Arsenal Women Newsletter October 2024 Mailbag

Is this therapy?

Hopefully this ages poorly, but one thing that stuck out in the Leicester, Everton & Bayern games was the relatively feeble press. That seems to be the foundation of Jonas's football - think all our best results involved us pressing really well. But it seems mostly absent recently. Is that the first thing that needs to improve? And it's not a good sign if the players are ostensibly tired, we've only played a handful of games. Shane Thomas

Yes, there are quite a few things I am concerned about at the moment but this has to be competing for a place on the podium in my Arsenal related worries. Whatever the issues in the past I had pretty much always considered Arsenal a good pressing team, sometimes a great pressing team. But that really seems to have disappeared this season.

In the opening half an hour against Bayern the press was on point but as soon as Bayern equalised and the game turned, it’s difficult to come to any other conclusion than heads dropped and so did the intensity. I do think fatigue is understandable to a point given the qualifying situation and having to start the season at 1,000mph and I think the injuries to Catley and Wienroither were very damaging to our full-back situation, especially poor Emily Fox who is understandably running on fumes.

But I think the legs feel heavier when confidence is low and pressing is about organisation, understanding triggers, who needs to stand where and who jumps when. But it is also about having intensity and for intensity, you need confidence too and I think all these things are connected.

Hi Tim, The volume of the public and media critiquing Jonas Eidevall is naturally greater than the volume about Pedro Losa and Joe Montemurro at similar times. Is that volume affecting the players differently now compared to the other eras and why is that the case? Dave Martin

That’s an interesting thought I hadn’t really considered. I am unsure as to how much players are in a bubble and how much they really absorb when it comes to external criticism. I really don’t think they are totally unaware, players have friends inside and outside the game who will surely ask them about it. At the same time, players spend a lot less time on social media now, for example, as the game has grown.

My suspicion is that this will likely be a minor factor for players. I think the internal factors will always trump external for football teams. If players don’t feel confident or unsure of what they are doing, that will come from the training ground, which is the most influential environment for a player by a long distance.

McCabe and Fox look exhausted, understandably so, so why have we not tried to switch formation a bit more? I'm talking a back 3, or like we saw in the Everton game when Foord came on for Fox and we were essentially playing a back 3. It would allow one or even both of them rest in periods during games, and given it's so early in the season surely we should be experimenting with options seeing as players are already looking tired and out of sorts. Obviously Catley being out for games and now Laura, has had an impact, but it's no good losing our starters to injury just because we were scared to try something other than Plan A. Ruth

This is something my Arsenal Vision podcast partner Clive and I discuss from time to time. In many respects, I think Arsenal have a team set up for wing backs. Mead and Mariona has been a hit and miss partnership so far because both are being asked to come inside. A wing-back system would allow them to do that and I think McCabe and Fox would make good wing-backs. I also think having Foord as a wing-back would work given how she holds the width and Fox has played as a sort of wide centre-half for the USWNT.

However, for a game like Everton, I suppose the question is do you really want and need three centre-halves? I guess you could be aggressive and push Williamson into midfield in possession but there’s still something a little off about the balance there for me. Though last season, Eidevall moved to a back three against Southampton’s deep block and it worked really well. Eidevall said he did it so that Arsenal could get a spare centre-back driving from deep and creating confusion about who should be picking them up.

I would be open to it in a bigger game, maybe against Chelsea this weekend you reason that confidence is low, let’s go with a back three and be solid for starters, especially as Chelsea have good crossers and we really suffered there against Bayern. I am a little surprised the back three has been totally shelved since United away last season. I still expected to see it from time to time.

Tim, as someone who has watched and rewatched a lot of Arsenal Women’s history in recent months, I feel like I’ve seen this story happen before to past managers. Is there anything Jonas can do at this point to turn this narrative around, or has this gone beyond the event horizon, and only one outcome is inevitable now? Adam Salter

I cannot cite many examples of managers turning this kind of situation around when they have totally lost the supporters, no. In Joe Montemurro’s last season, we conceded a stoppage time winner to Caroline Weir at Manchester City away. In the build up, van de Donk lost the ball on the edge of her own area. I asked Joe whether, even with his commitment to passing football, he would have liked her to just boot the ball away, allow the final whistle to go and take the point.

‘Yes, I have players who have played in World Cup Finals, but I can’t go onto the pitch and kick the ball for them.’ I knew it was done for Joe when he said that, that the synergy had gone and when that happens, I just don’t think you get it back. I am struggling for an example, put it that way.

How much of what's going wrong at the moment is down to Jonas? Are we just over-rating our players? Andrew Paxley

I think when things start going wrong we all start reaching for explanations and theories and our minds become very active trying to diagnose issues. Usually this leads our brains down alleyways that aren’t always useful or fruitful and we overthink. I recall many thinking the exact same thing at the end of Pedro Losa’s reign and then Montemurro came in and the players looked totally different instantly. I look at Katie McCabe who basically had her bags packed ready to leave and then Joe came in and quickly we saw a world class full-back re-emerge. Maybe there are questions about a player here or there but these are all players who have delivered during their careers and ability doesn’t just change like that. Arsenal don’t have a perfect squad but they do have a really good one capable of far better than this.

Hi Tim, just been thinking about your comments on the podcast about Russo being almost absent from the game last Sunday - how much do you think the player behaviour on-field is sometimes a reflection of them problem-solving? In the past we've seen Russo drop deep to get the ball when she's not getting any service, and at the weekend we saw Mead and Mariona coming towards the goal when we were struggling to score. Are we seeing experienced players consciously or sub-consciously react to problems and acting to solve them? And, if so, what does that say about their faith in our game-plan? Rhys Evans

Yes I think this is a really good observation. Russo has a desire to go back and help the team in deeper areas when it’s not quite going right. The relationship between Mead and Mariona just isn’t there yet and I am dubious about Beth being asked to come in-field quite so much when Mariona is playing. But I think your observation is a good one.

