Every word of Jonas’ pre-United presser

Jonas Eidevall has held his pre-Manchester United press conference, shortly after his new contract was announced.

The boss was asked about the extension of his stay at the club, his reflections on our defeat to Liverpool, Alessia Russo facing her former club this weekend and more.

Here’s everything he had to say:

on his new contract:

First of all, thanks. Like you say it's, it is nice because the commitment is from both parties and it's all in, and it's very ambitious, and it's about growing the club as much as possible and accelerating the growth of women's football. I'm really excited being a part of that journey. 

on the reaction to the Liverpool loss:

A very mature reaction. I think a lot of accountability, a lot of ownership. A team that really wants to show another version of itself, that we are so aware of that we are something else than what we showed last Sunday, but we also know that words are cheap and action is what counts. That’s what training has been about and that's what Friday is about.

on if Beth Mead is in contention to feature tomorrow:

She's not. She's very close but she's not.

on if there is any other team news:

No.

on Alessia Russo’s motivation against her former club:

Alessia is 100 percent professional. She always trains with a lot of motivation but of course it gets special when you return to play against a club where you have your all your former teammates and former fans and so on in. It's really important for us, like with every time we go somewhere, we go there together, and we play together. 

on what to expect from Manchester United:

I mean, I think it's a team that is very consistent in the way that they are playing, and they are very good football team. Manchester United, I think we have played some really good and even football matches against them in my two seasons here at Arsenal. I was not particularly happy with either one of our performances against them last season, I was definitely not happy with the results. I think we have a lot of motivation going up there and change those things around.

on how the dynamic changes going from a big stadium to a different setup this weekend:

Nothing. There's only one thing in my mind and that's to improve our performance, to show the real version of ourselves, and to do everything in our power to try and win the football match.

on what we learned from last weekend:

You learn, all the time you learn in football. Of course, what I didn't like about last week was that I didn't think we played with the right energy to it. And that can never happen. And that hasn't happened to us in a long time. One thing this team has been excellent of is playing with the right amount of energy. Football is like that, sometimes you do forget the basics or you don't get them right on the day for it. But now, life is about how you respond in those moments, and if you are defined by how you react to those situations, and that's what this week has been about and this is what Friday is about as well. 

on how United have progressed as a club since joining the WSL:

I don't really know, like I don't have any specifics on how Manchester United is growing their football club. What I said last weekend I still think holds true for this. This is going to be the most competitive season in the WSL. There is a lot of really good football teams. We’re one of those teams, Manchester United is one of those teams, but there is also plenty of others for it, and you need to be 100 percent for every game and every challenge.

on whether Noelle Maritz is fit for the game:

She’s fit.

on the timing of his contract announcement:

I think we'd much rather have had won the last game and announced the contract, of course. But I also think it's very much like the long-term vision that we have, and that we share, that's the important thing. Each one of us wants to push and we want to get the short-term results, right, and I feel very much supported by the club. I have always done that. I think and I hope they feel the same for me, that they feel a lot of trust in me and being the right person to drive this forward.

on lessons learned after rewatching the Liverpool loss:

I think we were standing still too much on the ball. We were better with movement in the first 20 minutes. There are some runs that are really important for us to do off the ball that we didn’t do, which I think didn’t disorganise Liverpool enough. And then I think when we conceded the goal, I think we forced quite a lot of things forward. Instead of playing away their first pressure, we got sucked into that pressure and we took decisions under pressure instead. It's really subtle things and it's not things that are completely bad in the game. But it's not the best version of us and we didn’t create the needed energy or the quality that is needed for us to be happy with our performance for it. Sometimes, I do think that it is difficult in football when you start a game in a good way and we did that in a lot of ways against Liverpool, and you’re sort of going into this kind of false sense of security where we'll be like 'Oh, sure, this might be taking care of itself,' and once it doesn't do that, then it's so hard to get that switch back on again. And you're almost getting a little bit paralysed in the team and I think that is what happened to us on Sunday. That I think we need to learn from because I think we're all really gutted about that and we are really disappointed with our performance. And I also think it was a really wasted opportunity with having 55,000 people in the stands to not put on a better display and a better performance and not being able to energise them better. My hope and my wish is that each one of them will return for the Aston Villa game so we can show them something completely different because they deserve that.”

on why we were so keen to sign Alessia:

Like I said before many times, I think Alessia has a lot of different qualities and what might be the unique thing is the combination of these qualities. So, sometimes you have a forward that is really hard working, really loyal, works extremely hard in defence and you can live with that player not being so good technically, for example, or not being a great finisher. Then sometimes you have a player that is a great finisher, but you don't get exactly 100 per cent in defence for it and maybe you can live with that for the team as well because of what it can provide with you in offence. Sometimes that player is really good technically when there is not a player around her, so it's not any duels, but once it's a duel, that player starts to lose the ball, but you can live with that because the moment that she isn't in a duel, they provide so much for the team. But now you see Alessia has qualities for it and she can work hard in defence, she's clever in defence, but she can also score goals. She's an excellent finisher both with her head and with her feet. She's a technical player, but she can also control the duels and be really physical and protect the ball. It's very, very seldom that you see players that can have all the aspects of it. Usually in football, you have to choose between some of it and that has to be an active choice. But the standout with Alessia and why I think her potential is sky high is that she has all the faces onto it. That also means she has to develop all the faces for it, but she has all of it and that's quite unique.

on Emma Hayes calling for VAR in the women’s game:

I think we need to have consistency in the tournaments in how we're doing things. What I don't like is when we are inconsistent in it and I spoke last season in the Champions League about goal line technology, for example, that it is in some games and some games it's not. I mean, we should have done much better in the qualifier for the Champions League, but I still don't know if Paris' goal is in or not. No one can know without goal line technology, no one can know that. And those differences, obviously, they mean a lot for us, so I think when we are implementing things, it has to be consistent around how we're doing things. And also, it has to be with the right quality, so for example, goal line technology, that's an excellent system. It would be lovely if that would be across all our competitions, but it can't be in some games and some games not. If we're talking about VAR, that has to be with the highest quality as well. It can't be operated in like a low budget camera system that will only see a limited number of angles or with a limited number of referees for it with limited number of training, because we see in the men's game, even when it's operated on a high level for it, still mistakes happen. So then we can understand that a lot more low budget system will generate even more mistakes. So the quality on the implementation of these things is really important, so let's take time and make sure that you have consistent levels on the competitions and that's the important thing.