Bayern Munich humiliated Arsenal Women on Wednesday night in their first Champions League group stage match of 2023-24 at the FC Bayern Campus.
The Gunner women’s performances have been a source of concern. Despite winning against Leicester and drawing against Everton, some thought the Gunners struggled to express themselves and were not at their best. Some said there was no fire, drive, or hunger in their performances; they had easily lost their competitive edge. That said, the expectation was that starting with the match against Bayern, they would be able to turn a corner and show more desire (at least reclaim their competitive edge).
Well, the North Londoners took the game to the German side; they started brightly and could have easily won the game in the first half, but a lack of clinical play saw them waste chances and settle for a 1-1 draw at halftime; Mariona Caldentey broke the deadlock, while Viggossottir Glodis equalised for the hosts.
The tables flipped in the second half, with Bayern coming back eager and going hard on Arsenal; Lohmann Sydney gave them the lead before Lia Codina equalised. After that, it was all Bayern, with the supercharged Pernile Harder scoring a hat-trick in a 5-2 win over Arsenal.
Following that game, some questioned Arsenal women’s manager Jonas Eidevall’s tactics. Some questioned whether he truly adjusted things following the two poor performances prior to the Bayern encounter.
Well, the Swedish tactician seems to stress that his tactics may not be an issue, and that he believes he is communicating them effectively.
“I don’t feel like there’s a misunderstanding of the message,” said Eidevall in an interview with Tim Stillman via Arseblog. “We are off with our timing with pressing in the second half. I think the players are trying their very best to do it but we don’t get our timing right in pressure and that’s the difference between the first and second half. I don’t feel like there is a misunderstanding of the message of what we need to do. I agree with you, we don’t defend well enough in the second half and I am not happy with that but I don’t think that is a result of miscommunication or a lack of clarity of the idea of what we need to do with those situations.”
These claims raise questions about Jonas Eidevall and his dressing room; has he lost it? Are the players not implementing his instructions, and why does he throw them under the bus? Is it a clear indicator that it is time for Arsenal women to reevaluate and make changes to their technical bench?
For two seasons now, we have always highlighted what a fantastic roster this Arsenal women’s team has, and all it takes is the right technical bench to get the most out of it, but after each match day nothing seems to have changed.
Could it possibly improve against Chelsea this weekend?
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PPL MAY ASK WHAT PLANET I LIVE ON, BUT YES, SURE, YES IT CAN IMPROVE AGAINST CHELSEA, IT WILL, IT MUST…..LOOK HERE, EXPECTATIONS ARE SUDDENLY LOW, BUT THE TEAM, AS INDIVIDUALS IS NO LESS TALENTED THAN IN THE PAST, I MAY WELL BE THE LAST JONAS FAN, BUT I RECKON HE S GOING TO BE STUNG BY CRITICISM, AND HE S NOT EVEN THE ONE OUT THEIR PLAYING, IF HE S LOST THE DRESSING ROOM, IT S THE DRESSING ROOM THAT S LOST TOO, THEY MUST BE STUNG TOO…BUT GO THROUGH, THEY RE ALL TOP PLAYERS THAT DIDN T PERFORM ON THE FIELD IN THE SECOND HALF AGAINST AN EXCELLENT BAYERN TEAM…BAYERN THUMPED US VERY HARD…OUR PLAYERS, IF THEY HAVE AN STEEL IN THEM AT ALL THEY ARE STUNG… CHELSEA MAY BE CHUCKLIN NOW BUT I RECKON WE RE GOING TO TOTALLY DEMOLISH THE SMILES OFF THEIR FACES, WE WILL CLOBBER THEM TOMORROW, PROBABLY 4 -0 OR 4 -1
Evan potts,
You may be his only fan as you say. But this inconsistent form has been happening the past two seasons now.
All the talk pre-season was were going to really have a go at the WSL and CL this season.
Then you look at the two performances against Leicester and Everton, both game the team weren’t at it.
And Eidevall has to take a lot of the blame for that, as he lets this go on game after game. There’s just no tempo to there game, and while that’s down to the players to, Eidevall just seems to wait until half-time to get his point across rather than in their stupid on field meetings while the keeper feigns injury.
