Arsenal were 6-0 winners over Glasgow Rangers in their first UWCL qualifier at Meadow Park thanks to four goals from Caitlin Foord, a goal from Lessi Russo and a Kim Little penalty. They will now play Rosenborg on Saturday evening for the right to play in the playoff round. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press post-match. The first two questions are from Arseblog News.
On managing the stress of the game at 1-0…
You can choose if you are going to worry about an outcome or if you’re going to focus on the process. For me, all we spoke about at half-time was how we are going to score the second and third goal. If there is only one goal in football it is only a moment away and we had a real reminder of that earlier today (with Atleti losing to Rosenborg). We just focus on the process.
On Mariona taking some play making burden from Foord and allowing her to be more of a finisher…
Mariona is such a fluid player, she is a connecting player and she opens up defences. Caitlin Foord is a great player to come inside on these diagonal passes and timing runs and attacking the back post. We have seen her score numerous goals like that before but maybe today we had more service in those areas than before. It is great to see a player like Foord who works so extremely hard all the time get a reward for that. It is a team effort but of course, it is individual brilliance from her.
On the team enjoying how they play…
It is part of it, enjoyment is a feeling, when you see us play today, I very much enjoy that because I see a connected team that wants to create together, that wants to work really hard and defend together as well. Fuelling all that passion into collective actions as a team. I hope what me and Leah were speaking about yesterday that you guys can see and feel that on the pitch today. It is an enjoyable team to watch and it is even more enjoyable to work with and we started the competitive season in a really strong way.
On planning for Rosenborg on Saturday…
Enjoyment is an important part of football but Saturday is not going to be easy, it is a mini tournament final and it is a knockout game. It is the next game to progress that we were not able to win last season. Now we put ourselves in a strong position but so have Rosenborg, now both teams need to prepare their best and we will play here on Saturday night to see who is the best team to go through.
On avoiding complacency on Saturday…
That is always my message so I am very boring with that. There is always the next game, the next action, there always needs to be very high demands on everything you do. I have faults, like anyone else, complacency is not one of them.
On the partnerships developing in the team…
What you can see is a great start but we spoke about that yesterday too, to reframe this great pre-season people were on cloud 9 speaking about. But we only had the team for two weeks. The back line playing together tonight played zero minutes together in pre-season. We are building relationships but when you see Codi and Leah playing together today, they form a great relationship. They transform what they have done in training into the game but, as with any team, we need to build relationships and my belief is they will get stronger and stronger the more we invest in them. That is where time is a good factor for us.
On Mariona settling into the team…
She does her role very well, we know Mariona is a player who is hard to defend because if she can only do the play making bit, you could see what is coming but you see that she can go out wide and get really good early crosses in, she had really good one v one situations out wide. That flexibility makes her a difficult player to defend. We experienced that first hand when we played Barcelona in the Champions League. It feels like you are playing against a 12th player because she keeps popping up in spaces and overloading areas for you, it was nice to have that for us today. She is a really good football player and very intelligent too.
1.Zinsberger; 2.Fox (26.Wienroither ‘79), 6.Williamson, 5.L.Codina, 11.McCabe; 10.Little(c), 32.Cooney-Cross (13.Walti ‘79); 19.Foord, 12.Maanum (16.Kafaji ‘70), 8.Mariona (22.Kuhl ‘87); 23.Russo (25.Blackstenius ‘70).
Unused: 3.Wubben-Moy, 14.van Domselaar, 40.Williams, 53.Lia, 56.Godfrey, 59.Agyemang, 62.Reid.
Great Wins Ladies!! more of this through out the season please.
I know someone is losing their mind that Foord scored 4 goals.
Job done, onto Saturday now. Dominant first half but didn’t get going in the final third, lots of give and goes,1-2’s on the wings which did get us into promising positions, promising signs of how we tackle the dreaded low press this season. I was worried about Russo not being fed well enough to be more dangerous in the box for the first 45, the radar needs adjusting for her. She is our main threat and we need to find her more accurately and regularly. Second half the dominance told and the goals flooded in, good for Four’d to get… Read more »
The first 15 minutes were reminiscent of some of our huffing and puffing to no avail performances from last season, but the pace, the fluidity and the intensity were there. That was the difference, IMO. And as you say, the floodgates opened in the second half because Rangers tired and just couldn’t live with us.
Regarding Russo, Emma Byrne (commentating) said that she needed to release the ball more quickly when she received it under pressure. What do you think? Relevant? I thought it was quite an astute remark because Russo will be a marked woman (literally!) this season.
I wonder if she’s always hoping to spin her defender if they get too tight, so holds onto it for longer to invite the pressure?
Agree with others that we didn’t target her enough, but her movement across the front line is effective at engaging defenders and pulling them out of position for others to exploit. So it isn’t wasted. Glad to see she’s not pressing on her own anymore too, very frustrating to see her charging around on her own with no support from others.
I noticed that the rangers were already tired, some even walking and giving up on some plays, this style of play benefited Arsenal W a lot.
Is Beth Mead injured?
Was slightly, but expected to start on Saturday.
Agree with all that. Well done, JE. The hothouse preseason was a gamble, but he had to take it and it seems to be paying off handsomely, and crucially, at the right time.
A lot seems to have clicked. We have a look about us now, as if we are starting on the Arsenal WFC Revenge Tour. I only hope it’s as awesome as the Beth Mead one!
and one more observation, 81% ball possession and XG 3.25 I don’t know if I’m right, I hope someone confirms, the game with Rosenborg should be more careful and cautious, Atlético didn’t defeat them due to the lack of finishing from their attackers, unfortunately. But Arsenal’s quality is far above, so let’s see what tactic JE will use, from what I’ve noticed, Arsenal is showing a very different style of play, which there’s no way of knowing.
First half rangers defended really well, you can why they haven’t conceded in the league, but you just knew once we scored a second we were going to score a few more
Brilliant win! Just what we needed to start the season. Unto Saturday now and ensuring we don’t make the same mistake as last season. Rosenborg will be tough but beatable. We are at Meadow Park. Some very good individual performances as well with Foord being the outstanding one. Credit where it’s due. I didn’t form my opinion about her from one game and one game won’t change it either but when a player scores 4, it’s not the time for negatives. Thought Codina was brilliant with her defending and mopping up loose balls. Still think her passing when under pressure… Read more »