Arsenal earned a resounding final day win over Brighton at Meadow Park. Alessia Russo scored a first-half double before Kim Little missed a penalty. Vivianne Miedema came on as a second half substitute for her final Arsenal appearance and scored with her first touch, before Laia Codina added another. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press post match, all three questions are from Arseblog News.
On Alessia Russo scoring two more goals…
I know we had the conversation two or three months ago in a press conference and we talked about how we worked hard with Lessi on her positioning and staying high and central to get more scoring opportunities in what we call the golden zone and she has managed that really well since the London City Lionesses game onwards and she has had a very good goal scoring record from that game and i am very pleased with that.
The POWER on this strike from @alessiarusso7 💥
Giving @ArsenalWFC the lead in style 😎#BarclaysWSL @ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/92xjLs59Lm
— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) May 18, 2024
On Vivianne Miedema scoring with her first touch on her last appearance…
So well deserved, she has trained so hard and been so focused all week. Most people can’t write their own farewell but maybe you can do that if you are her. I was 100% sure she was going to score today because she has been so focused on this and I think she really wanted that.
WITH HER FIRST TOUCH VIV SCORES! 😱
A signature @VivianneMiedema finish, assisted by @bmeado9 🎯#BarclaysWSL @ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/2UvL0Z8g8B
— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) May 18, 2024
On what he would like to add to the squad over the summer…
What has been apparent this season is that when opponents give us space, then we are very good at exploiting space. But when the space isn’t there and we need to create it, that is where, at times, we have been lacking. From a pace perspective and having players who can exploit space, we are good. We need to be more effective on setpieces and to open games up where there is less space, those are qualities we need to bring into the squad.
14.D’Angelo; 2.Fox (26.Wienroither ‘67), 6.Williamson, 7.Catley (27.Codina ‘60), 15.McCabe; 21.Pelova, 32.Cooney-Cross (12.Maanum ‘60); 9.Mead, 10.Little(c), 19.Foord (59.Agyemang ‘85); 23.Russo (11.Miedema ‘60).
Unused: 1.Zinsberger, 29.Goldie, 40.Williams, 62.Reid.
Hilarious to talk about breaking down space better and letting go of one of the most capable players in the world at doing that. Anybody we are bringing in should be an addition to her and not a replacement. Cos again tell me, how many players in the world of women’s football is more technically adept than a full fit Miedema at finding space? The absolute least thing to do was give her a 1yr extension, get in our signings and see how we perform. If she fails after getting fully fit, then fair enough. Now it feels like all… Read more »
Viv’s goal already spoke of her IQ and calibre in the game, just weird enough to not able to fit into a team that plays sideways and backwards.
Please have faith in JE, as usual, he will insist the busy schedules, new signings yet to gel into the team, external factors blah blah🙂
100% spot on. The clubs attitude to Viv is inexplicable and a mistake.
Absolutely agree 100% with Mr Nobody, the only person on the site who says exactly what he feels without an ounce of diplomacy.
I would much prefer Jonas to go. He has been pathetic considering the squad he has. Now getting rid of the greatest goalscorer in the wsl for nothing. How can the powers that be agree to that. At best sack the coach and the worst from a business prospective get a fee for Viv. She will go to Man City and be phenomenal.
No mention of the crowd asking for Jonas to go and for Viv to be offered a new contract. This stinks of a big mistake.
Giving Jonas a new contract was a big mistake. But letting him push Viv out is an even bigger one.
Completely agree with Mr. Nobody’s comment and believe Jonas will be on his way out this time next year.
We asked three questions about Miedema yesterday. It didn’t feel worthwhile repeating them. Nobody else asked a question
Thanks for asking the questions, I have always appreciated your work.
I just feel confused why no other journalists ask him why Viv is going?
Personally I feel with the club not giving any indication in why she was not given a contract extension is not good for the club’s reputation. If people where given a reason then they can move on but at the moment we are very confused which is not a good place to be with the clubs big ambitions for filling out the emeriates.
Exactly. It’s a huge decision and we deserve to know why it was taken.
I think one of the learnings Arsenal need to take from this is to make others in the club, like Claire and Edu, more visible and demystify their roles for supporters. I know ‘this was a club decision’ sounds like a line but it is the truth of it from my understanding but only Eidevall is taking the bullets (and that’s still a big part of the manager’s job, obviously). But in the men’s team we talk a lot about ‘Arteta and Edu’ because we have a real sense of Edu’s role and when fans were dubious, they did some… Read more »
Thanks Tim for getting back to us. Yes maybe Clair and Edu can become more visible.
I hope the club learn from this, as so many people have been left confused and are speculating for the reason why.
I wasn’t directing my remark to you, Tim – thanks for asking questions about why Miedema has been let go – it’s that I was disappointed with the *answers*. It’s a good point about explaining roles and areas of responsibility because that is unclear. However the issue for me is the lack of transparency about the reason for the decision. They’re treating us like children.
We need players who can score and who are a game changer Jonas yet you are letting one of the best players in the world leave. And if she goes abroad Beth might follow her.
Huge mistake!
that’s why Emma complaint about couples in teams, but if Beth is following her is a very respectable decision, and clubs don’t have to be conditioned to keep the couples on contract, actually Viv came in a pack from Bayern.
