Arsenal Women were 2-1 winners over Washington Spirit in their first pre-season friendly at Audi Field in DC thanks to a brace from Alessia Russo. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press post-match, we attended virtually and weren’t permitted to ask questions but we did listen in and transcribe.
On his impressions of the game…
We wanted to start the pre-season in a really quick way, to get the answers we need to get to see what the reality looks like for us, both on the individual and the team level. This game was a great exercise for that against a really good Washington Spirit team. It pushed us to get a quick start to pre-season, we could see some really good qualities we have as a team. I think we can see really exciting prospects who get an opportunity. I think you can really see we are needing to build on fitness and decision making, which is totally natural. It gives us this foundation to go to the next level.
On his impressions of the academy players that played today…
It all comes down to what we have been doing here for the last three years, trying to involve our academy more and more in pre-seasons, more and more in weeks where we have the ability to let them practice with the first team. When you see a player like Katie Reid playing 90 minutes today, that doesn’t come overnight and training one week with the first team. She has been involved on and off for the last two years. The levels of her performance comes from that co-operation and that was really nice to see.
🔴⚪ GOONERS IN THE LEAD
Alessia Russo, the @uncwomenssoccer alumna, reacts the quickest inside the box and @ArsenalWFC lead 1️⃣-0️⃣ in Washington!
Watch live for free on DAZN ▶️ https://t.co/kAepM7R0do#DAZNxSpirit pic.twitter.com/TLx43S5mjD
— DAZN Women's Football (@DAZNWFootball) August 18, 2024
On the debt owed to players from the past that mean Arsenal Women can now tour America…
We stand on the shoulders of giants, we stand on the shoulders of a generation of players that were able to manage double jobs, who were able to represent the club in the best way possible and having success and they were invested in both from the ownership and from the supporters. Everything we can do today, it is because of what they did before and we are so grateful for our history and for what they did.
On playing in the US this summer…
Grateful that we are able to be a part of writing history and when history is progressing in a positive way. That we are able to come over here on a tour of USA and play competitive matches we can do that in front of really enthusiastic supporters and showcase our football to people that might not be able to come and watch us live in the UK and connecting the Arsenal family from Europe into North America. I feel very, very happy about that.
On how Eidevall feels after the game…
I feel tired from the heat! It was tough and even more so for the players! Nothing changes in pre-season if we win or lose this game, now we have a really important week building for our game against Chelsea here at Audi Field. Hopefully we can get as many Arsenal supporters there as possible. Of course we are welcoming back our three Olympic players who went further in the tournament, Laia Codina, Mariona Caldentey and Emily Fox and together with the Australian players who we can integrate more and more. I am really excited about the possibility of the team we can field against Chelsea next week.
On what Arsenal learned today and the difference in playing style in the US compared to the UK…
Not that much difference in playing style. If you looked at NWSL three to four seasons ago I think there was a major difference between the playing styles. But now you see a coach like Jonatan (Giraldez) coming here to Washington Spirit and what he is trying to do from a game model and tactical foundation, it is very similar to what the top teams in Europe do. If you watch the growth of the NWSL that influx of really good foreign players but also really good foreign coaches, I think that makes for a league that sometimes speak a bit lazily about. It is not true that every team plays the same style, Washington play their style, Bay FC play their style, the variety is really nice to see in NWSL. On what we learn, Washington Spirit is a great counterattacking team, they have so much pace they have so much fluidity in the way they go from defence to offence. You could see when we turned over the ball in wrong moments we got punished. They are a great crossing team and they create very difficult situations for you when you defend in your low block, so that is great for us to experience and work against. Then you see they are able to change tactics during the game, they changed their pressing game which posed us to having different problems to solve during the game. That is the sign of a really good, mature team that is working in the right way. We learned a lot today and Washington Spirit played a great game.
On the appointment of Mel Phillips (now Mel Clarke-Reid) to the coaching staff…
She changed name, she is Melissa Clarke-Reid now, she got married this summer. She is our new Head of Analysis. I am so happy about getting her to join the team, with her coaching experience and her analyst experience I think she is really going to get our programme to the next level. I am really happy to have her on board.
