Champions League collapse puts Jonas Eidevall on the brink
Arsenal's 5-2 humbling against Bayern Munich is asking serious questions of the already under-fire manager.
The enduring memory will be Arsenal’s catastrophic second half. On a humiliating night for the club and manager Jonas Eidevall, the opening match of the Gunners’ UEFA Champions League group stage ended Bayern Munich 5-2 Arsenal.
Off the back of Sunday's insipid goalless draw against Everton, a trip to the champions of Germany provided the Gunners with an immediate opportunity to get their season back on track and relieve pressure on the under-fire Eidevall.
Instead, they suffered a defeat so chastening that the main question surrounding the manager's future is not if he will be sacked, but when.
Under pressure
Ahead of kickoff, Eidevall made five changes to the side that had toiled against the Toffees, with Manuela Zinsberger, Leah Williamson, Lia Walti, Caitlin Foord and Stina Blackstenius coming into the starting XI.
For a time, it looked as though the changes had paid off. After an end-to-end start to the game, Arsenal began to assert their dominance. Eiedvall’s decision to start Mariona Caldentey on the right paid dividends as she drifted into the box to put the visitors ahead with a cool finish, after a good cutback from Katie McCabe.
With his side ahead and in control of the match, it looked as though the Swede was on his way to affording himself a stay of execution as halftime approached. That was until Arsenal conceded the first of three headed goals on the night.
Having initially dealt with a Bayern corner, Arsenal were unable to adjust in the second phase, leaving Blackstenius as the quasi-right-back as Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir got on the end of a pinpoint Georgia Stanway cross to head the home side level.
Most of the damage to Arsenal's pride, and Eidevall's prospects of staying in his job, would be done in the space of the of thirteen shambolic second-half minutes. By the time Pernille Harder poked home her hat-trick — Bayern's fifth, on 86 minutes — Arsenal's strong start to the match felt like a distant memory.
After the two sides traded goals between the 56th and 65th minutes, Arsenal experienced the sort of collapse that gets a manager sacked. With each goal conceded, Arsenal's defending would get progressively worse.
Yes, Carolin Simon's corner delivery for Bayern's third was excellent, but the ease with which Harder was able to attack the ball and head home was scarcely believable on first viewing. Harder could surely not believe her luck when she was able to waltz into the box unchallenged twice more to complete a quick-fire treble.
"We played a good first half. I think Bayern came out with a lot of energy in the second half and they were very effective on set pieces. We weren’t good at defending those, and that’s why we couldn’t get a better result today,” Eidevall said in his post-match press conference.
Intensity missing?
The damning truth for Arsenal is that the manner in which they conceded the final three goals of the match showed not just a lack of organisation, but a lack of intensity.
Eidevall was dismissive of the notion that his idea wasn't getting across to his players: "I don’t think that (Arsenal's defending) is a result of miscommunication or a lack of clarity of the idea of what we need to do with those situations".
This begs the question, if the manager's instructions are clear, why are they not being carried out?
One line of thinking is that an aging squad is not physically up to the system that the manager is trying to implement. After all, the average age of Arsenal's starting XI tonight was 29. The less forgiving view is that the players have simply downed tools.
Either way, the levels of intensity from the players on the pitch tonight dropped to a level that many supporters would deem unacceptable. It may be a forgone conclusion that there is no way back at this point for Eidevall, but some of the senior players will surely be thinking long and hard about their performances tonight. When the intensity drops to the level it did tonight, it can be a long road back – whoever is in the dugout.
Difficult conversations will surely be had among the club's hierarchy too. While Arsenal's problems against Bayern were defensive ones, the games that preceded their trip to Munich painfully exposed the lack of pace within their ranks.
The decision to (unsuccessfully) throw the summer transfer budget at Kiera Walsh while the squad has been crying out for a pacey winger has not aged well. Beyond this summer, Arsenal's recruitment across recent years has been hit and miss. Most Arsenal fans would be hard pressed to name more than two players signed in the last two years who have been a resounding success.
The last time (before Wednesday night) that Arsenal conceded five goals in a game was in a 5–2 defeat away at Manchester City in September 2017. On that occasion, then-manager Pedro Martinez Losa left his post less than a month later.
Seven years on after a defeat by the same scoreline, Eidevall's position as manager is in danger of suffering a a similarly fatal blow.
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I know much of the internet is in "he must go now" mode, but I'd be surprised if there were any changes before the international break. And I suspect more depends on the West Ham game than the Chelsea one. Btw, this is different on whether I think there *should* be a change.
As a WSL neutral its a shame to see Arsenal not performing well, not because of some divine right but because they are the leaders in driving attendance and the long road to better equity. I don't think a hasty change at the helm is really going to help much, Arsenal would be better served I think looking for a well considered long term replacement. To be honest a top 3 finish and decent cup runs is probably a realistic target for the season. The lack of depth in the managerial pool is a limiting factor.