Arsenal Women manager, Jonas Eidevall was “disappointed” with his team’s 2-2 draw at Manchester United in Women’s Super League.
Arsenal took a 14th minute lead at Utd through Stina Blackstenius’ strike but Utd fought back through Leah Galton and debutant – Melvine Malard to lead, only for Cloe Lacasse to score her first Women’s Super League (WSL) goal in injury time to snatch a point for the Gunners.
The Gunners also created 17 shots to Utd’s nine shots despite both teams only converting four of their shots onto target, which left Eidevall “proud of the performance.”
Eidevall however believes that Arsenal should of claimed all three points as he explained: “I think there are not many teams that could come to Leigh Sports Village and be the team with more goalscoring opportunities than Man United.
“I think we created enough today to win the game, so when we look at the whole game, we will be a little bit disappointed not to win the game.”
He went on to add that a point is a fair result given that they “were losing the game” heading into injury time, whilst applauding “the mentality and the belief within the players,” to snatch a late equaliser.
Having started Alessia Russo and utilised Blackstenius as Russo’s substitute in their opening WSL defeat to Liverpool, Eidevall started the pair together against Utd with Russo moved across to right-wing as Blackstenius took up a central position.
Explaining that tactical decision, Eidevall said: “I had an idea about how Stina’s speed could be important for us, especially in the first half, in order to hit them a little bit on the counterattack.
It was also to ensure they couldn’t sustain their attacks because we were occupying their central defenders a little bit more, whilst still trying to find a way to get Alessia on the pitch. That was the tactical plan.
And then, when the game opened up a little bit more, we could use 10s to face forward in the pocket and both Caitlin Ford and Frida Maanum did very well when they came on.”
Having signed Lacasse this summer from Benfica, Eidevall was delighted that the 30 year-old was able to show her “incredible quality” with a stunning injury time strike to rescue a point.
Arsenal will next be at home to Aston Villa in a 2pm BST kick-off on Sunday 15 October at the Emirates Stadium, with Eidevall eager to see his players “energise the crowd” after a flat opening performance against Liverpool in front of a record 54,115 fans at the same venue.
Urging Arsenal supporters to turn out in their thousands at the Emirates Stadium, Eidevall pleaded: “I really hope as many as possible come against Aston Villa because we will do everything we can to energise and show our very best version of ourselves.”
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