🤩 It's Russo again, as @ArsenalWFC retake the lead !
Watch live for free on DAZN ▶️ https://t.co/kAepM7R0do#DAZNxSpirit pic.twitter.com/A9Bi5PHl7c
— DAZN Women's Football (@DAZNWFootball) August 18, 2024
On the qualities Clarke-Reid brings to the role…
I have had the privilege of following her work when she was at London City, then Angel City and then Brighton, i think she combines the coaching background with analytical background. She has some really strong points in her leadership and how she can lead a department. That is not only going to make her contribution to our product better, but she will also develop and improve our processes around analysis and how that fits into our technical team. If I would take two qualities that really make her stand out, it would be her leadership skills and her football knowledge.
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Arseblog News will be in DC next week for the Chelsea game, we should have some good, exclusive content from the tour during next week. I will also write a daily tour diary on Arseblog News from Tuesday.
Good tactical rest today. Different in each half, as well. Spirit were unlucky not to draw, but from an attacking point of view, we looked good – as long as we kept our passing and movement snappy.
*tactical test
😂
On the whole a good performance but we still need to move away from getting ourselves penned into our own penalty area and the adjacent corners. Sure at 2-1 up retain possession to see out the game but don’t pass it back from the final third to our goalie otherwise we are just moving the ball forward for the opposition and giving them a chance to steal it in a dangerous area.
Exactly my feelings. Too much playing it across our box in the last 10 minutes
Yes. And in those situations we also need to stop passing out to a midfielder who is double marked when there is a free player either side of her. Even if she keeps the ball, it’s coming straight back to the keeper or central defender and we haven’t progressed.
You and I ought to run a few training sessions! Plainly obvious to us what not to do 🙂
😄
He’s getting a little chubby 😂
Absolutely positive performance. Good win, preseason or not. What I liked the most was that we didn’t let them bully us. We matched them physically despite it being our first game of the season. Some top performances out there. Russo looked sharp, Little was Little, and Kafaji looks like an absolute baller. But please reserve serious praise for Katie Reid. She’s impressed me every time and yesterday was no different. On the flip side, still waiting for the shoe to drop with Kuhl. Will she ever mature to become physically stronger on the ball to aid retention? We’ll see. Also… Read more »
Agree with nearly all of that. I’ve seen Reid play a few times over the last couple of years, mostly with England youth teams, and that was her best game. Kühl needs will go on loan, but I hope she goes somewhere where she has to fight to get into the side – sink or swim. She has built up her confidence at Everton, and has developed well, but I feel like she’s got even better at what she was already good at, rather than improving some of her weak points. She lacks a little maturity and judgement in defensive… Read more »
I agree with every word of Mr Nobody’s “earthy” analysis.
Always thought that Kuhl is a special talent – of course she lacks physicality but she has the skills. And don’t forget it was the first game, played in stifling heat. I do partially agree with your comments on KK, Fun Gunner, but I hope she stays with Arsenal for 2024/25 – she’s brave & I’m hopeful.
One interesting thing about Katie Reid was that in the first half she played as the left CB with Leah on her right, then in the second she was on the right with Lotte on the left. Similarly, Vivienne Lia switched from right to left at half time. Good moves by Jonas to widen young players’ experience.
Yes – a lot was asked of KR by Jonas and she delivered. Lia looked more comfortable on the left, but has to become less timid.
I’ve just got to watch the rerun of the whole match. I needed to readjust to the. American commentators who often couldn’t identify the Arsenal players and struggled with the pronunciation of Wienroither (and “a foul on X” means a foul committed by X!) I agree with general view here that were some very encouraging points, and some old frustrations. I think Lessi’s first goal deserves more praise – very quick reaction and great skill to hit it with the outside if the right boot while maintaining a difficult balance. We were open to attacks by a very fast winger,… Read more »
The complete match is available on the Arsenal website with commentators who know who the players are.
Thank you. I’ll look for that link when we play Chelsea at the weekend. (They got a good result against Gotham City, but we’ll have our full squad. It’ll be fascinating.) To give some praise to DAZN, I thought their co-commentator, Jordan Angeli, made some very good points.
Unfortunately, Wienroither got smoked several times.