Jonas Eidevall has stressed that Arsenal need to ‘”start quicker next time” after drawing 0-0 with Everton in the WSL over the weekend.
Despite a number of shots on target that were stopped by an impressive Courtney Brosnan, the Gunners’ lacklustre performance was only enough to walk away from the Emirates with one point.
Arsenal haven’t had the best start to the 2024/25 Barclays Women’s Super League campaign, after putting a large amount of focus on qualifying for the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage.
They’ve won just one of their WSL fixtures so far, only beating Leicester City 1-0, having also rescued a draw against Manchester City on the opening weekend of the season.
Speaking after the Everton clash, Eidevall wasn’t shy in expressing his disappointment in the result.
“I think we played a little bit too slow in the beginning of the game and we grew into the game,” he said. “We played with more intent, more intensity, more attacking mentality towards the end, but it was a little bit too late as it proved. Our learning needs to be to start quicker next time.”
On what the squad could’ve done better, Eidevall explained: “We could’ve created more. We had a lot of control in the whole game but we need to move the ball quicker, especially in the first half to break them down more often and in more favourable situations for us. That needs to be a learning point.”
The game however, did see Steph Catley and Leah Williamson earning their first minutes this season. Eidevall was excited about their return, stating: “It’s very good for us getting those two players back”.
“We’ve been playing a lot of games so far and having a lot of minutes accumulated especially on our back four given how our squad situation has been looking there,” he explained. “It’s very welcoming getting players back and I think it’s going to be really important for the block ahead.”
The Gunners are preparing to take on Bayern Munich in Germany in their opening group stage fixture of the Champions League this week.
“We need to put every foot right in recovery and every foot right in preparation,” Eidevall added. “We know we’re going to play against opponents where we need to put every foot right on the pitch as well, so we’re focused, we’re ready and we go game by game.”
READ THE LATEST ARSENAL WOMEN NEWS, QUOTES AND MATCH REACTION HERE
