After back-to-back third-place finishes, Jonas Eidevall is changing it up. This summer has seen Arsenal Women take a different path as they begin their first pre-season tour of the United States.
More than 3,600 miles away from home in Washington D.C., head coach Eidevall has called it “the most proper pre-season” he has overseen since taking charge in 2021.
Eidevall’s first summer with Arsenal was fragmented by Covid-19 restrictions, which stalled any direct contact with his new team. The two summers that followed were dominated by the 2022 European Championship and last summer’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Even this summer has taken in the Paris Olympics, but the Arsenal players who did compete will join the rest of the squad on the tour.
“Out of the Olympic players, we have had a trio from Australia (Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley and Kyra Cooney-Cross) that joined us yesterday on the travel day,” Eidevall said. “Then we have three players (Laia Codina, Mariona Caldentey and Emily Fox) who will join us on Monday, the day after we play Washington Spirit.
“We have had a lot of players who were off in the summer and now are starting to train with the team. They have a lot of freshness but don’t start with a lot of fitness, so they need to build that. The ones coming back next Monday have the fitness as they have been playing competitive games at the Olympics but what they might be lacking is the freshness — physically and mentally. We just need to make sure we tailor their programme.
“The three players that have had the least time off in the summer, I can see us managing those players individually throughout the season rather than trying to do it all in the pre-season.”
U.S. international Emily Fox against club-mate and Australia forward Caitlin Foord in France this summer (John Todd/ISI/Getty Images)
Arsenal have tailored players’ workloads after international tournaments in previous seasons too. On those occasions, players have been given short breaks in-season to recover more efficiently but the timing of those breaks tend to differ from player to player.
Eidevall will need the sharpness of his Olympians when they face Rangers at Meadow Park on September 4 in a Champions League qualifier
Part of the reason Eidevall will be looking to use the sharpness his Olympians possess is that Arsenal are weeks away from Champions League qualifiers. If they progress, they will face Atletico Madrid or Rosenborg three days later.
Asked what lessons were learnt from their Champions League qualification exit on penalties to Paris FC last season, Eidevall said: “You need to start fast. You need to be ready to play really competitive games.
“We’re only playing one game, not a two-legged qualifier, which is very different. You could see that against Paris. The stress of conceding a goal in the second half is totally different compared to if you were playing a return leg. The team’s reaction will be very different, which makes the margins much smaller. We need to start fast to get those margins on the right side.
“That’s also why we chose to play our first game against Washington Spirit. It is a deeply uncomfortable challenge when we’re coming here with a squad that is not ready to play a 90-minute game against a really tough opponent. But we need to get the correct answers on where we are as a team.”
Eidevall and his Arsenal squad will look to improve on last season’s third-place finish in the WSL (David Price/Getty Images)
Arsenal reached the Champions League semi-finals the season before last, which will give them belief they can go deep into the tournament again. Under Eidevall, they have won successive Continental Cup finals and the closest they have come to lifting the Women’s Super League trophy was finishing second in his first season, one point off champions Chelsea.
In that debut campaign, Eidevall spoke about preferring harder starts to a season as it forces the team to hit the ground running. Last season started with a few stumbles — alongside Arsenal’s Champions League exit, they took one point from their first two league games. The ambition behind their summer business could suggest they know a repeat of that cannot be on the cards.
After Vivianne Miedema’s departure signalled the end of an era, Arsenal responded by extending Stina Blackstenius’ contract and making three compelling signings in Caldentey from Barcelona, Daphne van Domselaar from Aston Villa and Rosa Kafaji from Hacken.
“We brought in some really exciting players in this transfer window and kept some really interesting players too,” Eidevall said before speaking on whether more additions can be expected. “If it’s the right player, yes. But not just any player.”
Emphasis on the right player appears necessary. Arsenal built a squad for the Champions League last season, but their failure to qualify hindered their balance. Blackstenius ended the campaign as the club’s top scorer in all competitions (18) but started just seven league games. The departure of Cloe Lacasse alongside Miedema could help clarify how Eidevall wants to set up with his new signings, but it is not just the attack he is focussed on in that regard.
“Other units have players with different qualities too,” he added. “That’s really exciting because we have one way of playing but we can shape that in forms that will be as optimal as possible through game state or opponent. We need to see which players gel best with each other and what relationships we can develop. We’re starting that process here (the U.S.) now.”
The coming weeks will also see Arsenal manage the futures of young players on the tour. Some will be kept with the first team squad next season, while others will be assessed in the U.S. with a decision to be made afterwards. Michelle Agyemang, 18, is a forward who Eidevall feels will benefit from experiencing an Arsenal pre-season environment before making the right decision “for her and with her, so she can develop into becoming an Arsenal Women first-team player long-term”.
Whatever comes from Arsenal’s U.S. tour, Eidevall feels his team’s journey has more to come.
“I see life as a continuous process,” he said. “I’m a big believer that the same person can’t step in the same river twice because whatever happens to us will change us from what we were before. When you live experiences together, they become new reference points for you as a team.
“There is a core and foundation we can continue to build upon. We could see how we were finishing last season that we have a lot of positivity going forward, so I’m optimistic. I have high hopes and high ambitions for this season.”
(Top photo: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
