[The Athletic] Inside Jonas Eidevall’s Arsenal exit: Tension over style, farewell speech and succession planning

by Previous_Smile9278

10 Comments

  1. interesting article honestly. talks about how there is some awareness of wheatley in her job, the fact that arsenal have been relying more on the brand of the club than results or the team itself for some of the newer signings, and that stoney is not seen as a candidate for the job

  2. Previous_Smile9278 on

    Key points

    – Many players not surprised by his decision to resign, pressure had mounted and felt like a fresh start was needed. Higher ups also unsurprised.

    – Made difficult decision to resign as he wanted to give team best chance to succeed.

    – Several sources said that the manager had lost the dressing room.

    – Recruitment process did not have to be started from scratch due to team’s poor run of form; had begun before that.

    – Casey Stoney not considered a candidate at this point. Search for new coach led by Wheatley, supported by Edu. Not expected imminently.

    – Emotional moment for some players and staff when Jonas announced he was leaving.

    – xG improved over course of Eidevall’s tenure, however ability to finish chances trended downwards throughout his time. Not good enough when Chelsea and City significantly outperform theirs.

    – An agent described a very talented team looking ‘a shadow of themselves’, other sources felt players stagnated rather than developed under Eidevall.

    – Tension surrounding playing style, which didn’t suit more creative players (named Little, Mead and Caldentey). Included Lacasse’s comments about feeling restricted with Arsenal’s style. Also tension over inconsistent team selections: players left confused over their roles and the pecking order in the squad.

    – Dressing room less unified as his tenure went on, morale down.

    – Views on Clare Wheatley mixed. Seen by some player agents as well liked and efficient, good operator, however some others saw inconsistent communication.

    – According to one agent, view started to emerge that there was a brand reliance to attract players.

    – Miedema’s exit created tension for the fanbase. Arsenal chose not to offer her a contract, but she also felt unsupported.

    – Managed to beat Chelsea and Man City, unlike Montemurro. However inconsistency meant unable to meet the potential it was felt they had.

  3. “boat driving itself” shit is what i’ve been dreading to hear all this time. very concerning.

  4. I mean the creating chances but being unable to finish isn’t a Jonas problem.

    As for the pecking order confusion… the guy had very consistent starters/faves so.

    Rest is meh.

  5. Jesterhead1993 on

    This is a far stretch, but I’m weirdly confident that they will go for Martin Ho from SK Brann. He was at the game against Vålerenga.

  6. ProfessionalMenu747 on

    Casey Stoney not considered a candidate at this point.

    Yeah, hopefully “at this point” turns into ever. Don’t know her, but what other people here described her and her playstyle as, she doesn’t fit to how – at least I – want to watch an Arsenal team.

  7. ProfessionalMenu747 on

    “Made difficult decision to resign as he wanted to give team best chance to succeed.”

    Love how (besides whenever he screamed at that one player years ago) he usually handles everything with class, yet when it was announced that he resigned many people said he did it to save face?!

    Its not like a resignation looks better than being fired on his CV. You can’t get much bigger in terms of club than Arsenal in the womens game. Everyone knows he didn’t get results here, that doesn’t just go away because he resigned and didn’t get fired.

    He at least left some money on the table (fair enough after the club gave him that contract extension to try again this season and it didn’t work out). If they had to fire him he def would have got more.

    Anyway, I liked him for the most part even though I thought he was hard to listen to (tone of voice and speech patterns). Wonder where he will go to next and if he wins there. If he wins something before us, can’t wait for the “He’s thriving without Arsenal comments” like some of the ex players get who are doing good atm. lmao

  8. I keep thinking that Arsenal and KSE wanted to do with Jonas what they’ve done with Mikel and the core of their coaches elsewhere: hire young, analytical, smart and drive coaches and stick with them through the bad times until they got to the good.

    After all, they did it with Mikel and that has worked out. So it should work out in the case of Jonas, right?

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