Every word from Jonas and Laia's Rosenborg presser

Jonas Eidevall has held a press conference ahead of our UWCL qualifier against Rosenborg.

Joined by Laia Codina, our head coach fielded questions on our win over Rangers, team news and what to expect from our next opponent. 

Here's everything they had to say:

On team news…

JE: Beth Mead has returned to the squad.

On whether Steph Catley has a return date…

KE: No, not really but she’s not going to be available for tomorrow.

On making a confident start on Wednesday…

JE: It was a great start. I think the players were excellent, and being connected and being alert from the kick-off, both on and off the ball. I think the team maintained that standard through the whole game, which is sometimes a difficult thing to do in football, because you can so easily come into a spell of five minutes where you become a little bit complacent, and then you give the opponent a moment to go into the game. 

I think that was a really impressive part of our performance. I don't think we allowed Rangers any moment in the game, and that's very difficult to do as a football team, so I think the team should be really proud of that.

On what to expect from Rosenborg…

JE: They beat a really strong opponent and that demands a lot of respect. I think we saw them as a team, really strong on set pieces and really well organised. You could see that they have a really good culture within the team as they were handling really adverse situations and moments against Atletico with a really good focus on what they could control.

So we know we're gonna play against a tough opponent. That’s how the Champions League should be. It should be tough games. It should be tough challenges. And that's why we want to play in the Champions League, because we want to play against the best. We focus on our performance, and if we can do well again, then we have a great chance of progressing in the Champions League.

On practicing penalties…

JE: We've done it in ways where we trying to individualise for the team. Of course, we have a process of what we do if it comes to penalty shootouts, but we're also trying to find a way to take penalties where we try to simulate the pressure a little bit in what would happen in a penalty shootout. Of course, any team that's going to win anything is probably going to go through the penalty shootout sometimes. And I certainly believe that there are things we can control in that.

On how important a strong start is…

JE: You can see the way we played against Rangers and how much it means for us to be playing in Europe. Now we need to do that again.

On our dominant performance against Rangers…

LC: I think that we played a really good game on Wednesday, and we really showed that we want to qualify for the Champions League. I think that tomorrow we just need to be at least the same level that we were on Wednesday. I think that our aggressiveness with and without the ball was one of our main strengths on Wednesday, and I think that we'll need the same tomorrow.

On whether Laia gave Mariona any advice ahead of her debut…

LC: She doesn't need advice! You could see how well she's fit in the team, and I think that in just maybe two weeks, she's doing well. Her teammates will understand how she plays, and she will understand how we want to play so but I think that on Wednesday, with her beginning at Arsenal, that was good enough! Tomorrow we will have another opportunity.

On whether Jonas was surprised by the Rosenborg v Atletico result…

JE: Not really, because I don't think about it that way. We knew all the way that we had two potential opponents. We've been putting equal resources into scouting both opponents by watching the teams live or on video and getting data on them. So we just had one file A and one file B, and so when we saw the final penalty kick, we know "Okay, it's going to be this." Perfect. Then our attention gets 100% Rosenborg and that's how unemotional that is.

On whether we’ll follow Chelsea’s stance on post-match autographs…

JE: This is always the difficulty when you speak about what other clubs do because you never know the full context. I do think the supporters are playing such an important role in the growth of women's football, and the connection that the supporters feel to the players and to the teams is obviously really important.

And if I speak about our supporters, they're such a massive part of the journey that we're doing as a team, and their support means everything to us. And of course, we want to find ways to to repay that and to show our supporters how much their engagement means to to the team. Now, if I look at it from Arsenal's perspective, I always think that we as a club have been at the forefront in terms of providing security. 

We’re obviously used to playing a lot of games at Boreham Wood with full stadiums in order to make sure that is a safe environment for our players and for staff, but also for our supporters. We have had examples of in the past where things have happened in the stadium and we’ve had an organisation to be able to help supporters in need as well. So the stadium becomes safe for everyone, that's the priority. Then of course it's a scalable problem where the time needs to work out with a lot of people that want a little bit of that time. We will obviously as a club take our decisions, but we will always try and do that with the connection to our supporters absolutely in front of mind, together with the safety of our players and staff.

