Arsenal lost 5-2 to Bayern Munich in their Women's Champions League group stage opener and boss Jonas Eidevall has opened up on what went wrong.
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Arsenal lose 5-2 against Bayern MunichEidevall opens up on what went wrongSpeaks about upcoming Chelsea clashFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty Images SportWHAT HAPPENED?
Arsenal were the victims of a Bayern Munich comeback after the Gunners opened the scoring half an hour into their group-stage clash thanks to Mariona Caldentey's goal. However, Glodis Viggosdottir cancelled out Arsenal's lead before the two sides traded goals for a 2-2 stalemate until Pernille Harder stunned Arsenal’s defence with a 13-minute hat-trick to give the German giants a 5-2 win.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesWHAT EIDEVALL SAID
Speaking to the media, Eidevall opened up on why things disintegrated in the final third of the game. "We start the first half is, in large parts, a good half of football from us," he said. "We control possession, we control them with our pressing. We have a period of five minutes where we become a little bit passive and we concede a goal as a result of that. But first half is a good half of football and maybe we were a bit unlucky to be tied 1-1.
"Second half, I think Bayern upped their intensity, they were threatening much more with runs in behind and asking more difficult questions for us. We get a bit stretched, a bit tired and a bit hesitant as a team pressing which means they play through us more often. They create some opportunities from, but not a lot. But what really strikes in the second half is how we defend the crossing situations. That is not good enough, we concede goals as a result. When it is 4-2 it is a decision to want to sit back and control the result or to go for it and I decide to go for it.
"I know, of course, that is a risk and it exposes us to concede again. But I am happy and willing to take that risk at that point because, at the end of the day, that was the only thing to have gotten us a point. So I am happy with the first half, I am not happy with the second half. We look a little bit tired, we can’t play with the same energy like we do in the first half and we definitely can’t defend like we did in the second half."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Arsenal have not had the best of starts to the season under Eidevall this season as the Gunners have only won once in their opening three Women's Super League clashes. The Swedish head coach was asked whether his message not reaching the players is a worry, to which he said: "No, it doesn’t (give him cause for concern). We are off with our timing with pressing in the second half. I think the players are trying their very best to do it but we don’t get our timing right in pressure and that’s the difference between the first and second half.
"I don’t feel like there is a misunderstanding of the message of what we need to do. I agree with you, we don’t defend well enough in the second half and I am not happy with that but I don’t think that is a result of miscommunication or a lack of clarity of the idea of what we need to do with those situations."
Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR ARSENAL?
Eidevall's side will now take on defending WSL champions Chelsea on Saturday, October 12.
Speaking about the upcoming match, Eidevall said: " A lot of the same things we need to improve on today are going to be really important against Chelsea as well. We saw yesterday against Real Madrid what a strong team they are on crosses as well and that caused Real Madrid a problem yesterday and we need to improve defending crosses massively. That is a red line and then there are different things we will need to focus on and we have no choice but to put this game behind us and take the necessary learnings from it and getting ready for the task on Saturday."
