Arsenal were 3-0 winners at Brighton in the WSL on Sunday afternoon thanks to goals from Stina Blackstenius, Caitlin Foord and Frida Maanum. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press post-match, the first three questions are from Arseblog News.
On selecting Russo and Blackstenius together…
When you play Brighton either they are in that mode when they are playing out from the back. We saw with their goal against Manchester City they can push out their defending line and they have some really strong target players too, with Lee, Pauline Bremer and Terland too so they play up there and flick on so you have to handle that situation. It was about handling both situations, especially with our counterpressing too, we wanted to be really aggressive and get that suffocating shape so we could sustain attacks and we did that really well in the second half.
On what was said at half-time…
We talked about time and space, two very important concepts in football. That is about managing that when you are pressing, so you limit time and space. We gave them way too much time and space in the first half. They are expansive in their organisation and they like to switch from side to side and stretch your organisation, especially if you are not close enough to impact the quality on their pass. That was one thing. Then we clarified which player in our team has time and space, so we got a clearer idea of that and we did a better job in the second half of finding those players. When you review the game, you will probably see which players those are.
On the travelling support…
It is huge for us because the support is tremendous and it helps us so much. But I also think about what we are trying to build and what we as a club want to capitalise on that, it is unique and special. We see not only with travelling fans but how many tickets we sell at the Emirates, we have the possibility to have a sell out against Chelsea in December. That momentum, for the club and that investment that so many of our fans have in the team, that is so important. Maybe that is the most important thing that we have right now at Arsenal Women that if we look to the future about what is going to make Arsenal the best club, if we can have that fan support and grow it even more, we should be able to lead the way.
On a first clean sheet of the season…
They worked really well together as a unit and it progresses better and better through the game as well. The first half, there are moments when we have too many gaps in our organisation but the second half we were really solid. We have players that put real pride in keeping a clean sheet and you can see that with how we defend our box today. It was really pleasing not only to win but to get that reward because we should take some self-confidence from that.
On Russo playing in a deeper role…
We have lots of opportunities with the way we set up. For this game, we thought that Brighton would be very aggressive in their press. We needed ways to create space for ourselves and it was important to stretch their back line and having a threat in behind, but also to have someone who is really good at capitalising on that space in front and that created a dilemma for Brighton and at the same time for our central midfielders to step onto them. Those are the questions we tried to ask Brighton and that was the reason.
On Beth Mead’s performance…
It’s a huge step in her return to start a game. You can see she is involved in good goal creating opportunities, she has a great chance just a second before she comes off. That gives us another really important tool in the season where we have great competition in our forward positions but also how important it is to get fresh legs on. As a team when you see we score so many goals after the 85th minute it is not a coincidence with us having real quality players coming on with fresh legs and being able to capitalise on that space that opens up.
On when Mead might be able to play 90 minutes…
Today I took the decision to take her off with my eyes and today it was 60 minutes, next time we will see.
1.Zinsberger; 16.Maritz, 28.Ilestedt, 3.Wubben-Moy, 15.McCabe(c) (7.Catley ‘65); 21.Pelova (22.Kuhl ‘85), 32.Cooney-Cross (13.Walti ‘79); 9.Mead (24.Lacasse ‘65), 23.Russo, 19.Foord; 25.Blackstenius (12.Maanum ‘64).
Unused: 17.Hurtig, 27.Codina, 40.Williams
Good victory tonight. Keep it up and put pressure on Chelshit.. Up we go ladies
The irony is we play both of our No 9’s at the same time and for the first time this season we keep a clean sheet!
At this stage the points are more important and returning home with 3 from Brighton is a good day’s work!
I’ve just watched some replays of Stina’s goal and I’m not sure that’s what Jonas meant when he said he wanted a double pivot!
A great trick shot though 🙂
Funny how quiet the comment section has been since the team started winning again…
the “Jonas out” blokes are being very disappointed recently.
Um l thought that exact same thing! Some people are never happy unless they are moaning
COYGS
Superb from Cooney-Cross today and Kuhl looked impressive when she came on.
Yes l thought KCC had a great game and Kuhl looked good when she came on too. Im sure the saying ‘the 12th man’ has a massive impact on our players, watching the subs warming up during a game, they can’t help but giggle when they hear us singing their songs 😁
Kuhl was terrific! Great incisiveness, accuracy – up to the pace of the game immediately. KCC was great.
Chelsea game is just massive in a couple of weeks. The team’s form is coming together nicely just in time (fingers crossed)
Well done as always tim. Have you thought about doing player ratings for each match?
Can’t argue with 3-0 (clean sheet✔️) though the late goals hid a possible Roy Hodgson meme moment if Brighton had equalised which was always a worry Upto 2-0. The concern for me is ball security, I’m expecting Walti and Little to return for the top of the table clash as this midfield would currently be too vulnerable, so many turnovers yesterday, a better team could have done better with their pressure, thankfully Brighton weren’t able to take advantage. However we fall a fair bit short of Chelsea in pass accuracy and possession numbers this season so far. If the stats… Read more »
I thought Noëlle was unobtrusive but effective. The right-hand side of our defence was calmer than against Leicester.
No one ever talks about her, she goes under the radar but she a really good, solid player l think
Love Noelle Maritz. She is a rock-solid, consistent dyed-in-the-wool defender. Perfect when you have an attack-minded LB on the other side in Katie McCabe.
Great win from the girls. We even got a cleansheet! Brilliant shift from everyone and more to build on. 3 pts clear of 3rd place is a good place to be in. A few worries about our ball security and usage still. Had loads of turnovers yesterday, especially in the first half. Subpar 1st half performances seem like the next thing to eradicate in our development. Better team than Brighton would have punished us. Think we defended brilliantly, save for that Lotte scare. Everyone put in the work. Gotta say, KCC looks ridiculously good. What a player. Kuhl has improved… Read more »
I agree with most of that. Only I would add, in reference to Maanum, that she didn’t have an “okay” game – she had an excellent game going back to the basics of being a central midfielder. Superb forward passing, defensive contribution, supporting and linking up well with her teammates. I thought it was lovely to see how happy the other girls were for her when she scored – superb finish it was, too. I think she may have turned the corner.