Arsenal Women lost a North London derby for the first time ever on Saturday due to a second half Martha Thomas strike. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press post-match. Both questions are from Arseblog News on this occasion.
On having 31 shots and not scoring…
That is always the difficult thing when you are trying to analyse football matches because you look at it through the lens of the result and ask why did that happen? Then there is trying to stay objective and looking at ‘how was the performance?’ The most important aspect is what you create offensively versus what we allow the opposition to create. Those things are strong in this game. The most likely outcome in a game like this is that Arsenal win because of the way we play and that’s the fact.
But then we ask what we do with the other percentages in this game, we need to improve the efficiency in attacking and defending. But we can’t take away from the performance in total but most of the time we are going to win this match and we need to keep doing the things that leads to that. So it’s an odd feeling sitting here with that because of course we are very disappointed with that, disappointed with our efficiency but from a performance point of view, we play well enough to win the match and we should have won it.
On whether he was happy with the intensity of Arsenal’s pressing…
It’s fair to say we are not as strong today as we were against Chelsea. But there is only one time they play through the pressure in 90 minutes plus added time, we are very harshly punished for that. Of course, it is easy to see from the sideline and afterwards to see we are unbalanced in the way we press and that has to be a learning point for us. Again, looking at it over 90 minutes, they play out of our pressure once. Apart from that, we had it under control and we won the ball in some really attractive spaces numerous time and we are just not able to convert in those situations.
1.Zinsberger; 15.McCabe(c) (24.Lacasse ‘89), 28.Ilestedt, 3.Wubben-Moy, 7.Catley; 21.Pelova (32.Cooney-Cross ‘65), 13.Walti (25.Blackstenius ‘79); 9.Mead, 12.Maanum (11.Miedema ‘65), 19.Foord; 23.Russo.
Unused: 5.Beattie, 14.D’Angelo, 16.Maritz, 22.Kuhl, 27.Codina.
We need a Goalkeeper and a #9 who stays inside the box.
We are not Barcelona.
Yes. Under control. He’s a legend for this result. Absolute legend… We’ll be coming back to discuss this result in a few months and how wrong the team and manager got this.
The last few weeks must have been very challenging /painful for you with Arsenal winning 7 on the bounce in the league including the stuffing of Chelsea. At least you have got Christmas to feel smug and self-righteous.
Incredibly disappointing performance. Basically wasted the Chelsea victory. Imagine being unbeaten against City, United, and Chelsea but dropping 6pts to Liverpool and Spurs. Reminds me of his first season when we drew vs Spurs and lost to Birmingham. This was entirely of our own doing btw. Some spectacularly awful performances here. I know a lot of people can’t stand my comments because they always seem incredibly harsh but no one has been able to counter them with facts. Just a case of ‘be nicer and gentler’ with them. But do we want an elite team that wins stuff or do… Read more »
In my part of the world, there’s this common saying that “the truth is bitter”. Your opinion may be harsh or even bitter, but it is the truth. We can’t continue this way and expect success. There are things that should not happen. You cannot and must not go from thrashing Chelsea, the best team in the league, to losing in less than a week to fucking Totnam. Emma Hayes has been doing whatever the fuck she likes in this league now for years unchallenged. And now that she’s finally got bored and leaves after this season, does Jonas have… Read more »
And people seem to give Foord a pass. She starts every game even if she’s under performing. If Katie plays that position she’ll do a lot better than Foord. But Jonas is not ruthless enough and that could cost us the league.
He better go and get Hemp who’s stalling on a new contract at City. She’ll be free agent in the summer.
That’s what happens when a player is too comfortable. Mead has Lacasse on the right as competition but who’s competing with Foord?
It’s supposed to be Lina but she’s barely ever fit to play and when she is, she doesn’t offer nearly enough. At a big club, a player can’t be without competition. It subconsciously breeds complacency and we are seeing that with Foord. Just too comfortable. I hope this bit is also rectified in the transfer market.
Can see you are a glass half empty type of guy. No it hasn’t wasted the Chelsea victory because if, as is likely, Chelsea win tomorrow they’ll only be 3 points ahead of us. Any other result they’d have been six or nine and out of sight. We still have to play Chelsea in March when they’ll be focusing on the CL and, with the exception of the away game last May when we were down to the bare bones we’ve had the best of them over the last year for the majority of the time. Answering some of your… Read more »
No the Chelsea result wasn’t wasted. When Chelsea win tomorrow they’ll still be only 3 points ahead of us. If we’d drawn or lost, after todays result we’d have been 6 or 9 and way out of touch. Given that we’ve got the better of Chelsea more often than not in the past year and they’ll be involved with the CL there’s no reason to think we can’t get something there.
Where was Russo? She started 10 WSL games and score in just 3. According to JE the best striker he has ever worked with.
I know we’re hurting but that’s unnecessary.
Russo can’t and won’t score if she’s not fed with the last ball . All players that are supposed to be her supply only think of shooting once they approach the 18 yards . We need to change the manager if we want to play football in an organised way.
Without going into individual performances, one if the things that struck me was Spurs’ setup. Their 442 structure meant their midfield covered the full width of the pitch (completely different from Chelsea last week). This made it very difficult for us to find a path through. I still feel we’re missing someone who can produce the pass that threads its way through crowded areas.
It’s why I prefer a midfield without Maanum. She’s constantly in those positions but instead of producing them, she shoots from anywhere.
