Arsenal defeated Leicester 1-0 in the WSL at the King Power on Sunday afternoon thanks to a second half Frida Maanum goal. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press post-match, the first three questions are from Arseblog News.
On a tired looking performance off the back of a tough schedule…
Yeah, I think we managed our expectations well. We knew it was going to be a tough game against a team that had a lot of time to prepare for this game and we had a very short time. We used our squad well in these games and today, we take a step back and compare to other seasons, these are one of the days where you just need to take the three points without playing brilliant football all the time, finding ways to win, being solid enough and have quality on setpieces. We had individual quality too, sometimes you need the quality to score a goal in tough circumstances and today we saw other aspects of that. We had a goalkeeper that saved us and made a really big differences with good saves, that is a skill also. That was really nice to see because it got us to the right end of the three point balance.
On moving Lia Walti to the right of the central midfield partnership…
Mostly defensive in that part. It is a little bit about finding out about that relationship when we play Wally and Kyra together and finding out about them in the best way. It is not a duo we have played together so much for various reasons. That is also exciting at this point of the season, we are trying things and want to see how different relationships work and we have a lot of answers and we know a lot about how the squad works but some things are still untested and untried and we need to do that in these games and learn quickly.
On Katie McCabe coming off and Foord playing at left-back…
I thought Katie looked tired, understandably so. She has been playing so many minutes, she has been instrumental to our start of the season but I thought she looked very tired and we needed to manage that position with as fresh legs as possible and we know Foordy played full-back back in the day and she showed today that she hasn’t completely forgotten how to play that position!
On Daphne van Domselaar’s debut…
That is exactly what we want, a luxury problem for me to have selection issues because I have two really good players in that position. I am delighted to have that.
On not slipping up against the smaller teams this season…
If you want to win the league you need to be dominant and win games through that but when you are in the Champions League and play tight games and you go to away games, we need to have a mentality to find ways to win and understanding how to keep clean sheets is a really important part of doing that. I am really pleased with how we got the three points today.
On Laura Wienroither dropping out of the line-up before kickoff…
Yeah (it was an injury), that is why we changed but I don’t have an update on that.
On whether Thursday took a lot out of the team…
Of course, it was a big night and a big performance. The situation we were in we had to put all of our focus on getting the job done on Thursday night, then it is a really quick turnaround to come here on Sunday but we managed to do it.
On coping with UWCL football in the schedule during the winter…
We will get more of a challenge with that than other teams in England when it comes to scheduling. I am used to that being here for a fourth season now, we never get a preferred schedule from the league so we just have to do the best with the situation.
14.van Domselaar; 2.Fox, 3.Wubben-Moy, 5.L.Codina, 11.McCabe(c) (16.Kafaji ‘71); 32.Cooney-Cross (10.Little ‘57), 13.Walti; 9.Mead (8.Mariona ‘57), 12.Maanum (25.Blackstenius ‘57), 19.Foord (62.Reid 90+6); 23.Russo
Unused: 1.Zinsberger, 22.Kuhl, 56.Godfrey.
Not really sure what to say about that performance, Leicester have upped their game/are better, European hangover or just a few too many personnel changes by Eidevall that threw off the rhythm. Whichever it was and it may have been all 3 and more it was tough to watch. Some positives were DVD in goal who ensured the 3 points were heading home with the team coach and Russo who looked sharp with her link up play and was switched on to create the goal. Fox was really combative at the back considering her short notice to play. Walti and… Read more »
Completely agree with all your comments. Especially regarding Foord at LB – I’m never a fan of wingers dropping back, regardless of whether or not they’ve played there in the past (very distant past now for her to). I would much prefer a CB gets moved to LB (Codina ideally), with Reid coming on to partner Lotte. At least then they have the tactical awareness to cover the space behind them more. Obviously you lose a lot offensively but it’s about minimising their chances and aiming for conservative game management in that situation. Lacasse at wingback last season was equally… Read more »
I’ve been trying to think what to say about this game, but I don’t need to as you’ve analysed it perfectly!
I was going to ask about Laura, it was close that Liecester didn’t get a draw or worse, Catlin Foord was in trouble at times, their new coach is very good and he worked hard against the big teams in France, I have no doubt that they will harm some giants along the way, the important thing at the moment is the 3 points we got away from home, it seems the games are more competitive, and not losing is the objective, the championship is just beginning, I think Arsenal could have kept the same team against Liecester, considering that… Read more »
I am amazed at Blu-ray. It’s like her time at Aston Villa and her hip injury never happened, and we have signed the young sensation from the Euros.
Blu-ray 😂😂😂
That’s her nickname on Arsenal WFC Reddit!
The players in general in general mostly looked tired after the Hacken performance, whilst Leicester defended pretty well although they were rather physical.
I thought Alessia Russo was outstanding in the first half & her assist for the goal was sublime. Daphne in goal looked assured and a “step up” for us.
Codina in defence looks more and more like the new Rafa, whilst Katie Reid should have been given a game today alongside her.
Not an exciting view though – even the YouTube commentator sounded bored!
This is what he said about the keeper-
. We had a goalkeeper that saved us and made the difference with some really good saves. That was really nice to see because that got us to the right end of the three point balance.”
Good god
“Got us to the right end of the 3 point balance “
Word salad ! Just say the win!
I hate to think how he communicates to the players.
This is why they are not as good as they should be
He paused a bit before he said that, I think what he was reaching for was that it made the margins go Arsenal’s way. I have always found Eidevall’s communication post-match to be pretty spot on in terms of tone and calmness. I am going to start uploading the audio and attaching them to the pods because I don’t think that comes across as well in print and think we have to be mindful he is speaking in a second language too.
One more observation, I just think that these corners that are taken by Arsenal, they have to be more creative (hit directly or in a more closed way or change the position of some key players) they are always taken in the same way, they will never score a goal if they continue like this.
Yes corners and other set pieces are a good tool against low blocks as the men’s team has demonstrated. I hope they improve this season.
Nasty, nasty game. But hey, we wanted the league to improve and be more competitive and we’ve gotten it. Chelsea struggled massively at home vs Villa and City struggled massively at home vs Brighton. These other teams are becoming better and better. It was just important to get the win which we do so a bit of perspective is nice. With that said, I still think Jonas Eidevall has set us up to play vs the big teams so we tend to struggle even extra vs the smaller ones, especially away from home. When initiative to break down a team… Read more »
Absolutely spot on about the league becoming more competitive, I just hope the second division doesn’t get left behind.
Watching at home, this season – like last – corners are a good time to go to the loo or get a drink, because I know nothing is going to happen for us. It’s so frustrating. We were more successful with corners in the season before we started with the set piece coach role. And I wish wed stop diddling around with the short corners that get us nowhere.
I was there, it was not a great performance. If not for 2 great saves from our new keeper it could have been a 2.1 loss. Im still concerned at our lack of finishing, but yes Wally was one of our best performers