Arsenal Women's boss Jonas Eidevall hails Gunners as Lyon loom



Arsenal Women's boss Jonas Eidevall hails Gunners as Lyon loom


Arsenal Women’s boss Jonas Eidevall praised his team after their 1-0 victory over Juventus Women in the Champions League this week.

The Gunners beat their Italian visitors through a 16th minute Viv Miedema strike that settled the Group C stage match at the Emirates on a bitterly cold North London evening.

While the match could be viewed through Arsenal’s website stream online spectatorship has changed greatly over the last few years, leading to far larger numbers of viewers around the globe for a raft of sporting events, including women’s football. Prompted, not least, through a spike in searches for successful Lionessess and Arsenal captain Leah Williamson, who started the game against Juventus this week. Williamson played a vital role in England’s campaign, and the interest in her career has carried over to her club profile.

Eidevall was particularly impressed with the home side’s backline as they strove to another clean sheet to make eight shutouts for the campaign so far.

Reflecting after the match the Arsenal boss said: “I really liked our performance in the first half. I think we were really well organised and we worked extremely well in defence, and we moved the ball well in offence as well.

“Second half we got a little bit tired and lost the initiative a little bit, but we still stayed in control to restrict Juventus from any clear scoring opportunities. That's the way it is sometimes when we’re playing with these heavy schedules.

“The most important thing is to create scoring opportunities and restrict scoring opportunities for the opponent, and we kept another clean sheet. It is not a coincidence that we are the team that keeps the most clean sheets, and we have to continue to work like that.

"If you keep a clean sheet, it’s a great starting point to win a football match, and then if you can create a lot of scoring opportunities, then that will also help. I’m very confident in our forwards’ ability to convert chances, and I’m sure that will change for the better.

“All in all, we stayed in control and won deservedly, and I think we’re in a great position now in the group.”

The victory moves the Gunners three points clear at the top of the group with two matches still to play, with the reigning champions Lyon next up at Emirates Stadium on Thursday, December 15.

After recording an emphatic 5-1 win away in France back in October, Jonas is expecting a backlash from the French side and is urging his side not to get carried away with their previous performance.

“We know that Lyon will come here hungry for revenge, and we have to be prepared for that,” he added. “We have the utmost respect for Lyon; they’re the European champions and just because we played well for one game and won against them, we can’t lose our humbleness.

“We need to stay very grounded, and understand that a good performance against Lyon starts with everyone being aligned on the work that will be required. We need to do that for all 90 minutes and every second at our disposal, and if we do that - maybe. Together with our fans, we can do something great.”

 


NEW! Subscribe to our weekly Gooner Fanzine newsletter for all the latest news, views, and videos from the intelligent voice of Arsenal supporters since 1987.

Please note that we will not share your email address with any 3rd parties.


Article Rating

Leave a comment

Sign-in with your Online Gooner forum login to add your comment. If you do not have a login register here.