Laia on her partnership with Leah Williamson:

LC: I think that not only with Leah, I feel that I understand Lotte and with Katie Reid. They are great central backs and I think that is something great that we have here and we talk a lot about each other. It doesn't matter who is playing, and that is easier for the players in the starting 11 but with Leah, we could prepare during the pre-season. But that was the same with Lotte when Leah was out and also with Katie Reid. I think that the competition is high but we are here at Arsenal and it is what it is.

On Wednesday it was me in the starting XI but you never know so we have to keep pushing and whoever is going to be with me at centre-back or maybe I'm on the bench, the good thing is that we are always training at a high level and helping each other. I think that is something really good and I really appreciate my teammates.

on whether Laia enjoys competition for places:

LC: People who know me and the staff here can feel that I really like competition. It's something that helps us to grow, and as a player, you really appreciate it. Also, we have Amanda - now she's out but for a good reason, but I'm not going to speak individually, I think that I can speak for all the team that having this competition is something good for the team.

on whether Jonas is expecting similar tactics from Rosenborg:

JE: It was apparent when I watched the game between Atleti and Rosenborg that Rosenborg were not set on one idea for the whole game - they had a lot of different moments in the game which is trying to periodise their tactics, changing their line of engagement in pressing, and changing their tactics - for example in how they were playing out from the goal-kicks. 

I always think that is a good way of changing momentum as a team, and you could feel that they were doing that with a clear and structured plan on how to periodise the game. So I expect nothing less from the game tomorrow, they probably will have just as good or an even better plan. They're obviously filled with belief that it worked last time, so we need to be at our very best.

Jonas on Mariona Caldentey’s recruitment and whether we had to adapt our tactics:

JE: I think it's a combination of these things, and saying what do we need as a team. That's always the starting point when we look at recruitment and building a squad for the future. There's never going to be a player that is an exact carbon copy of all the different qualities that you start looking for, and maybe you will find players that would give you even more in other areas that you hadn’t even thought was possible. 

Mariona ticks all the key qualities that we were looking for when we're looking to recruit a wide forward, but then when a player like that becomes available, we say: ‘Okay, there is a clear possibility that we can get her to Arsenal.’ Now we also have to think about other ways and say: ‘Okay she gives us this, but how do we get the best out of her as a player’, so we're not only thinking about recruiting someone that needs to fit within a box. 

That process now becomes getting something I want, but I also have to give off on other areas so we can fit the players in as well as possible. That's not only for Mariona, that's for all the players that we have in our team because we want to try and create an environment where they are as good as possible with their qualities, but there's no doubt that Mariona has qualities when she comes inside the pitch and playing here that is really good, and of course very useful for us.

How settled Laia is now and whether she felt she could have played more at Barcelona:

LC: Honestly I didn’t think about Mapi [Leon] being injured because I really felt that I was in the right place, even if I wasn't playing maybe what I wanted, but I think that it was just time. I have to say that until December, I didn't feel that I was really settled, but now I feel that I'm the player that I want to be. I'm a player who needs to speak a lot on and off the pitch and maybe because of the language I needed more time for that. 

I think now you can see that I communicate a lot on the pitch, I like to lead a little bit like the whole team, and I think that it's easier now that I can speak to play better. I'm really happy, I said when I came back from the Olympics that I really wanted to start this season because I think that it can be a great season. We have our goals, and one of the goals starts tomorrow.

On getting the right answers from pre-season…

JE: When you look at football, I want to see the questions. I feel like you have to look at things from a quite open perspective and you have to have a really clear idea of how we should be looking in an ideal world at all these different situations. And then you see the team play. 

The game is like "In these moments, we are here" but maybe we're not able to be consistent and you have to try and figure out why that is. Is it the tactical understanding? Is it the technical execution? Sometimes there is no point in working with something that hasn't become apparent in the team, but it's not working because no one is motivated to work on it. 

Sometimes you have to wait for the right moment for it to happen so everyone understands that this is really important for us to win matches, so let's work on that because we experienced it. So that's the idea. The idea during the preseason was to make sure that we were exposed to playing against both the back four and the back five because we knew Rangers predominantly had played a back four. But I remember the coach that they had, the last time we played her in a cup game in England, she changed formation in that game.  

