top of page
Writer's pictureJames Barnes

How do Arsenal Move Forward Post Eidevall?

Despite Arsenal consistently being a top force in the WSL, they have always had the title elude them to this point under the management of Jonas Eidevall. This morning, the Swede resigned from England's most successful women's club side.


Since joining in 2021, Eidevall had consistently guided Arsenal to the top three, however they have mightily struggled so far this season in their opening four games.


The Gunners are currently an unacceptable 6th place in the table, having won only one game so far this season; a 1-0 win over a winless Leicester City. It's worth noting that the Arsenal goal in that game came courtesy of a Leicester mistake.



Other than that, they have struggled against big teams, losing 2-1 at home to Chelsea as well as drawing with Manchester City in the opening game of the season.


Whilst these games were close, the Champions League has been less kind to Arsenal, as they were thrashed 5 - 2 by Bayern Munich in Germany.



Eidevall's problem over the past two years has been away to the bigger teams. Whenever they were in a big away match in the WSL under the tutelage of Eidevall, there was not a real confidence that they would win.


These games have often decided Arsenal's WSL fate over the past three seasons. In Jonas Eidevall's entire reign at Arsenal, the Gunners had just a single win away to Chelsea or Manchester City. They were also beaten away by Barcelona and Bayern Munich in the Champions League.


The Gunners dropped points in crucial matches with Tottenham and Chelsea last season, dropping them out of last season's title race long before the exhilarating conclusion between Chelsea and Manchester City.



Despite having domestic success last season by beating Chelsea 1-0 in the final of the Conti cup, this seemingly was not enough for fans of Arsenal, given their level of talent and expectations of being the top team in the WSL.


Eidevall was brought in to take Arsenal back to the top. Instead, fans on social media turned on their manager as the playing style removed itself from the identity of Arsenal. It's all well and good playing possession-based football, but Arsenal women don't have the players for that sort of set up.


Arsenal's squad has four traditional wingers and two lethal strikers. Why then do the Gunners not base their football on counter-attacking? Or aggressive overloads in the wide areas?


These are questions which Jonas Eidevall simply did not have answers for and ultimately that was the beginning of the end of the partnership between the Swede and Arsenal.



Now that Eidevall has resigned from his position as manager, it will be interesting to see how Arsenal navigate the rest of the season and whether they can bring back that winning spark and culture that made them such a dominant team in the 2010's.


The Gunners' next two games (at least) will be overseen by previous assistant coach Renee Slegers. Not only is that a somewhat necessary move just a week before an international break, but it's a clever one by Sporting director Edu and Director of Women's Football Clare Wheatley.


Arsenal's supporters felt somewhat detached from Jonas Eidevall's version of the team, strange given how strong the connection is between the fans and the men's team. Slegers is a former Arsenal academy player herself and so she understands the feeling and meaning of playing for and representing Arsenal.



Slegers, who made 55 senior appearances for the Dutch national team as a player, will take charge of Arsenal's Champions League clash with Valarenga at Emirates Stadium tomorrow as well as the London derby away to West Ham on Sunday.


After that, the team goes away for international duty. But Edu and Wheatley will very much be keeping their focus on club football as they look to secure a top level coach to try and take Arsenal back to the very pinnacle of women's club football.



0 comments

Comentarios


bottom of page