post-match. The first two questions are from Arseblog News.
On exploiting the space behind Lineth Beerensteyn for the winning goal…
It’s a question of risk and reward. It’s a risk because she is a very dangerous player and if they take the ball off you, she can really get at you. But if you win the ball it becomes a reward because they lose a defending player. That makes it difficult to play against a player like her, the other Juve players work very well so if you lose the ball at the wrong moment, they have her in dangerous situations. That is where we have to choose as a team, you either become afraid and don’t trust in your own abilities, or you say ‘we have good players on the ball we believe in our ability and we still attack with balance but we are brave and try to exploit the space that they give us. That is important, that is what I want from us as a team.
On the team dropping back in the last 15 minutes and defending the lead and the thinking behind putting Jordan Nobbs on on the left wing…
I wanted us to have more of the ball, putting Jordan on in combination with Caitlin Foord as a 9 because I felt our 9 was getting a bit isolated and Caitlin is a strong target player. We wanted her to try to hold up the attacks a little bit more. It’s about not getting too stressed and think logically, we didn’t give too many opportunities away to the opponent.
Your own idea of the game is different to that, we tried to change it a little bit towards what we wanted to do but not too much so we didn’t stress the players. You have to respect the players are tired and they take smart decisions. I know if they had more energy they would run more and if they don’t, they will take smart decisions. As a coach, sometimes you have to accept and respect that.
This time @ArsenalWFC DO take the lead and it's a good finish from Vivianne Miedema 🔴
🇬🇧 🎙 👉 https://t.co/vcisspfI23
🇮🇹 🎙 👉 https://t.co/BlxKLgFPPy pic.twitter.com/LmBtaPp6yx— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) December 7, 2022
What pleased him most about the performance…
I am very pleased with the first half, how we controlled the game without the ball, we were compact with an aggressive shape and we win the ball in our midfield a lot. I am happy with how we moved the ball in the first half, we had a midfield overload a lot. We found Miedema a lot more times than we have managed this season because she is usually man-marked in the WSL. We need to improve our efficiency and decision making with opportunities when we are four v three, in the first and second half, we can expect more. I know we have the potential and ability to do that and I am confident that it’s a matter of time before we achieve that.
On whether he feels his team have improved in Champions League football compared to last year…
We are more comfortable defending in our shape we are more comfortable in our positions in build-up. But we are not a finished product, especially when we don’t have consistency with players because of the injury situation, we are constantly changing players. We are not a finished product, we are improving but we have things to improve on and off the ball.
On his overall impression of the group stage for Arsenal…
So far we have done well but it’s one game at a time. Lyon here next week is going to be a very difficult game, we are going to need to prepare well for that. Before that we also need to prepare well for Aston Villa, that’s our challenge to reset, prepare, execute and go again.
On limiting Juve’s opportunities in front of goal…
They had two good opportunities in one of their first attacks, after that we were in control for the rest of the game. That is very important, that as a team we can be in control. For me, i know a lot of coaches see it differently, you can control the game with and without the ball. With the ball is very important, but you can control off the ball by controlling space, we controlled space today in a very good way.
On Miedema scoring three in three games…
As simple as her being mentally ready to play the games and to train and to enjoy. In the last two games we have seen some brilliant stuff from her, in attack and defence. The weight of her passes and touches is extraordinary, how well she does things like that. If we are finishing better we would have talked about her having multiple assists in these games, not only scoring goals. We are very happy for her that she is able to show those performances.
1.Zinsberger; 26.Wienroither, 6.Williamson(c) (2.Rafaelle ‘62), 3.Wubben-Moy, 7.Catley; 13.Walti, 12.Maanum, 11.Miedema; 15.McCabe, 19.Foord (5.Beattie ‘89), 25.Blackstenius (8.Nobbs ‘79).
Great win, girls! Massive shift put in by all. But please, please can we finish more of our chances? We can’t just rely on Viv to save us.
I feel like the “reset and start from 0” after the injuries was evident tonight. Did the basics well enough to win but looked very primitive
Crazy that leah’s distribution was still good after being out for 2 months makes the team play better by having that option to go long. Viv was so good as well it looks like she has her sharpness back from taking that break. Also hope Stina gets a goal so her confidence doesn’t get affected an people don’t harass her too much she’s important for the team.
It was like LW had never been away! Same with Rafaelle.
Hopefully Stina’s assist will help. And she did finish her offside goal beautifully! She’s getting the chances at least.
Viv is head and shoulders above the rest. Her technique and decision making are superb.
Noticeable Jonas stressed first half and avoided 2nd in which Inthink we were quite awful. Some like McCabe and Maanum were simply way of beam, loose with possession, poor passing .
Gone is our fast breaking efficiency it would seem
I’m hoping that having someone like Gio come in can help with our ability to counter even though caitlin and stina are pretty fast.
Did Gio get injured in that Man United game yesterday? She has been nursing a hip injury all season so far apparently. If she is injured I hope they don’t replace Mead with another injured player
Positive: Very vital win, needed to grind it out one way or the other other. Strong position to qualify, good progress from last season, Viv scored again, we are keeping clean sheets again, Leah and Rafa are back, strong reaction since United loss. Negavtives: Too many of our attackers are in bad form. Stina remains clumsy on the ball (beautiful assist tho) and seems in a rush to score thereby shooting wastefully and forcing the issue (cutback was on to KT but was again selfish in that position), Foord is being extremely wasteful again. Cannot recall how many times she… Read more »
With Caitlin I think it’s just fatigue, playing every minute of every game has taken its toll on her sharpness. She’s finding the same spaces but her execution is off and when that happens, it’s usually fatigue.
Fair for the most part, but I don’t think the players are lazy, I think they’re tired. Compare Viv pre and post break. I also think that they are missing Kim Little’s leadership.
It was wonderful to see Leah back on form. Her passing was spot on! I can understand that is is tough for a left footed player like Katie to adapt to the right though we have all seen her score with her right foot. I have faith, not misplaced I hope, that the team will adapt successfully. As usual Viv was her brilliant self and her ability both in attack and defence is outstanding.
I agree about Leah. When opponents press high as Arsenal Women play the ball around the back line, they have to keep an eye over their shoulders because Leah has the ability to pop a long ball forward. It makes all the difference.
The last 15-20 minutes wasn’t the most comfortable watch, with players looking tired and some sloppy passing in the midfield, although Juventus still only managed two attempts on target in the whole game. Still a few too many needless offsides against a risky high defensive backline, and the lack of any alternatives on the bench to bring on up front is an obvious issue. However, having watched the Lyon-Zurich game yesterday, I’m fairly confident about next week. Zurich really should have had a couple of goals before Lyon got their second.
One thing I noticed towards the end of the game was that Beerensteyn went to the opposite flank, probably to escape the attentions of Weinroither, who had her in her pocket up until them. Our right back deserves a special mention!