Emma Hayes was wrong. She’s taken her comments back and rightly so. Most people meet their partner at work, why should it be different for footballers? Many of these relationships aren’t that serious anyway, and personal factors of all kinds come into players’ decisions. They are not necessarily the be-all and end-all – Zinsberger’s wife and child are in another country, for example.
of course, she is wrong. I’m just remarking clubs like any other company by law need to deal with workers as individuals.
Okay. Sorry if I misunderstood.
Just bizarre comments post game about being better offensively. I don’t believe this unified decision behind letting Viv go, if the manager wanted to keep her then the club would have looked to do that. I had initially thought that Viv’s team were going for a new challenge therefore a contract offer would have pointless but not so it seems. What I find bizarre is that the biggest reason given by most is that the club are letting her go is that she doesn’t fit with Jonas’s style. If your style isn’t good enough or adept enough to find a… Read more »
100% yes. This is what I’ve been saying on youtube and theathletic all week. If you don’t know how to fit Viv into your team, it’s a failure in management. Would we have had so many shots and so few goals this season if Viv had been back from injury and playing?
ManCity didn’t offer a contract extension to Rose Lavelle with the same argument.
I don’t believe just Jonas took this decision, obviously this was discussed with the club directors and the player, is not a unilateral decision otherwise they would give her a contract and sell her in winter window for a huge profit. we don’t know the whole movie. Emma hayes let Bethany England, Pernille and Magda go, happens in all football clubs all the time, we never know the real facts. I trust my Club
Really relaxed but professional performance with 5 excellent goals. Everyone in the team deserves huge credit, including the subs. We looked the way we should always look when we face teams who we are much better than – smooth, controlled and focused. Miedema at what – 60% of maximum? – looked effortlessly good. All the qualities we have come to expect from her were on display. She worked hard, was always in the right place, made good decisions from the first minute. And moved seamlessly to the left when Agyemang came on. Her class was self-evident. I have turned this… Read more »
Spot on.
I don’t believe she’s crocked, I think she’s had a big fallout with Eidevall and the club seems to think the sun shines out of him at the moment. Viv is straight talking and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Eidevall isn’t that good, I’d rather he’s gone and Viv stays.
I’ve seen that on Reddit. Could be.
I’m sure they had disagreements but that cannot be a reason not to offer a player of Viv’s standing a new contract. Elite athletes have big personalities and strong character. Arsenal need the very best players and management ability to get them ticking. I often think how Iwabuchi/Nobbs and now Miedema situation of not being part of the “preferred style” would have been handled by Emma Hayes or other managers.
On Three Players and a Podcast, Jen Beattie said that VM contributes and challenges in tactics meetings on a level none of the other players are at. JE says he accepts and encourages ideas from everyone – round table approach – but perhaps he has found it harder to do this in practice.
That’s interesting.
I like Codina celebrating her goal with a “Siuuu”, impossible to do that in her previous club.
What does “Siuuu” mean?
Cristiano Ronaldo jump and shout classic goal celebration.
“Yesss” CR7 jump celebration jump and shout in Portuguese
Oh, of course! 🤦🏿😄 Silly me.
D’Angelo made an indefensible save, and the super substitute came on in the second half and scored a goal and even provided an assist, wow!!!
Hi, I feel that the club is backing the manager and not the player(s). I’m wondering if this is the right move by the club as this coach has been called out by two other managers on television, Gareth Taylor said, “it’s always the same with him, it’s bullying”. Emma Hayes said it’s “male aggression”, I don’t agree with her pushing him but she has observed something that does not belong in the game. We all saw him square up to Martha Thomas, and Mark Skinner stepped in If it was a viv/jonas falling out. Viv knows her value, and… Read more »
I haven’t seen him be any worse than any other manager in the women’s game.
We need to be careful with the conclusions we draw here, but I agree we should be prepared to question and challenge our own. The Martha Thomas incident sits badly with me as well. In mitigation Thomas’ challenge on Beth was horrible, and more than one manager has spoken of lack of faith in referees managing those incidents effectively (DvD’s response by pushing the ref after a different horrible challenge on Beth, by Abbey Leigh Stringer possibly falls into this category as well). However Jonas handled that poorly, albeit under provocation. Taylor’s comments felt like sour grapes, it is the… Read more »
Sounds like a sensible analysis to me.
Only Viv can clarify and clear the fans’ doubts
He’s proved he cannot evolve or grow a talented squad to achieve their potential.
Even with the departure of the obtuse manager of Chelsea, with this manager we’ll finish behind them and man city next season.
With the Honey monster now leaving Chelsea , I expect the league title next season .
Sonia Bompastor is coming, it will be difficult
Just think if we had a Bunny Shaw or Ramirez out of the 1000 chances we make we would have 999 goals!
The other thing that no one is mentioning is that Viv may have made it clear that there was no point in offering a contract as she would not sign it anyway. She was talked into extending last time and we do not know what her conditions were in signing that extension. It may have been that she needed some signs that we are challengers on all fronts but pitiful CL and FA cup exits, average WSL performance but retaining the league cup were not enough for a world class player to want to stay and waste another season or… Read more »