Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall is optimistic that his side can turn their form around after exiting the Vitality Women’s FA Cup with a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea in the fifth round yesterday.
The Gunners’ defeat at Kingsmeadow followed an all-too-familiar story. A lack of confidence upfront, combined with the ongoing absences of Vivianne Miedema and Beth Mead, has meant that Arsenal have failed to take their chances, especially against teams that exploit every opportunity that they get.
Speaking in the post-match press conference, Arsenal boss Eidevall was blunt with his assessment of the game.
“I think we created enough in order to win the game, but they are brutally efficient, so hats off to them for that, we are not,” Eidevall said.
Following a difficult transfer window which included a failed record-breaking bid for Manchester United striker Alessia Russo, mentality within the Arsenal team has been called into question with Stina Blackstenius’ current lack of confidence being a prime example.
“I think it’s about creating the environment to put the players into those situations in training so you can make it a habit to not overthink it and to keep on just going,” Eidevall said when speaking about the psychological side of the game. “A lot of times, you think you need to do things differently, just small details. I would be worried if it was players that I’ve never seen score goals, but these are players that I know can score a lot of goals, so then it’s easier to keep the belief.
“If you’re a pessimist, you think it was like this today, so maybe that’s going to carry on and you start thinking negative thoughts. You could choose to say, the next game, we’re going to score five goals because we are that good and we didn’t have the margins on our side today, so next game we’re going to get that and that’s the way you look at life.
“It doesn’t guarantee you success, but it’s the way if you’re a pessimist or if you’re an optimist, I’m an optimist for it.”
Arsenal’s fixture against Chelsea came swiftly off the back of a hefty international window, risking fatigue and jet lag for many players.
Commenting on the players’ condition during the match, Eidevall said “I was happy to watch players that have been doing a lot of travelling and have had a heavy schedule to see how sharp they looked and how well they moved. I was afraid that we would have to be looking at substituting players from the 60th minute because of fatigue and so on, but I didn’t see that a lot, so that was pleasing.”
When asked about how Arsenal failed to contain Sam Kerr and allowed Lauren James far too much space to run, Eidevall said that he saw improvement, but there was more work to be done.
He said “Today, especially the second goal, we can do better, but it’s not the story. I think we can have a lot of self-confidence in the way that we defended.
“Our balance is not great at that moment, it’s definitely one of those things we need to delay and stop rushing in to defend, but those things happen in football. There are things we can definitely learn from both of those today.”
Arsenal are next in action on Sunday afternoon when they face Chelsea once again in the 2022/2023 FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup final at Selhurst Park.