Arsenal were 1-0 victors over Leicester City at Meadow Park on Friday night thanks to a second half strike from Frida Maanum. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press post-match. The first three questions are from Arseblog News.
On sticking with the back three and the wide tens creating wide overloads in the first half…
Yes, but we didn’t know they would play a back five, they usually play a back four diamond. Maybe it would have been even better against that, we could make use of it especially when we went through Pelova in the first half and opened up their man-marking system. But we win the game when we go to a back four in the second half and we go three v two in their midfield and Frida Maanum becomes a spare player every time there. We score from that but we also created other opportunities. I am happy that we have got to that point where we have that versatility that we can change formations during the game and be proactive in changing the picture and today that was very important.
On his team managing their emotions as they were closing the game out in the final stages…
They coped very well. When you look at the game, we really deserved to win, we could easily have scored another goal. But when you come to that point where you’ve only scored one and you need to manage and we really want to hold on and have all that hard work mean the three points. I think the players kept very cool, I think you and me were more nervous than they were on the outside, which is the way it should be.
Today was not easy and that is what I said to the players after, the game on Monday was a huge game for us and this was a quick turnaround and we have a tight squad and we lost Lina (Hurtig) to an injury. We knew this was a tough ask against a Leicester that has really found form, especially with this very front footed aggressive football. They beat Liverpool 4-0, convincingly and they have been playing really well. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy so I am really happy with the performance and the result.
WHO ELSE BUT FRIDA! 🔥
Striking the ball into the top bins – @FMaanum 🥵#BarclaysWSL @ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/fd5bn56Hy0
— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) May 5, 2023
On his message at half-time with the score at 0-0…
I told them to manage expectations. This could easily have been a 2-0 half, I wasn’t going to be raging about things we don’t do well, there were a lot of things we do well. But there were some things we needed to do better. One thing was to find the 10s or bypass the 10s and find Stina in the channel when they were pressing so high. The other was some details in our pressing, it was just small details, we didn’t change anything major. We know we have the moment it change to a back four to get an additional 10 but we wanted to do that once the second half had settled a bit and sometimes that is better when you see the opponent makes their first move to then come in and try to surprise them.
On going from a sold out Emirates to a sold out Meadow Park…
For me, personally, I enjoy being at the Emirates in front of 60,000 and I enjoy being here when it is full, I enjoy fine dining but I also like a place with greasy food and a cold beer as well. I can do both! That is what you need to do as a team, that might be a weird analogy but it’s the best one i can think of right now!
On Frida Maanum’s performance…
Incredible, that versatility. She starts as a six and then she comes up as a 10. That is what you see, when you play her as a six she does that well but you really see what you’re missing when you don’t play her as a 10. She is so good in front of their defending line, the power, her touch, the way she engages defenders. If you don’t step to her she shoots. Then it becomes a really hard task for the defending team, if you give her space she shoots. If you step up to her, it creates space and frees another player. That is exactly the type of decision we want to force from the opponent.
On Jen Beattie’s contribution of late…
She has been so important in this period. Both as someone to set a culture but her leadership, her calmness on the ball. We had to be cautious with her today, she hasn’t been playing a lot of minutes for a while so we are really spiking the load on Jen, she is going to be an important player for us going forward as well so it was the right decision to take her off.
14.D’Angelo; 3.Wubben-Moy, 5.Beattie (7.Catley ‘56, 20.Gio ‘73)), 2.Rafaelle, 16.Maritz; 13.Walti, 12.Maanum 15.McCabe(c); 21.Pelova, 22.Kuhl (59.Agyemang ‘89); 25.Blackstenius (27.Taylor ‘56).
Unused: 1.Zinsberger, 18.Marckese, 29.Goldie.
Everything one of our players requires medical attention on the pitch, my heart stops!
Well done girls
Pelova reminds me of Santi..
She’s a special player for sure
I like that Jonas is embracing the chav look more and more by the day
It’s definitely a contrast to Mikel, isn’t it? International Man of Mystery vs Bloke Down The Pub… Very endearing.
I love that Jonas trusts the squad so much more nowadays. His tweakage game is immense, as well.
This was one of our toughest matches of the season. What Willie Kirk has done with Leicester is frightening! However, our wonderful ladies managed to pull through. We really cannot afford to have any more players injured if we are to stand a chance of progressing further.
How this team has continued to do reasonably well with all the injuries this season is amazing.
Losing 2 world class players to long term injuries would usually signal the end to a teams season, but the fact that they’re still in the conversation is impressive
Two? More like six! (And at least four fall in the “world class” category).