Every word of Jonas' pre-Man United presser

Jonas Eidevall held his pre-Manchester United press conference at the Sobha Realty Training Centre, and you can read everything he had to say ahead of the WSL clash below.

The boss was asked about the sold-out fixture at Emirates Stadium, the latest team news, and our squad's evolving attack.

Here is everything he had to say:

on Vivianne Miedema’s availability for Saturday…

Yeah, she's training today. Of course, we haven't had training yet, so we need to see about that but she has a good chance.

on whether there has been more emphasis on getting our attackers in the box more often…

Yes, it has been. I think it's a big part of [Russo's] development in order to get into more goalscoring opportunities like that. And that's the thing with most football players, they are always very ambitious and want to help the team and what generally tends to help the team is showing for the ball.

But what you need in football, and especially in the nine position at times, is to create space, both for yourself and for the team. One of the best things to do to create space is to go opposite of where the ball is because it's really hard for a defender to see both you and the ball at the same time and those are your two biggest cues to have as a defender. So that's not only Alessia Russo, that's that's all nines playing around the world. But I think it's a part where she is developing and I think the fourth goal [against London City] was a really nice example of that.

on the positions supporting Alessia Russo as the nine…

I think what we have - and I view it as a strength but obviously, it requires a little bit of a different mindset for us compared to maybe some of our competitors - is a lot of options of players who can play in offence, and they have various strengths as well, which is really nice because we have a lot of tools in the box. 

But how do we use them and how do we use them together? And what relationships do we will build? I think you're onto something really interesting there in asking how do we play to a player's strength and what does that player need to have around her in order for that to happen? What situations is our preference to set up in? 

I think that's where you can see we're not a fully mature team in that yet. That's the process that we're in, working with. It's an exciting process. I can see how we're developing with that. But that definitely means that we haven't reached the heights of our offensive play yet.

on Manchester United’s attacking partnership between Geyce and Parris…

I mean both players are tremendous players. Geyce is an excellent one-on-one player. Some real flair and skill. Nikita is a really, really good team player. She works tremendously hard, both in offence and defence. She was a really, really good player to work with here at Arsenal and even if I don't hope she's successful tomorrow, she's one of those players that I wish every bit of success because she always gives her her very best for the team. Those players always deserve success.

on allowing attacking players to be instinctive in the final third…

I think it goes in that direction when you’re playing at your strengths, that’s usually the ones where you’re ore habitual in the way that you’re playing and that also means you don’t need to overthink the situations, you can trust the knowledge that you already in your body, so yes, you’re right. But for us, it’s about recognising how we can get into those situations more often with these players, whatever their strengths are.

on whether his thoughts are more long-term or short-term coming into an important week like this…

As a coach, you always to do both I think, but the most important thing right now is the game on Saturday and I think that’s what we need to optimise in trying to win that, but that also means that when we’re looking long term we need to make sure that we’re developing long term in the right direction and that I’m very, very confident of that we’re doing for it, but it doesn’t stop us having to perform short term on Saturday.

on whether he wants to mould Alessia Russo into a 20-goal-a-season striker…

Yes.

on how you turn a selfless striker into a serious threat inside the penalty area…

To work with the positioning, to make sure that you get into those positions more often and by having the right position and the right angle, you will make the most out of it. The amount of touches you will get as a 9 in most football teams is the most limited amount of touches for all the outfield players, and it’s not about increasing the number of those touches, it’s about increasing the quality of those touches. 

That’s generally what you need to work on with the forward players. Everyone would like to have more of the ball, but the reality of football is that areas of the pitch are going to be more restricted and you will have fewer touches, so it’s about dealing with that and the reality of having fewer touches on the ball and not getting impatient and going towards the ball at the wrong moment and instead anticipating to go at the right moment.

on the value of having Kelly Smith to give tips to our strikers…

Hugely. Both from a mindset perspective, but also from a knowledge perspective, we’re really blessed to have a person like Kelly in the building who can share her knowledge and expertise.

on what it means to set a new WSL record attendance this weekend...

The whole club should take massive credit for that. That would not have been possible without all the hard work that many people do across the whole club. That goes from Dan and the Communications Department to Juliet and the Commercial Department. It goes for the staff at the grounds to prepare them and make them for such an enjoyable experience for everyone that comes, as well as of course our fans. Massive credit to them. 

It’s another milestone but I feel these milestones now happen in shorter periods of time and that’s amazing because that’s how progression and a snowball acts when it starts rolling. I can see for the two and a half years that I’ve been here, starting at the Emirates Stadium with 10,000 people against Chelsea, now coming into last season where we had a sellout against Wolfsburg in the Champions League semi-final, then seeing how that rolls into this season, having attendances over 50,000 numerous times and now we get another sellout. We still have two more games to play at the Emirates this season so that’s incredible. It just shows the growth of the game and for us in particular.

on it potentially being the second-highest attendance in English football altogether this weekend...

The growth is incredible. You can just compare our average attendance figures from two years ago to last season to this season and you see the growth of that. Anyone running anything that would be developing or growing would understand where that direction is going right now. I don’t think we’ve fully seen that potential yet but we’re definitely on the right track.

on Vivienne Lia’s debut on Wednesday night...

It was really nice. She’s been with us for most of this season, been a little bit away with an injury that kept her away for a couple of weeks, but she’s made a strong impression in training. What I really liked about her performance is that she looked like on the pitch like she does in training. She does her thing! She doesn’t change just because it’s a first-team game or with 3 or 4,000 in the stands. She takes on players bravely as she did in practice. 

She does that in games and that I really like because that’s what you want with your players, to be able to express themselves and not feel hesitant or like they have to change. They can trust the things they do in training because that’s what brings them to giving them opportunities like this.

on Rehanne Skinner’s comments that there needs to be more support for WSL managers who lose their jobs...

It’s a really interesting topic and of course, I don’t have any insight into how it is in other WSL clubs…

on the need for more structural support for coaches...

Of course, coaching is a tough job, it’s a job that needs to have support structures around it. I think some of the uncertainties around the job is a big factor in why we have so few female coaches in the game. I truly think that, and I think that’s a structural thing that I think Rehanne Skinner is absolutely right with, and if you can make changes to the better for that, I think it’s going to allow for better coaches as well, to both join the game and to stay in the game, so it’s a really important topic that she raises.

on the current support from the League Manager’s Association...

I do think we are really lucky here in the UK to have such massive support from the LMA who does a phenomenal job in providing support for managers and connecting managers with each other, but of course, there can be more to be done as well with other organisations and partners.

on how a win tomorrow could guarantee a Champions League spot...

Like I said before I spend very little time looking at the table and making different scenarios in that. I spend a lot of my time trying to optimise performance on Saturday and that’s where we’ll need to put our focus and of course, we’ll deal with the mindset and try to win the game.

on potentially trying a new game plan...

The next game is never the same as the last one, that’s one thing you need to learn as a coach and as a team. We’ve had some tough games against United but I think we’re on a clear mindset of what we need to do on Saturday in order to bring the performance needed to win the game and it’s up to us to do it now.

on playing more games at the Emirates...

We have two homes, we have the stadium and we have Meadow Park. Our fans are incredible at both of these venues to create an amazing atmosphere for us and I really trust the club to guide the progression on where we’re going to play our games. They have a clear plan on how to want to invest and accelerate the growth of women’s football and so far we can see that’s been very successful and I have complete trust in the next steps.