Arsenal Women manager Jonas Eidevall says the club have not yet decided which of the new January signings to include in the official registered UEFA squad for the Champions League knockout rounds.
The Gunners take on Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals later this month and have until 11pm on Thursday to finalise their squad list. Clubs are only allowed to add a maximum of three new signings for the knockout rounds.
Arsenal made three signings in January, with Victoria Pelova, Katherine Kuhl and Sabrina D’Angelo joining the club but they also recalled Brazilian winger Gio from her loan spell at Everton. Arsenal will have to omit one of these players for their official squad list.
Speaking in his pre Reading press conference, Eidevall wasn’t giving much away, “It is a decision we will make when we have to register.”
It seems likely that Pelova and Kuhl will be registered, with the decision likely to fall between Gio and goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo. Given the injuries to Mead and Miedema and the fact that Arsenal have Manu Zinsberger and Kaylan Marckese as goalkeepers- as well as being able to register academy goalkeeper Naomi Williams- it could be that Canadian goalkeeper D’Angelo doesn’t make the cut.
After Arsenal play Reading on Sunday they have a nine day gap to their quarter-final first leg in Munich and Eidevall will take the opportunity to watch Arsenal’s opponents in the flesh.
“We watch them on video but it is possible for me to travel (to watch Bayern play Koln) so I will do that with our lead analyst next week to see them live. It is not often we get that possibility but now we do.”
Eidevall was unhappy with elements of Wednesday night’s win over Liverpool off the pitch. The scoreboard was not working, while the elements played havoc with the broadcast as the camera gantry is uncovered at Meadow Park.
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“It was a challenge because we won a title on Sunday, we have a really short turnaround and everybody keeps their standards high and that is not easy, because it comes from inside you, to prepare properly and your focus and motivation.
“As an advertisement for women’s football in general, I thought Wednesday was really poor. You come from Sunday, a great occasion, we came to Wednesday and we didn’t have a working scoreboard.
“Broadcast production was absolutely out of order. If we want to raise the standard of the league it has to be better than that. We need to have higher standards for the league and the output. But I was very pleased with the players!”
Fair comment from Jonas about the Meadow Park failings in regards to presentation of the WSL. From the outsider looking in early days it must be confusing…..from caviar to fishcakes in the space of four days!
So true. The FA and the club’s themselves have got to get a handle on issues like officiating, facilities for press and fans, pitch quality, kick-off times, etc. Not doing so could stall the growth of the game.
Very true, Jonas! Thing is the player and coaching staff quality has improved hugely over the last few seasons but the remaining infrastructure is not keeping up. It is not simply the case of throwing money into a pot and expecting miracles to happen as that will just give us the same scenario as the men’s game where there are the haves buying their way to a title and the have nots getting relegated. The will has to be there and at the moment it isn’t despite the murmurings from the FA and other organising bodies. If it were we… Read more »
100% agreement from me PST. I hate it when broadcasters or governing bodies say proudly that they are covering the matches or organising the game just the same as for the men or the PL. Aaargh, no! Don’t. Learn from your mistakes and do it differently. Let the game grow organically. Don’t be greedy. Don’t try and supercharge spending on the top of the pyramid, make sure the money is spread around. Look at who your potential new fans are, respect them. And do something about the dinosaurs at Canadian Soccer, FIFA.
After D’Angelo’s performance against City in the League Cup semifinal it would be harsh on her not to be included in Champions League squad. She commanded her area very well that game.
Also noticed she didn’t get a League Cup winner’s medal in the ceremony after the final. Hope she got a medal later?