Every word of Jonas' pre-Chelsea press conference

Jonas Eidevall was back in front of the media at Sobha Realty Training Centre for his pre-Chelsea press conference on Friday.

Our women's head coach looked ahead to Saturday's game at Emirates Stadium, shared the latest team news and more.

Here's everything he had to say on the following subjects...

on the latest team news:
We have really good availability for the game. Laura Wienroither is still out and is going to be out for a couple more weeks but, apart from that, really good selection availability.

on the lessons learned from our defeat to Bayern Munich:
I think it’s the same thing as I said after the game. I think our first half, in many parts, we had a decent game of football from our side. We obviously are really disappointed with how we acted in the last 15-20 minutes of the game. I think the last two goals we conceded shouldn’t happen. They shouldn’t look like that and that of course leaves us with a bitter feeling, but that’s a tough learning point for us to take but we need to do that in order to get to where we want to be and we need to look forward to the game tomorrow.

on how things stand for us at the moment:
We obviously played quite a lot of competitive games compared to other clubs so far in the season and it feels like we’ve been together for a long time here now. It’s almost three months here since we started pre-season, given that they took away the international break in September. I think, as I said before, we know in every competition we’re in it’s going to be high competition, it’s going to be high challenges and if we want to be successful we need to go game by game and having the right focus for those games. We need to put learnings into place quickly and we need to develop as a team and that’s exactly what we need to do.

on if it’s a must-win game against Chelsea:
Every game that is ahead of us is a must-win game. That needs to be the mentality that we have. Nothing else should please us. We should always go out to try to win football matches.

on if he’s concerned about the team’s performances:
I think you can look at things from different perspectives. Of course, the main objective for us in this pre-season at the start of the season was to qualify for the Champions League group stage. We’ve done that. We want to be competing all the way in the league and there is no way you can tell me that the start to the league doesn’t allow us to do that. We’re in a position to do that. Yes we’re disappointed with the start to the group stage in the Champions League and yes our ambition is to go through and go to the quarter-finals stage. There are five games left in that group stage and we need to put our focus to what we have in front of us and we still have all the possibilities open to us but, as I said, we need to learn, we need to progress, and of course we need to perform every single time we play.

on what to expect from Sonia Bompastor’s team:
Obviously they haven’t played so many games. It’s not been a lot of competitive games to see them play this season, but the games that they have played, you can see that she’s set a clear trademark on how they’re playing, both in and out of possession. I think they look like a really good football team, so it’s going to be a match between two really good football teams and I look forward to that challenge.

on if there’s been an edge to training:
We’ve only had one training and that was today but it’s been really good. The players are really focused, we’re really determined to put absolutely everything we have onto the pitch tomorrow at Emirates Stadium.

on if we can lean on our 10-match winning streak last season:
I have a really good group of players and staff. They’re resilient, they bounce back from performances that we’re not happy about. We learn, we progress as a team and I think what was important that time and what will be important now is to think about the future, think about the performance that we have ahead of us.  We know what we need to do and that’s always a good starting point. Now it’s up to us to do it.

on our record against bigger sides:
Like I said before, every game we should go in with the mentality that we must win the game. I said that after the Everton game I was not happy with the energy or the dedication that we played the first half with. I think we finished the game like we should, but if we had started having that urgency before I’m very confident that we would’ve found the result we wanted in that game as well. For me, it’s not to single out between and trying to make a ranking between different opponents and how we play. We need to be at our best every time we have the privilege to represent this fantastic football club and that’s what we need to show tomorrow.

on critics of our performances:
Yes, it's hard for me to sort of say to critics, because I don't necessarily know what they are criticising. But, as I said before, I think the most pressure comes from ourselves. If I talk about me personally, I set incredibly high standards on myself, and I think I'm going to be my, by far, the fiercest critic of my performances, and the team performances and pressure is not only a privilege, I believe it's a necessity. If you're going to find high performances in football, and if you want to be competing in all four competitions, you need to be able to handle and deal with pressure and making sure that pressure gets the best version out of you. So, I don't mind that that's part of the game and part of the privilege in representing this football club.

on the feeling among the team:
Dedicated. Focused. Thinking everything about what we're going to do here for the game tomorrow. It's a very, very dedicated and focused playing group that's going to put all the energy on the pitch tomorrow.

on having thousands of fans at Emirates Stadium for a derby clash:
I mean, especially with our fans, that's really one of the most hurtful things, is to to see us play like we did the last 15 minutes in Munich away, when we have such a good away allocation, and they're travelling, and they're putting all their time and commitment into supporting us. We want them to be proud, we want them to be happy. That's such a big part of the motivation that we have going into a really strong performance tomorrow as well, is to make sure that every single fan turning up there is enjoying it, is feeling proud of us as a team, and we want to put that thing right. So yes, we really look forward to getting another opportunity to do that together with our fans.

on how Mariona Caldentey has settled into the team:
Mariona has been a fantastic addition for us, not only as a player but also as a person. I really enjoy working with her. She gives us a lot of things, not only from a player perspective, but also from a culture perspective. Her winning mentality is one of the best that I've ever had the privilege to work with. So, I’m really, really happy that we've got her here. 

on our position around fan interactions at games:
Like we said before, we value our connection with our supporters so much, and they are so, so important for the journey and for the development of this team. Then, of course, there is always a balance between what we need to do in order to provide our players the safety and security that they need, and obviously that demand increases when the amount of interest increases as well, and we need to find a balance between these two interests. But as a club, we're monitoring the situation and if and when we decide to do anything differently, then we're going to communicate that. But now, we're happy to act the way we do.

on what we expect from Chelsea:
Like I said, I think the sample size is really small to make those assumptions of if they have done any changes. But I think if you just look very broadly from a playing style perspective, they've been a little bit happier in the games I've seen so far to remain compact and not going up and press aggressively so much as Chelsea did last season, and also been maybe a little bit less direct in their attacking play, and keeping the ball a little bit.

on Lina Hurtig:
She's very, very close to being able to make to make the squad. And I haven't made my final decision about the squad yet, but if she doesn't make this squad, then I think she has a very, very good possibility to make the squad next Wednesday, against Vålerenga.

on Chelsea having had an extra rest day ahead of Saturday:
I think I've made my point very clear in what I think about the scheduling, but I'm not going to waste any more words or any emotion on that now, because we need to put 100% focus on our performance.