Arsenal kicked off their Conti Cup campaign with a 3-1 home win over Bristol City at Meadow Park on Thursday night, thanks to goals from Frida Maanum, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Stina Blackstenius. Jonas Eidevall spoke to Arseblog News post-match, all of the questions are from us.
On the fast combination play between the forwards in the first half…
Yes, we watched back the first game (the teams met in the WSL a few weeks ago) and the feeling we had from that game was that we didn’t play those passes often enough and we weren’t willing to risk those passes and we worked on that. The structure was very similar to the first game but our decision making was a little bit braver and I was pleased with that.
On playing Cooney-Cross and Kuhl together in midfield…
Kyra naturally sits more than Ke but the reality is they have to swap. I think it is very interesting to see players like Kyra and Ke play for Arsenal because I think they have that Arsenal DNA and the ability to make those central combinations and their technical ability is really, really high and really pleasing to see. We want to develop those defensive qualities and those off the ball qualities because there is no doubt the future is bright for them in an Arsenal journey.
On the importance of developing depth and variety in midfield…
That is why Ke and Kyra are here. So we have to take the opportunities to do that for the players and the team, they are here because I believe in them and we think they can contribute for us.
On being able to start Beth Mead for the first time since her injury…
I think this was the earliest we could do that, it might have changed if she had been called up to play for England in the last international break, because it could have been a little bit further away. When she wasn’t called up this was always the game and that was really nice, it was also really nice giving Viv more minutes as well because she has been working hard for that.
On whether Arsenal lost a little bit of intent in the second half…
Their goal comes from nowhere from a nothing situation and that shows how important it is to never, ever switch off in football. That makes the game unnecessarily close from a score line perspective. From there on I think something we did better in the second half is that we made the game more consistent. We take positions and make passes a little more early on in the first half and that makes the game a bit more transitional which gives you the sense of less control. We managed the ball better in the second half and that’s where we play the pass before the pass and from there, we draw them out a little bit and then we can go through their pressure and find a good final ball.
On why Arsenal swapped dugouts this season and have decided to kick towards the North Bank in the first half and the South Stand in the second…
This dugout is closer to the locker room so it flows much better. We get a better connection to our overflow staff too. We also don’t have the assistant referee in the way in this dugout, it’s not because I don’t like the assistant referee it is just about the view! It is better to not have that. We still wanted to keep the North side for the warm up to warm up in front of our fans gives us the best of both worlds.
14.D’Angelo; 16.Maritz, 3.Wubben-Moy, 5.Beattie, 15.McCabe(c) (7.Catley ‘62); 32.Cooney-Cross (21.Pelova ‘85), 22.Kuhl; 9.Mead (24.Lacasse ‘62), 12.Maanum (11.Miedema ‘69), 17.Hurtig (19.Foord ‘69); 25.Blackstenius.
Unused: 1.Zinsberger, 23.Russo, 28.Ilestedt, 40.Williams.
Thoroughly enjoyed tonight’s game in the balmy Autumn temperatures at Meadow Park☃️
What a midfield we are going to have in the next few seasons…..Ke Kuhl, KCC, Vicky and Frida. Especially Ke, she controlled the game particularly first half.
Beth and Viv look ready to fly again.
What about enforcers ? We have KT of course but seeing Caitlin run through opponents made me wince a few times as they bounced off her.
Credit also to Bristol. They looked a pretty solid outfit and not the “whipping girls” of old.
Thought Kuhl had a fantastic game. I could see her improvement from the last season. Quicker to turn and face forward when receiving the ball and making offensive passes. Seemed stronger as well in winning racked and not being pushed off the ball as easily. She is very strong technically and good pace shown on a coupe of recovery runs. Faded a bit in the second half, don’t know if it was fitness or Bristol getting closer to her before she could receive the ball. Looking forward to seeing her develop and play more
Fully agree – KK was Arsenals Player of the Match I thought.
Kyra was pretty good too & she takes a mean corner kick.
She was great, wasn’t she? Big vote of confidence in her and Kyra Cooney-Cross from JE by not having either Lia or Kim on the bench.
The most pleasing aspect of last night was that this starting 11, with 9 changes including three or four players who have hardly played a match, did not look less fluent or less threatening than the the other day. It was a good performance but there is clearly a lot more to come. We are only at 75% of where we could be this season, and we are winning. The squad are taking on a lot, finding a way to play which doesn’t rely on any specific partnerships – we can all link up with everyone else. Bristol City are… Read more »
*specific partnerships or players being fit.
Also solid game from D’Angelo.
It was great to see the midfield partnership of KK and Kyra. They were quite good on the ball. We made lots of wasteful passes especially in the first half which was quite painful to watch for me. It seems a number of the ladies were switched off. I simply hope that we’ll make better use of the ball in subsequent games. #COYG