Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall stressed the importance of a positive mindset on the way to the Continental Tire League Cup final against series trophy winner Chelsea on Sunday.
Eidevall’s side faces a Blues team for Women since the Gunners last achieved silverware in 2019. Super League three times champion and won two FA Cups and two League Cups.
Last Sunday, Arsenal lost 2-0 to Chelsea in the fifth round of the FA Cup, their third consecutive defeat to Emma Hayes in this match, which included the postponed final in December 2021, a few months after Eidevall. he is assigned.
Eidevall was asked at a press conference ahead of this weekend’s game. Selhurst Park Regarding the rivals’ Chelsea’s accustomed to winning mentality, he said: “It’s learning and growing.
“You’re right, Chelsea have won a lot. If you look internationally, they have a habit of losing when they play important games.
“If you ask Chelsea about that, they’ll say our next step is to be a team that can win consistently at international level and they think it’s possible.”
“Of course, we think this is possible for us, both domestically and internationally. So that’s the mentality we have.
“If you want your mentality to be almost imprisoned and you say ‘this will be difficult, it will be difficult for us’, it will be difficult and difficult, but you need to have that belief, that optimism. Everything can change, you can learn, you can grow, and just because it was like that yesterday, it can be different tomorrow, if you work to make it different. That’s what we’re aiming for.”
Eidevall was then asked if he had watched Chelsea, who were defeated in 2014 in the League Cup final last year. Manchester City Lifting the trophies gave Arsenal every possible fuel for Sunday and said: “No. I don’t know if I’ve seen Chelsea lift any trophies. I think I tried to escape by watching those moments.
“It’s not about revenge on any team or me at Arsenal, it’s about what we want to create together and the memories we want to create. So that’s all we focus on.
“Chelsea is clearly doing that very, very well here, it’s very impressive to win that much. But we have to focus on what we can do, not show them too much respect and try our best to win the game.”
Eidevall also spoke about the ex Leicester boss Lydia Bedford is assigned to the coaching staff as one of her assistants.
“Lydia works as an individual focused assistant coach,” he said. “We see the individual contribution we want from each player on offense and defense, do we understand that?
“I think it’s very valuable, it’s really valuable that someone with head coach experience like Lydia influences the game on an individual level. I think it’s a great addition.
“I think it’s important to have diversity in all workplaces, both gender and race and from different backgrounds because it helps to connect with different people, have different perspectives and different competencies.
“First of all, we hired Lydia because she’s such a good coach, but I think it’s important that we have both male and female coaches for both more indirect purposes and really direct purposes. I think it has a lot of positive aspects.”