A gripping evening at the Leigh Sports Village ended in a 2-2 draw with Manchester United in the Women's Super League, after a performance Jonas Eidevall was proud of.
Fresh from signing a new long-term contract with the club, the head coach gave his assessment of the game, the tactical decisions he made and what adjustments need to be made before we host Aston Villa next.
Here is what he had to say after the final whistle:
on what he made of our performance...
I'm proud of the performance. I think there are not many teams that could come to Leigh Sports Village and be the team with more goalscoring opportunities than Man United. I think we created enough today to win the game, so when we look at the whole game, we will be a little bit disappointed not to win the game.
But then, of course, we also have to take into account the context. We were losing the game until it went to extra time. With that and seeing the mentality and the belief within the players, then that's very good to get the point.
on whether we could have found a winner in the second half...
I think in that second half, I'm really happy with how we finished the game. We looked like a very strong team in that period and we created some really good goalscoring opportunities.
on starting both Stina Blackstenius and Alessia Russo...
I had an idea about how Stina's speed could be important for us, especially in the first half, in order to hit them a little bit on the counterattack.
It was also to ensure they couldn't sustain their attacks because we were occupying their central defenders a little bit more, whilst still trying to find a way to get Alessia on the pitch. That was the tactical plan.
And then, when the game opened up a little bit more, we could use 10s to face forward in the pocket and both Caitlin Ford and Frida Maanum did very well when they came on.
on Cloe Lacasse's equaliser...
I'm so happy for the team but also so happy for her. What a moment. What incredible quality. I'm so happy for her that she could showcase her qualities to the world today.
on signing his new contract...
I love every day, working with the team and working with the staff. I always find it awkward to just speak about contracts because it is not about me. It's never about the coach.
It's always about the players and the staff. So I'm happy that we have that done so we can move forward and put all our focus on what can help us get the results we want.
on the amazing travelling support and what's needed next weekend...
It's massive and it's such a big part of what makes this club special. If there was one thing I was disappointed with after Liverpool, it was that we couldn't energise the crowd more for it.
I really hope as many as possible come against Aston Villa because we will do everything we can to energise and show our very best version of ourselves.
Click play on the video above to hear from Jonas.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
