Jonas Eidevall has called upon his players to once again show adaptability in the face of injuries to key players. The Gunners lost their first-choice centre-half pairing of Leah Williamson and Rafaelle for the first half of the campaign.
That was followed by season-ending injuries to Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema, now captain Kim Little’s season is over due to a hamstring injury. The Gunners travel to top of the table Manchester United on Wednesday with Caitlin Foord and Lina Hurtig also injured and Katie McCabe suspended.
However, Eidevall has urged his players to adapt, as he believes they have done for the whole season up to this point.
“We need to show adaptability, it is an opportunity for players to step up and show their qualities. It is testament to the work we do to make sure players are ready for when opportunities present themselves.
“Not only between games but during games, this group of players have responded very, very well in tough situations and tough moments.
“We stick together, we keep to the plan, we believe in the way we play and that’s going to be important, maybe even more important, at the end of this season.”
Catley’s back on the ball 🔥 pic.twitter.com/FeUlSK3MgY
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) April 17, 2023
In response to a question from Arseblog News as to whether Arsenal will be better off in the long-term for adapting to the injury situations they have faced, Eidevall suggested his team would be stronger for the experience.
“There is a very good book by Naseem Nicholas Taleb, Anti-Fragile. He goes over that theory, if something shakes you but it doesn’t break you, it will probably make you stronger and more adaptable for future challenges.
“In a volatile and chaotic world like professional football, it is really important to be anti-fragile, to be able to handle turbulence.
“The only way to be better at that is to go through it and test yourself. That’s not nice and there are different ways of doing it but we have been adapting very well. Those experiences will definitely help us for the future.”
Arsenal play Manchester United at Leigh Sports Village at 7.15pm on Wednesday evening. The game is being broadcast live on the BBC.
Love these press conferences… On the one hand, he’s discussing ‘Anti-Fragile’ with Arseblog News; on the other, he’s dealing with a journalist from Sky Sports who doesn’t know how to pronounce ‘Miedema’.
Extraordinary, isn’t it?
We have coped. I’ve been very impressed. I noticed when Caitlin was being asked about a teammate’s injury, she dealt with it purely in terms of sympathy for her. Trusting their coach and the system, trusting each other – that’s how they have made this work for them. My worry is more about the load on the players who have stayed fit, but I imagine the coaching staff are on top of that. So it’s a big relief to hear that Wälti and Catley are back, and even though we will have to wait a bit longer for Caitlin Foord,… Read more »