Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall is challenging his side to be better when in possession of the ball when they take on European champions FC Barcelona at The Emirates Stadium on Thursday evening.
The Gunners go into the match on the back of a 3-0 defeat against London rivals Chelsea in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley on Sunday. Arsenal had 64% of the ball in that game but made very little impact with that possession.
When speaking in his pre-match press conference, Eidevall said that his side must look to be better in possession against latest opponents Barcelona which will in-turn reduce their defensive workload.
“We need to defend better and we need to defend less,” Eidevall said when speaking in his pre-match press conference. “To defend less, we need to have the ball more.
“That being said, even if we had possession against Chelsea, we didn’t have any dangerous possession against them and that is the thing that we need to change because we didn’t create anything from our possession and they created from our mistakes.”
Arsenal went down 4-1 to Barcelona in the reverse fixture in October, a scoreline for which Eidevall took some personal responsibility. He believes that lessons were learnt from that game which should help his side set themselves out better back in North London.
The Arsenal boss said “You can’t learn without experiencing it, that’s the same in any battle that you go into. You start with an assessment of your own strengths compared to your opponent’s and if you get that wrong, you will obviously get the game plan wrong. As a coach, it is your job to estimate that correctly and to build on the game plan around that.
“Against Barcelona last time, I overestimated them or underestimated them. Either way, that made the game plan wrong but you can never know that, it is not exact science. I have experienced it so now it is easier because you get to know your own team and the opposing team better. For me, the only way is to experience that and I hope that it helps a lot this time when preparing for the game.”
The UEFA Women’s Champions League group fixture between Arsenal and Barcelona at The Emirates Stadium kicks-off at 7pm on Thursday evening. Tickets are now on general sale and can be purchased by clicking here. Fans who are unable to attend the match can stream the action live on DAZN.