So I had a quite good idea that she would change formation against us as well to a back five. So that's why I wanted to make sure that we as a team experienced both a back four and a back five. So when the game started, we knew what to do as a team no matter what they were doing. So that was the aim of the pre-season. With the way you guys were playing Wednesday, it felt like that was working but now it's another opponent and then a new challenge.

How do you go about addressing the consistency?

JE: I think consistency comes from us having a really clear collective idea of how we want to approach a situation in some moments in football. And if everybody has the same idea of how to do that, that's really going to help to be consistent. 

Most of the time when you're not consistent as a team, it's because people might have two really good ideas, but they're different and then we're not on the same page on how we're going to create things. And that especially happens in pressurised moments. And then we just come down to individual decision making and we have a hard time understanding each other. So to have a starting point for us as a team and a really clear collective idea that we believe fully in, the more consistent we are going to be as a team as well.

On how Laia’s confidence has grown…

LC: I don’t know why but after Christmas my mind changed. I understood English better, and then coming back here on Wednesday and having that moment where I was good in those minutes in that game, I think that it can really show what I’ve been working on. Because I’ve really felt in training recently, I was that Laia that we saw on Wednesday. 

Sometimes it can be more difficult to find that version, but on Wednesday we could see it and I really hope it can continue to happen during the season. Also, in the team if I speak, or if I tell them how to press or how we can change our build-up play, I think I’m now in a position where I can say everything on the pitch. So, I hope to be really helpful for the team as that’s why I also like to communicate on the pitch, as I think it’s really helpful for my teammates. 

On how Rosenborg can help us prepare for the WSL season…

JE: I think you’re encapsulating football right now because this is why football is the greatest game on Earth. It’s not as simple as needing to play against one situation as a team - there are hundreds of different situations that you a) need to have an idea about how you’re going to play against and then b) you need to make sure that idea now is collective and that it brings the best out of the players and then you can add the technical aspects of doing so. 

I think that’s why football is such a demanding game and that’s the reason why we train almost all the time, and why we see the team more than we see our families. It’s because we’re obsessed with the game and because we’re trying and like any other football team around the world, we’re trying to get a real understanding of this very demanding, challenging and dynamic game. Tomorrow will be another example of that. But that is the lifelong quest to control football. 

On how our substitutions can change the game…

JE: It is. It also makes it more challenging if you look at it the other way around. I think football has come far away from how it was looking a couple of decades ago, where some things would always stay the same and the players would play the same formation and they were doing the same things and if things weren’t working then maybe they would do something else in the last 15 minutes of the game. 

Now, it’s much more common that one team might change three or four times during the first half in how they build up, how they press, what they prioritise and how they try to find ways to get momentum. So, you always need to stay alert as the opposition and keep thinking, if they’re changing then what do we need to do or what are doing that is not working and what do we then need to change? 

It’s a constant fluid battle on the pitch and that’s reactive when it’s coming from the coach on what we try to do and that’s what, again it’s this collectively, is to try to make it proactive so the players can solve it in the moment because that’s when you can really get benefits in football. It’s one thing if similar situations might happen over and over again in football, but exactly that situation, it’s only going to happen once and it’s only fair to solve it like that on that one time, but next time it will be slightly different. 

On whether Laia enjoys watching our attackers…

LC: Yes I do. I enjoy it. I try to not enjoy it too much because I have to keep my focus and it’s something that we are working on in terms of managing the game and always being one step ahead in the defensive line. So, I feel quite responsible with that, so I will try to enjoy- and do enjoy watching my teammates a lot when they start to pass, pass, pass, because I would say that’s in my Spanish DNA. But I also have to do my job because I would say that sometimes it’s more important what you do without the ball, than what you do with it. So, I try to do both enjoy the game but also manage the line. 

On how it felt to score two goals against Southampton…

LC: It was good, it was incredible, but I really want and I hope they are not the last ones this season. It’s something that I want to improve in the set pieces because I think it can make such a difference in games that are quite tight in the results, and I want to be a player that can make a big difference in those moments and help the team in those cases.