Arsenal were 2-1 winners over Everton in the WSL on Saturday afternoon thanks to goals from Caitlin Foord and Beth Mead. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press post-match, the first two questions are from Arseblog News.
On whether the last 20 minutes were scrappier than he wanted…
Yes, I said to the players after, I said the first 70 minutes I am really happy with our performance, the only thing that is missing is to have a bigger goal margin. I think if Everton would have scored at the end we would have been really kicking ourselves for the way we played the last 15 minutes. We think way too much about the score line and not enough about the football we want to play and we lose that bravery and that collective understanding of how we want to act in situations. It was a game in two different episodes. One until the 70th minute that we can be really pleased about and then the last 20 minutes which we need to learn from. If we do that too many times we will concede a goal, today luckily we didn’t. That is the best thing, if you can learn without paying the consequence you should always try to take that in life.
On the Lia Walti assist for Beth Mead’s winner and whether it is a move Arsenal have worked on…
You see a lot of things we have tried to do, we try not to end up really wide in crossing situations, so we end up inside in what we call the assist zone more often to take the decisions from there on. Sometimes when they close that zone behind, when you play the ball back, that half space opens up. That is the difference between that goal and a cross. For me, that is a pass that Lia Walti is doing on the diagonal run. We have been working a lot with saying it’s fine to play the ball in the air, that is a part of football sometimes but it is a problem when we start playing the ball on chance instead of with a purpose and we did that better today.
On Arsenal needing to be more clinical…
From the progress side, we created more high quality chances today, which is good compared to creating like 20 small chances. We created 8-10 bigger chances which was pleasing to see. We hit the target quite often, which has been a problem for us that we miss the target. Now we force the goalkeeper to make saves. Of course, we need to convert more but if I see the progression, it is a different kind of chances we create today compared to our last league game against Tottenham. That progression I am happy with.
On Emily Fox’s WSL debut…
Strong performance, really pleased with her onboarding process which is a big credit to a lot of people, from the operations, to the players, to the coaching staff that has helped her to integrate and you can see her building relationships with some key players on the pitch and getting a good understanding of her role. I don’t think she looks like a player who plays her first WSL game today, which is credit to her and to a lot of other people working hard behind the scenes at the club.
On Miedema’s reintegration after injury…
We don’t have permanent starting line ups at Arsenal, we have a lot of competition but anyone that is seeing and following us is seeing a Vivianne Miedema that is progressing, that is getting better and better. That is really pleasing to see, she has a really good game for us today, on and off the ball. The spaces she finds when we play out of their pressure is really good and helps us build some really strong attacks.
On the partnership between Russo and Miedema…
We have a lot of options, that is one, we also have Stina and Frida, we have Kim who can play as a 10. We have Beth Mead and Caitlin Foord who can both play as a 9, so for us its about to find the relationships. You can see we are starting to build some good relationships on the pitch. But we also need that competition because it’s going to bring out the best of us.
1.Zinsberger; 2.Fox, 28.Ilestedt, 3.Wubben-Moy, 15.McCabe(c) (7.Catley ‘82); 21.Pelova, 13.Walti; 9.Mead (24.Lacasse 90+4), 11.Miedema (12.Maanum ‘70), 19.Foord; 23.Russo (25.Blackstenius ‘82).
Unused: 5.Beattie, 14.D’Angelo, 27.Codina, 32.Cooney-Cross, 40.Williams.
Always a relief to get the three points. I still feel that the build-up is often too slow and there are too many misdirected passes. Looking to the future I have high hopes for next season when Leah and Laura will be back, and as KCC integrates more closely (and maybe KK too if she returns from loan). I think we will then have a good chance of progressing far in the Champions’ League. However, that depends on us actually being in the competition! I may well be criticised for lack of ambition, but my main aim this season is… Read more »
Glad we got a W to restart the league season but still so many worrying things. Happy about the fact that we seemed to create better chances against a low block than other games but our profligacy is shocking. Miedema yet to find her scoring boots understandably but Russo being the best finisher Jonas has worked says something given how wasteful she can be. Goal difference is extremely important in this league and this team needs to realise it. Did not like the second half mentality after 70mins at all. We were barely clinging on against a poor Everton team.… Read more »
Agree that seeing Manu frozen so
much lately is worrisome. It’s like she is surprised when the other team shoots.
Seems like her confidence is quite low.
She has a new contract now so she should step up a level. At the very least she has to dive for that shot even if it goes underneath her but to come dashing out and then stop dead makes it easy for the attacker to pass the ball past her into the net. One good thing about her play that I noticed and should be commended is for the final 15 minutes of the game, when we were sitting back and trying to let Everton equalise for the second time, once Manu claimed the ball she was clearing it… Read more »
Not impressed by that performance by the team and certainly not by the manager. Same starting 11 , no subs when needed.
a decent side and we drop points
Still waiting for this manager to convince me he is the one to win things with.
KCC must get match time, also Lacasse, I love Russo she is a star but we need goals, rest her.
I’d have put 3 subs on at 70mins
Jonas is pleased that we are creating better chances but he still hasn’t got to the bottom of why these are not being converted. It’s difficult to see where you can upgrade on players like Viv, Lessi, Stina and Meado but more often than not we’re still not making the keeper make a save. You make 10 to 20 very good chances in a game you need to be scoring 4 or 5 not 2! Mind you maybe we have the answer already and she is on loan at Watford. A single chance against us and 1 goal scored. You… Read more »
100% agreement, there!
Regarding Michelle, she had one chance against Nottingham Forest(?) playing in the Conti Cup last season – and scored. It doesn’t prove that she would do better than our current finishers but it’s a really good quality to have!
We’re now seven points clear of United. Beat them at the Emirates and then it’s ten, pretty well guaranteeing us a UWCL place. (And if Liverpool can get a point later this afternoon, they’ll overtake United for fourth place).