Our 2021/22 season is set to begin on Wednesday, as we kick-off our UEFA Women’s Champions League journey against FC Okzheptes.
It will also mark the start of a new era for the club under Jonas Eidevall, with our new head coach taking to the touchline for the first time in a competitive fixture.
Eidevall faced the media on Tuesday afternoon - and here’s what he had to say:
on the importance of Champions League football to Arsenal…
It’s very important. I think it’s what attracts people to the club in one way, to compete for the biggest trophy there is at the top level. It’s one of the reasons I came to Arsenal: that I want to see if we can win the Champions League with this club. I also think it’s a very exciting time for the Champions League, having a group stage for the first time. I think it’ll impact this tournament very positively so of course we would like to be historic and be a part of that for the first time ever; get that international experience and compete with the best, which I’m confident enough we can do.
on what would be a realistic finish in the Champions League…
I don’t care so much what is realistic or not, I care if there is a chance to do it. Nobody would say we are out of a chance against any opponent in the Champions League. It’s not going to be easy, but we will have a chance against any team in the world and we are going to do our best to grab that chance in any given game.
on his pride at representing Arsenal…
Starting this job is definitely a proud moment for my family, to lead a club like Arsenal in this first competitive game. Right now I think my family’s biggest wish is to come over to the UK with me, and that’s also my biggest wish, that I can bring my wife and two kids to the UK, so then it will be much, much easier for us to experience this together.
on Simone Boye’s qualities…
I worked with Simone before and she has great leadership qualities, she is very calm and composed on the ball. In every sense, she is a team player and wants to do what is best for the team. We have good numbers in defence coming into a very congested playing schedule, especially in the autumn because we will be playing three times a week a lot of times. We will need to be able to handle that and be able to change players and not lose experience when we do. We want to perform at our best level in all competitions and she can help us to do that.
on his style of play…
I would describe my style as high paced possession football but I want the structure behind that means we are not unbalanced when we lose the ball. Obviously every coach wants to see all of the things they have worked on working straight away but we have to admit that we are at the beginning of this process. Not everything is going to be perfect- it rarely is in football. What matters now for the stage we are at is that we need to try it and the reaction when we lose the ball has to be perfect and how we react to that situation. We need to be hungry to keep going after the ball and if it doesn’t work, we learn and we try again.
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