A midfield with KCC and Walti at the base and Pelova further ahead makes more sense. Pelova will always attempt to thread it through and KCC drives more. Maanum shouldn’t be playing 10, especially when we are chasing a game.
Foord needs a rest and play Cloe where she is best , on the left Why did he take Vicky off, KCC needs to start.
This manager has the same starting team if Kim is not available
maanum in.
Can this manager take us further, I doubt it. ,
What happened to the team that played against Chelsea on Sunday? Where did they go? QQ
Losing to that lot is a sackable offence.
“When you’re catch an opponent in the head, you can’t have any complaints.”
-commentator re Raul Jimemez’s VAR-assisted red card at Newcastle, and no other incidents at St. James’s Park this season, apparently.
What frustrates about Jonas and this results, is that for months now he’s been letting players shoot from ridiculous angles when we have players free on better positions. Also, he talks about competition in the squad but constantly regards players who are out of form with minutes. Stina is in form but is barely getting minutes. Being the best in training doesn’t mean anything when you cannot perform when it matters. Another thing, the fact that he didn’t solve the issue with Beth being double teamed also adds to my frustration. So often, we’ve seen Foord and Mead swap wings…… Read more »
Because Russo is playing good everywhere but in front of goal, we need someone like Ellen White style inside the box.
Wasn’t referring to Russo. She and Mead were the only ones that gave me any hope.
You mean like Miedema? Eidevall’s ideas about the CF position and Miedema have been crazy since he arrived.
Lia and pelova were our best in the mid. Why the coach subbed then is out of this world. Jonas always prefers Maanum but she is too selfish. He also doesn’t identify the weaker areas to strengthen. Instead he is weakening more. Good players but dumb decisions from the technical bench.
I don’t agree with JE that we were offensively strong. Very static. No forward runs into box. Brainless performance from Maanum and Foord. Need McCabe and Pelova further forward. Terrible day for everyone and JE has some serious thinking to do because that was not good enough.
Defeats happen, even to previously unbeaten teams and individuals. Who remembers Ali getting beaten? Who remembers him regaining his crown? Don’t knock the team when they’re down, they’ll get back up
Talk about after the Lord Mayors show.
Woeful
Football eh?
A real letdown in performance following the fantastic effort against Chelsea. Looked like the focus was completely on that match and maybe an element of complacency today. For Sp*rs of course, this was their Cup Final.
Surprised Maritz wasn’t brought on to allow McCabe to move to the link and sub off Ford. Felt very much like the Liverpool game. Thought we needed Stina on earlier too.
Time to reset and re-focus but this is an early Christmas present for the other teams.
*left, not link
Mach du keine sorgen, wir verstehen. Links= left 🙂
That’s the Chelsea win gone down the pan
Really boring, bad decision making from the manager and players on the pitch, with all the hype this team needs to be a lot better.
Jonas talks a good game but he overthinks the opposition and this is the result. Play your game and make the opposition react.
This is probably his age and lack of experience talking more than his ability, but he needs to work on defensive positioning during transitional play and also coaching the side on taking higher percentage shots instead of shooting on sight.
The stats flattered us. Spurs have players who can actually defend and pass, they also have a genuine game plan. These games have been getting harder. No surprise we eventually lose one. I guess this is good for the league. Would be nice if someone can actually challenge Chelsea though. In our current squad, Kim and Leah are the only reliable and truly world class players. Viv used to be one. She’s been fading under Jonas. Definitely don’t see her return to top after ACl, not with us anyway. The other players are adequate to challenge for something, with a… Read more »
Viv Miedema, under Eidevall, has gone from being arguably the best goal-scorer in the game for several years (yes, Kerr has also been outstanding for a long time) and I believe three times the top goal scorer in the WSL,to a rather inconsequential player. Yes, the knee injury has kept her out for a year–but even before that she was fading under this coach. Who in the world takes a world-class goal-scorer and makes her a midfielder–and then tries to pretend that Stina and Russo are better? They are good/very good players, to be sure–but any notion that they are… Read more »
“I’d put myself in as a No 10,” she says when asked where she would play if she were player-manager for a day. “I can see why people think of me as a nine and why I’m playing there but I wouldn’t say I’m stuck there, I like to move around, I’m flexible in that way. “You obviously have number nines who are in the box and stay there but I like picking up the ball and being creative, if I was signing for another team I’d say ‘I’m not a nine, I’m something else.’” Viv Miedema exclusive: ‘I can’t… Read more »
Suffice to say very disappointing, cannot afford to drop points against lower opposition. One of the issues is Eidevall is a manager who has this result in him every season as we’ve seen. Not quite elite, he’s decent enough, talks a good game and all but that doesn’t win the WSL against Chelsea. Now we have to be almost perfect in the new year and hope that Chelsea cock up again, I’m not sure our current defence is good enough to do that. Btw I’m almost at the point of seeing Maanum on the team sheet and my heart sinks… Read more »
Maybe a little to late but here is my take on the match and our first part of the season. Yes we had a lot of shots but tbh we didnt have that many good chances in the box. I think Spurs defended very well and allowed us to take the shots from long range. When our press doesnt working we have barely nothing to come up with and that is a bit worrying. If we compare our wingers with the wingers in Chelsea or City there is one big difference. Hemp and Kelly puts it on a plate for… Read more »