Despite an injury crisis last season, Arsenal Women advanced to the UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-finals, won the Continental Cup, and finished third in the WSL, ahead of a strong side like Manchester City.
This season, with a number of key players returning from injuries and excellent summer signings like Kyra Cooney-Cross, Cloe Lacasse, Alessia Russo, Amanda Ilestedt, and Laia Codina, many believed Arsenal would regain their competitive edge.
Unfortunately, this has not been the case. Our Gunners haven’t shown much competitiveness; they failed to qualify for the Champions League group stages after being knocked out in round 1, lost to Manchester City in the FA Cup, and suffered their fourth loss of the season last week against Chelsea, a setback that has all but put them out of the running to win the league this season. Their only chance for success is to win the Continental Cup on March 31st, a cup win that won’t be very noteworthy given that, as ‘poor’ as they were last season, they won it.
Why this Arsenal team has performed below expectations is a question worth asking. Fortunately, the Arsenal manager, Jonas Eidevall, has conceded that this season has been disappointing. The Swede has hinted that as they look to make next season a success, he is already looking into why they have been inconsistent, saying:
“Our season so far has been very inconsistent… I am not waiting until the end of the season to try and find the reasons why we have been inconsistent; that is an ongoing process.
“But what we haven’t been able to show is that we are a team doing that consistently and are able to perform at that standard consistently – and that’s disappointing. That’s really where I hope we could get with this team.”
Is Jonas Eidevall’s lack of consistency directly impacting the Arsenal Women team? Sorry to say this, but I believe this inconsistency stems from Eidevall’s lack of knowledge about his best 11—he lacks a default line-up; if he had been brave and consistent in his decision, our Gunners would have been more consistent surely. But those are just my ideas; what about yours? What do you think has made this strong Arsenal Women team fail to thrive this season?
COYGW!
Susan N
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You buy a European league’s top striker & you bench her. Plays her out of position , seems worried benching the establishment.
Sorry not for me
With too many top players, Jonas Eidwall doesn’t know where to place the players. He is relaying on one striker whereas Arsenal had many strikers that could potentially dent the opponent but he didn’t used it to their advantage and instead put the ones who can score goals on the bench. Like the proverb says “Too many cooks spoil the broth” Too many top players but Jonas Eidwall doesn’t how to make them work out.
We have great players in this team but unfortunately this manager is not strong enough or indeed up to it.
Have to agree. The team are inconsistent and rarely beat their main rivals home or away. I think the club need a rethink on the manager and it seems maybe a former Arsenal player might prove better.
Management have to realise that the manager needs changing