I think Arsenal are better in the big games (usually) because Eidevall is a good tactical micro manager and when there are lots of tit for tat tactical tweaks against a big opponent, he is usually good in those environments. The question is more to do with the foundation and the principles that allows your talent to shine and beat the smaller teams and that part has never been totally developed under Eidevall.

I understand that players, to some degree, “play for their manager”, but what are your thoughts on the players being able to come together and play for pride, each other and/or the badge if Jonas remains in his position this season? Do you have any examples of times when this has happened at Arsenal or elsewhere? (I think I’m looking for hope here!) CF

I don't think I'll be the first to raise the question on Jonas's tenure.. how much of it is down to the manager and how much is down to the players? I have a lot of patience and don't profess to be a great tactical mind.. however, the lack of improvement against the low block and the overplaying and passing sideways and back is baffling me. Maxine Carter

Where does the lack of passion we seem to witness lately come from? I don’t want to dwell on the Viv-leaving-topic, but could it have left behind kind of a sour taste with the players? In her goodbye letter Viv wrote about the 2018/2019 season: “… Our free-flowing football got rewarded with winning the Women’s Super League …” Do you think the other players are fed up with not being able to play the “free-flowing football” under Jonas? Tanja Hartman

I have grouped these questions because they are all similar and I think the question about the fault lines between players and manager is a really interesting one. I think the further you get into a manager’s spell, the more the axis of fault tilts towards the manager. There is a really interesting section in Beth Mead’s book where she talks about the end of the Pedro Losa reign. I am posting the extracts below which @micksawfc on Twitter highlighted.

Sometimes you do see players ‘down tools’ but I actually think it’s rare. I just think if there is confusion or a lack of faith in what you are being asked to do, it’s next to impossible to perform to your utmost. Many of you reading will have been in jobs where this happened to you, where you were happy until you weren’t and when you weren’t, you probably didn’t try any less but you probably didn’t perform to your highest potential. It can be the same in relationships, if the love is gone, it takes its toll whether you want it to or not. That is just life and human nature, we are not machines with switches.

Hi Tim. Jonas was awarded with a new contract, but in hindsight do you think this was badly judged? What had a ‘really’ achieved in order to be rewarded like that? Club is currently 3rd best in country (behind Chelsea and City) and in danger of falling further behind. Likes of Man Utd and Brighton now a serious threat! Rob

Arsenal will be fine long-term, they have the budget and the players that will make sure of that. Manchester City finished 4th in 2022-23 and they didn’t spiral into mid table. For the most part, I am ambivalent about manager contracts. If a manager doesn’t perform they will get sacked. But, of course, if they are planning on sacking Jonas any time soon, in hindsight perhaps they should have just allowed the last contract to run down to the summer of 2024 and then moved on from there. If that is the way things shake out, then it might have cost them this season, for sure.

My question is clearly there is a toxic relationship between the head coach and the fans. When do you feel the relationship started to fall apart? My personal view was when Gareth Taylor called Jonas out for nearly bullying the fourth official, Emma Hayes saying that his male aggression was not welcome on the touch line and the final straw was when the club let Viv go and gave no real reason why they did not offer her a new contract. I know Jonas is the one in the firing line, but if there are more bad apples in the club getting rid of him will not be the answer. I don’t think the club thought “raw emotion”, was going to keep on going into the new season. Lorna.

This reminds me of the line about bankruptcy in ‘The Sun Also Rises’ which goes,

“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.

“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”

Results will always be the main driver and going out of the UWCL qualifiers and having such a slow start to last season quickly eroded the good will the team received for their injury hit run to the UWCL semi-finals. Eidevall has an abrasive touchline personality which has clearly always grated with many. Bringing Jordan Nobbs on as a time wasting stoppage time sub for her 250th appearance in the 2021-22 season felt like a misstep.

I think the post hoc veneration of Mana Iwabuchi is a bit misguided given she had double ankle surgery in the summer of 2022 and retired less than two years later but I know a lot of fans had issues with the stoppage time sub appearance away at Liverpool that seemed to upset her and Miedema. So there had clearly been some seeds sown for plenty of fans. I don’t think the Taylor or Hayes accusations moved the needle against him, if anything, I think fans rallied around him after those.

But I think you are right to cite the decision not to renew Miedema’s contract. The train had left the station in terms of public opinion already but that sent it careering down the tracks. I think the lack of clarity over what happened and why created a void into which speculation will always fall and none of that added up to anything good for Eidevall in the court of public opinion.

There were reasons I could certainly understand for the decision. Sometimes clubs and players drift apart and need a clean break. It happens in life. But for the contention around that decision to die Arsenal had to start the season very well and, well, here we are. Fan relationship wise, I think that has certainly been the biggest frisson, without doubt. But for many I think that was a final straw rather than an initial wound.

Hi Tim. What caused the collapse at 2-2? Was it anything to do with the triple substitution after we equalised? Jeremy

This question, strangely, feels like a palette cleanser after a lot of big picture stuff! I think it had started to go wrong before the triple sub. In truth, I thought Arsenal equalised against the run of play to make it 2-2. It was a bit tactical, the press collapsed and I think that was probably partly fatigue but probably mainly due to low confidence. Bayern were getting far more runners in behind and far more bodies into the box but the tactical failure was beget, in my view, by a confidence and energy drain. Football games usually sit somewhere on a spectrum between (very broadly speaking) tactics and emotion and to me, the collapse against Bayern felt like an emotional or confidence issue which caused the tactical failure. In short, this was a failure of intangibles that subsequently produced tangible failures.