Every word of Eidevall pre-Bayern presser

Jonas Eidevall has held his pre-match press conference as we prepare to take on Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals. 

Our head coach fielded questions from the media on our German opponents, the short break ahead of the game, and the positive momentum within our squad.

Here's everything he had to say:

on the Champions League squad registration…

I have more information than some people. So when I put everything together, this was the best decision for the team. That doesn't mean it was easy. Gio definitely has a lot of qualities that we could have needed in a game like this. So that was tough, but the best for the team was to register these three players.

on watching the Bayern game against Koln at the weekend…

I saw that they were very dominant and their win was very well deserved. It’s never easy to be that dominant against an opponent, so we know we're gonna play against a good team. But we're also a good team. There are a lot of similarities in the way that both teams play, so I think it's an exciting match-up from that perspective as well.

on why the Allianz Arena is a tough place to come to…

Because they're a good team. We've played against teams that have had great home records this year already in the Champions League. To be fair, Lyon and Juventus are two teams that have excellent home records in the Champions League and we managed to draw in Turin and we won against Lyon. So we have respect for that, but we're but we shouldn't fear it. 

on how we used the short break ahead of this game…

Yeah, we tried to use it the best way possible. We had a mixture of time off to refresh and recover but we also used the time efficiently to work on things in our game that are going to be important. Not only for this game but also for the games that we have ahead of us. So it's been really good working with the squad and hopefully, we can show tomorrow that we're prepared.

on whether he’s noticed progress in terms of belief after winning the Conti Cup…

Yeah, I thought that game was really good. I think our performances after that against Liverpool and Reading have also shown that we're a team that's in a good place right now. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I felt with the preparation here for Bayern Munich, I have had a feeling of sharing less information with the players because I'm more assured that we already know what to do in those situations.

Let's hope this is a good sign and not a sign of false security. But I choose to believe in the first one. 

on whether it’s taken time to progress as a team…

Of course, the only way to develop quality is by spending time on something. If you're gonna have shared understanding and shared experiences, you have to live through things together. I can't really see there being any shortcuts for that. I think all the things that we have gone through over the last 18 months have been increased by our really hectic schedules.

I saw yesterday that Carla Ward had her 50th competitive game for Aston Villa and I believe my 50th game here was this autumn. It just shows the differences in the playing schedule. She has spent more time at Aston Villa, one of our competitors in the WSL, but it's still such a massive difference in the number of games that the two clubs play. Of course, that also gives more opportunities for shared experiences.

on how important winning momentum will be on Tuesday…

We're playing against a team that also has good momentum. So I hope that will make for a really, really interesting matchup with two teams that come in with a lot of belief and a lot of self-confidence in their game plans. Hopefully, that will be really good for the audience and also really good for us.