The plain fact of the matter is Evan, if this clown remains the manager for much longer, any chance of Arsenal turning things around will be gone.
Face reality and save yourself the disappointment of watching what is a talented squad being ruined by a manager who doesn’t seem to have a clue what he’s doing.
HI DEREK, I WAS WAITING FOR YOUR RESPONSE, LOL, WELL WE AGREE TO DISAGREE, AND ACTUALLY I LIKE THAT WE CAN HAVE A DEBATE HERE ON THE GUNNERS A TEAM WE CLEARLY BOTH LIKE VERY MUCH… WHERE WE AGREE IS OF COURSE T S VERY DISAPPOINTING TO WATCH GAMES WHERE WE DON T DO AS WELL AS WE CAN, BUT EVEN TAKING OUR WORST PERFORMANCE, AGAINST BAYERN, WE SHOWED WE VE GOT A TEAM THAT COULD BE MUCH BETTER THAN THEM, IN THE FIRST HALF, AND OUR 2 GOALSCORERS WERE IN FACT PLAYERS JONAS BROUGHT IN…. SO I RECKON EVEN AT THIS DISAPPOINTING TIME HE S DONE A COUPLE OF THINGS RIGHT AT LEAST, AND I HOPE THE CLUB IS TOO WELL GROUNDED THAN TO SACK HIM AFTER JUST 3 BAD RESULTS… WHICH I CONTEND HE WILL LEARN FROM ANYWAY….B/C THAT S WHAT S IMPORTANT NOW , TO BE SHOCKED, YES BUT TO MOVE ON, TO LEARN AND TO IMPROVE …THE PAST IS OVER, WE CAN T CHANGE IT, AS FOR TOMORROW OUR TEAM MUST BE MOTIVATED TO WIN WELL, CHELEA ARE VERY GOOD, BUT WE BEAT THEM CONVINCINGLY LAST SEASON AND I BELIEVE WE CAN AND HOPE WE WILL THRASH THEM TOMORROW, I CAN SEE AT LEAST ONE OF OUR SUPERB FORWARDS CUTTING LOOSE AND SCORING A BRACE OR EVEN A HATRICK …. IN MY LIFE I M OFTEN WRONG, THAT MAY NOT SURPRISE YOU, BUT TOMORROW WILL BE A SIX POINTER AND AT HOME ON THE BIG STAGE WITH A BIG FAN BASE CHEERING US ON, LET S HOPE I M NOT WRONG THIS TIME .. AND I HOPE NONE OF OUR FANS WILL WANT TO SEE US LOSE, JUST SO THEY CAN SAY ABOUT JONAS, ”SEE, TOLD YOU SO” … IN THE LAST MATCH I WAS HAPPY TO SEE LIA PLAY WELL, IT S TRUE SHE NEVER LOSES THE BALL, HER TACKLES ARE DEVASTATING WITHOUT BEING FOULS AND HER POSITIONAL PLAY AND ADVICE TO THE YOUNGER PLAYERS IS EBCOURAGING …BETH DIDN T GET MANY CHANCES, I HOPE SHE S PLAYED IN DRIBBLING AND SHOOTING RANGE OF THE GOAL TOMORROW .. BUT I M TAKING TOO MUCH SPACE UP HERE, I WILL SHUT UP NOW, GOOD LUCK FOR TOMORROW GUNNERS
Evan,
Its not just the three bad results so far this season,
if you look back at some of the older articles on here, you will see that I’ve been an advocate for him to be removed for quite a while now.
His decision making is shocking at times.
I’ll give you two examples, away at Leicester Catley wasn’t in the squad, we were 1-0 up. And Eidevall took McCabe off and move Foord over to left-back and Leicester got in down the left twice, thankfully our keeper was up to the task.
Then against Everton were 0-0 and needing to chase a goal, he brings on two defenders and a defensive midfielder and leaves our only creative midfielder warming the bench, if you want to challenge for the league you don’t make terrible decisions like that.
And as I’ve said its not just this season, I’m sorry but he’s clearly not up to the job and needs to go.
That’s my opinion too he needs to leave our ladies are trying everything,
I agree with Derek 100%.