Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall says he is happy to explore Victoria Pelova’s long-term position in the team. The Dutch attacking midfielder has been a revelation since joining the club in January, excelling as both a right-sided attacker and a central midfielder.
With Kim Little, Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema out, her versatility has been useful as well as her quality. Arseblog News asked Jonas Eidevall whether he has a more fixed position in mind for her in the long-term and the Arsenal boss says he is open-minded and happy to see where she settles best.
“You want Pelova on the ball so where you put her in the team has to be in a role where you involve her a lot,” he explained. “You could tell against Leicester how comfortable she is with the ball. How comfortable she is in 1 v 1 situations and the good weight she has on her passes.
“Then depending on how we play, if that is from a wider position where she is dropping in and coming more central or whether she is starting from a central position, she can do both. It is probably going to be like it was with Frida (Maanum).
“Where we will see in the coming periods where Victoria’s strengths will really flourish into one position. That is why it is so interesting working with players to see where you can work out those details. We can all see the talent and the qualities she has and now it is to see where we can really put that into as much efficiency for the team as possible.”
New: In focus: Pelova’s Witness- Victoria Pelova’s performance against Leicester City https://t.co/2iHzfVG70m #arsenal #afc pic.twitter.com/wMvtxTAxAb
— arseblognews (@arseblognews) May 6, 2023
Eidevall explained that Maanum has probably excelled in an advanced position more than he expected when he first came to the club and underlined the value of keeping an open mind with individual player development.
“She has been incredible. Frida is a real success story this year. She started not playing so much, I remember when she came on in the away game at Ajax the energy and the determination she played with.
“We had a conversation after this and I told her, ‘if you keep going like this, you are going to play, it will be impossible not to play you.’ When I see this in a player I want to play that player all the time.
“She proved that right, after that. From Lyon away onwards. She put a lot of hard work in, it is great to see a young player come in and grow as an athlete and as a person.
A moment of quality from @fmaanum 🔥
This is your 🅰️🅰️🅰️ pass for Leicester City (h) 👇
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) May 8, 2023
“It also shows why sometimes it is so hard to just look at statistics when you look at young players. I think when you see Frida in Sweden, you saw she had a great shot but she didn’t score many goals. When you see it from the statistical perspective.
“That is something we could have held against her when we looked at her in the number 10 position because you ask whether that would contribute enough points for the team. That is where you need to look at the potential when you work with young players, you have to see the qualities and now you see she is contributing a lot of points playing that position. That is very interesting when you work with young players.”
I enjoy women’s football and its great to see it coming on in terms of profile and popularity but..
Earlier this morning we had an article on Declan Rice coming to the club and we could not comment – no offence to the ladies team but I know what I would rather talk about.
There is no story on Arseblog News about Declan Rice today, that is the main blog and you can comment on it The Arses – 09/05/2023 (arseblog.dev). Even if you couldn’t, that has precisely nothing to do with this story or the women’s team. If you don’t want to comment here or don’t want to read the stories about the women’s team, don’t. There is absolutely no need to set them against stories about the men’s team. The site runs stories about all facets of the club and there is just no chance that anybody is interested in all of… Read more »
Thank you for the reply Tim. Boggles the mind that these complainers actually think we care about their misogynistic opinions.
Who is Declan Rice anyway?
Is he the other half of Ant and … that phaff about in the Ozzie jungle?
Our most instantly successful signing for years. Her reputation must be soaring.
It’s interesting that JE says that Frida Maanum has surprised him, too.
Both Frida and Victoria are having an excellent season!
Credit all of the players (coaching staff too in fact) for an excellent season. If it hadn’t been for these pesky long term injuries who knows what might have been? We’ve done pretty well with a third of the squad on the sidelines!
Will be interesting to see where Maanum and Pelova fit in the team when Miedema and Mead return.
Mead in the RW no question about that; Mannum, Pelova and Miedema have figh for the #10 position. Pelova can play any position in Midfield, Miedema can share #9 with Stina, we don’t need Russo at all.
You don’t have to play them all at once! It is that kind of strength in depth that has been absent for seasons and is why we have struggled when the injuries come along. It would do us no harm to recruit a few more world class players for next season and beyond. Goalkeeper is about the only position where we are safe!
All for the better squad depth but its a fine balance between having too few or too many players for the team environment. Too many players can ruin the team environment when they aren’t getting enough minutes. Look at how close the squad seems now as they fight through this injury crisis and they are all contributing with minutes. Do think we need a few more players though given the length of ACL injuries
Has Viv signed a new contract?
Has Viv signed a contract extension?
No but she’s not out of contract
Thank you.
When does Miedema’s contract expire?
She’s on a 1+1 so next summer at the moment.
Thanks, Tim.
It takes time to get back to full fitness after such injuries. It may even take them up to Dec/Jan to be ready to play 90 minutes. Having capable ‘backups’ helps us ease them back in without risking further complications because we are in dire need of their brilliance (that may be the case for Hurtig).
And when everyone is back fully fit it will be scary, but not for us.