Arsenal Women gave Sp*rs a damn good 4-0 thrashing to conclude their pre-season before they fly out to Moscow for Champions League qualifiers on August 18th and 21st. There was no post-match media with Jonas Eidevall but Arsenal sent us the audio for their interviews with the coach, which we reproduce below.
On how it feels to finally arrive in North London this week after a period of quarantine…
I am delighted and it has been excellent to start working with the players on the pitch myself. Obviously the staff here have been doing incredible work with the players while I have been remote but it’s easier for everyone now that I am on site.
On kicking off his reign with a 4-0 win at Sp*rs…
From a result perspective it is really nice but I made it a bit complicated for the players because it is pre-season so we tried some different positions and tried different formations and with time in pre-season being so limited for us we need to try things before we can practice them too much. You could see in the first half that we were making too many mistakes because the players haven’t had the time to practice yet but it was much better in the second half.
On preparing his team physically as well as tactically today…
Yes, we wanted to see when we were pressing, how intense we could be and when we win the ball further forward, are the runs there to play the ball quickly? We were also looking for the behavioural elements too, so when we lose the ball, what is the reaction? When you see the goal that Anna Patten scores, she is running and taking on the ‘keeper one v one. But before that she is the first player to counter press and get the ball to Alex (Hennesy) who takes the shot and Anna scores from the rebound. That’s what we want to see even more of, players thinking of the next action and the next opportunity.
From defence to attack in seconds…
A beautiful team goal 🤤 pic.twitter.com/nEYvtYvrid
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) August 8, 2021
On other small habits he wanted his players to start picking up today…
You can see it’s a really quality squad, the way the players are comfortable with the ball is really, really good. They are very eager to learn and very intelligent. Even though we don’t have much time, I can see the players picking things up really quickly and it makes me feel really comfortable. Even if time is limited for us, we have brilliant players.
On when the players who went to the Olympics will return to training…
Because of the rules for entry to Russia, we need everyone on site and in the bubble on Monday and then we need to look at it from an individual perspective. We’re not going to just group the Olympics players together, we will assess everyone on an individual basis on how we can load them but they will be back with us this week and we are really looking forward to that.
On getting the chance to work with a fuller squad…
I am very excited about that and I think the players are too, we have a very exciting season ahead of us and we will need all of that quality.
His message to the Arsenal fans…
Your support has been amazing, keep giving us that this season and that can give us the extra 1% we need to achieve what we want to this season.
All positive feedback. Jonas is obviously impressed with the quality of his charges.
He should be and only a week in and we seem to be playing with a fluidity and enthusiasm we have missed for a year or so. Less fannying about on the edge of our own area and more running forwards in possession and high pressing without possession.
Hope to see a lot more of Alex and Freya perhaps in the cup runs?
All positive signs. Good luck for the season, JE!