Arsenal are through to a two legged playoff round to qualify for the Champions League group stages after Frida Maanum’s first half goal gave them a 1-0 victory over Rosenborg on Saturday night. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press post-match, the first two questions are from Arseblog News.
On managing the stress of the last 15 minutes when the second goal wouldn’t arrive…
It was unnecessary we put ourselves into that situation because we need to score more goals during the game. In the second half, we keep the ball too short and we get a little expansive, they counter on us too many times. I don’t think they create any really dangerous situations throughout the whole game but, to your point, when it’s just one goal it’s just one moment that can change the game. That was unnecessary from us, we should have put this game away earlier.
On whether Arsenal focused on attacking down the right hand side…
The way they defend in a 6-3-1, Atletico had a really hard time moving them at all and Atletico’s game was just finding crosses. That makes the game transitional, we tried to come into more central areas to find the final pass. We created better chances. We are very disappointed to only score one on those chances. Us not being good at getting shots on target in the game leads to lots of goal kicks, I don’t know how many they had in the game but it felt like the most common thing that happened. That kills the momentum a little bit. We created a lot of situations we are happy with but our effectiveness on those situations wasn’t good enough today.
On whether he expects the level of the opposition to rise in the next round…
If you see the teams we have now in this mini-tournament and a team like Atletico Madrid, I don’t think there is any team on paper that is clearly another level stronger, they are a top European team. It just shows the level of the competition that they don’t even make it to the final of this mini-tournament. Rosenborg and Rangers are top teams in their respective divisions. We definitely expect tough games in the next round, we are seeded, which is important, a qualifier played over two legs changes the dynamic a little compared to being a single knockout game.
On whether Arsenal should have had a penalty in the second half…
I don’t really have an opinion on that, we are making a mistake if we talk about someone other than ourselves when it comes to not putting this bed earlier. That was well within our control.
On the importance of the win psychologically…
Massively important, we knew this was a really big test, two competitive games that the turnaround time is so short, it’s such a short turnaround time. Now we’re through it, I can say it, it’s lucky an English team will not have to play in these mini tournaments again. For all the excitement that there is, it is a relic from the past. This is just done from a budget perspective, and that’s why they don’t even extend it to be played on Sundays. That’s why they cram it in on Saturdays, to save another hotel night. But all research around the world shows there’s a massive difference between 72 hours and 96 hours recovery after a game. That part I just can’t get my head around. That’s why we had to bring in Olympic players early, that’s why we went to Washington, to get a fast start to the season and be prepped to play in these games here. The reality is, I think Paris went through, but apart from that, if you see the top leagues in Europe, if we say that is the German, Spanish, French and English leagues, both the German team and Spanish team are out. So it shows again what a tricky stage this is, given second or third in a top division go out at this stage. We’re really happy to be on the correct side of it this time.
On whether the difference between this performance and the Rangers performance was just the finishing…
When i look at today I think we created far more chances before the 60th minute than we did on Wednesday. Far more. But on Wednesday we score the second and third goals quickly and that changes the dynamic of the game completely. That was the problem today, we don’t score the second goal and the game doesn’t open. To Tim’s point, the last 15 minutes is a tense game, not because it needs to be, but because you are one moment away and people start to think about the consequences instead of the process. Maybe I play a part in that because my coaching I have to think about whether we go to over time, what subs do we need to have, instead of thinking about how we finish the game off and winning the 90 minutes as you would in a league game. But that is knockout football and you need a plan in case things don’t go to plan. The first 60 minutes it is just the goals.
On the importance of Leah Williamson with those central passes…
It is an important to have our central defenders really high up when you play a low block. You see we are becoming a threat from that zone at the beginning of the first half and they need to start jumping out. A few times we could find the third player and create some really good opportunities. We played the ball a lot into what we call the assist zone (the corner of the penalty area) but we just don’t have the finish.
1.Zinsberger; 2.Fox, 6.Williamson, 5.L.Codina, 11.McCabe; 10.Little(c), 32.Cooney-Cross (13.Walti ‘82); 19.Foord (9.Mead ‘82), 12.Maanum (25.Blackstenius ‘70), 8.Mariona; 23.Russo
Unused: 3.Wubben-Moy, 14.van Domselaar, 16.Kafaji, 22.Kuhl, 26.Wienroither, 40.Williams, 56.Godfrey, 59.Agyemang, 62.Reid.
Pretty concise and to the point comments from Jonas.
Numerous chances but finishing letting us down. Lessi had several good chances but couldn’t convert. When Stina came on, her movement is good but no-one is getting the ball to her quickly enough. But, a win is a win. Let’s complete the last element of qualifying.
Good win. We got through however way we needed to. Put ourselves in a very good position for the next round as a seeded team. Let’s see who we get on Monday. Now to the game itself. Let’s get some positives and negatives. First the positives: 1. 2 games, 2 clean sheets. Really loving how we suffocate transitions from opponents looking to counter. Did it better vs Rangers but was also really good vs Rosenborg. Gave opponents very little. Always great. 2. More competitive minutes for a lot of the team. Getting them sharper and in the zone. Ready to… Read more »
Oh my my Mr Nobody, you sure tell it like it is – which I like. But you are hard to please. Agree the subs should have been earlier, but I thought Little & Fox were brilliant, and Russo & Foord were brilliant versus Rangers, as were Little & Fox then too.
This preseason qualifying mini tournament thing is so awkward that I don’t care if we get through 1-0 or 4-0 as long as we are still alive in the next round. The coaches seem to be aware of the need to work on the final pass/finish against these low blocks so hopefully we’ll see the improvement next time. Looking forward to the draw on Monday and a proper two-legged knockout tie.
With that coat, we should call him Ron Eidevall.
First half was excellent. Total domination with pace to the game. Ok, finishing could have been better and we would have been out of sight by half time. Second half we started well but for some reason around the hour mark instead of continuing to play our game we fell back into the mentality of playing around in our own half at a much slower pace inviting the opposition to come and have a go. The last 15 minutes were nail biting as I could almost visualise an equaliser and then us going out on penalties once again! Just play… Read more »
Not many goals but one goal won the match. Goals aside I enjoyed watching them play some good football. Some new arrivals are clearly settling in nicely.