Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall has not held back in his criticism of the Women’s Super League after Chelsea’s game against Manchester United, scheduled for this Sunday, was postponed last weekend, due to Chelsea playing Real Madrid in the Champions League just two days later.

Eidevall argued that Arsenal are now at a disadvantage, because the Gunners will play Everton on Sunday before travelling to Bayern Munich on Wednesday and then ending the week against Chelsea at Emirates Stadium.

However, the Swede believes the postponement is a result of “amateurish behaviour” that negatively affects English clubs competing in the Champions League.

“It’s not a good situation. There are 16 teams involved in the Champions League Group Stage. How many of those teams are playing on Sunday the 16th of October? We are, so that’s one. If it was only us it would be an Arsenal problem, but it’s also Manchester City playing. So it tells you that the only teams are playing are English teams. The only other team that was scheduled to play on the Sunday was Chelsea. So out of the 16 teams, 13 teams were scheduled to play on the Friday or Saturday, and the three English teams were all scheduled to play on the Sunday. With each of those teams having a 50 percent chance or risk, depending on how you see it, to play their game on the Tuesday. That has been the information that has been there for months. 

“That we have a league organisation that doesn’t act proactively on these matters, it’s damaging for the fans. This time it doesn’t concern Arsenal fans but it does concern other clubs in the league. The fans are the backbone to what we’re trying to build, and one of the biggest reasons to what we’re doing and where we are. I think that it is simply unacceptable to have people’s money and time treated in that way beforehand, and it’s simply not good enough from the league. 

“Then you come to the second part and say ‘do the league want the English club teams to be successful at European level?’ I would hope the answer to that would be yes, but the action shows differently. It shows that this is not one of their priorities, to have the club teams be successful. That is very negative for English women’s club football. It’s very important that this is the first time that three English teams reached the group stage, and that should be something that we should celebrate. 

“Instead, it becomes a problem, and I know this time it’s Arsenal, Chelsea, City, but actually it’s very important for the whole league that we are successful in Europe, because we can improve the coefficient. It’s gonna mean for seasons to come that it also gets better for other English teams that qualify for the European tournaments. 

“And then my third thing with this is that now obviously it’s even worse for us, because of this amateurish behaviour with not having a proactive plan, and taking away a game like Chelsea’s and postponing that. It now puts us into a situation where we play Sunday, we then play Wednesday away against Bayern Munich, who doesn’t play Sunday. They play Saturday because they have a league organisation that sees the value of getting their club teams a better position. And then we play Saturday against Chelsea at the Emirates and we have considerably less preparation time than the opponents. We are handling a sporting disadvantage in two huge games for us.

“Now, you know me, and even better you know my players and team. We’re not a team who are gonna lie down and give up just because situations are tough. We’re gonna dig deeper than we have ever done before and we’re gonna try and fuel our performances from that.

“But what needs to change, I think the approach to Champions League football and the proactiveness with the respect to the supporters, it has to change. And it’s not good enough to blame it on UEFA, because everyone across Europe has had the same information for so long. And the only one that hasn’t acted on that information is the WSL.”

?"???? ?????? ?? ??????? ??? ???? ????? ?????!"On the latest episode of 90min Talks, @GirlsontheBall, @CardyFreddie, and @MeganAHumphrey dive into the postponed @BarclaysWSL clash between Chelsea and Manchester United, discussing the wider… pic.twitter.com/yBy3ukyI32

— 90min (@90min_Football) October 3, 2024