Arsenal Women's manager Jonas Eidevall believes he was vindicated by surprisingly leaving out striker Vivianne Miedema in the Gunners UEFA Women's Champions League thrashing of eight-time winners Lyon.
Caitlin Foord and Beth Mead both scored twice on Wednesday night with Miedema's replacement, Frida Maanum, also netting in a 5-1 win. Miedema, who has 120 goals in 150 appearances, was a surprise exclusion from Eidevall's starting lineup, but the Swede believes he was more than justified in this decision.
"Yeah and also Frida is one of our players with the strongest running ability as well," he said in his post-match press conference. "I think she carried out that role tonight that required an extreme amount of running, because you basically have to defend two players the whole time. I think she was brilliant tonight - both off the ball and on. I think it was an excellent performance from her and she should be really proud and happy."
This was the heaviest home defeat in Lyon's history, a feat Eidevall put down to his player's effective play and effort in their opening Group C encounter.
He continued: "We were very effective tonight but as I told the players after, I think they worked extremely hard to carry out the game plan both in offence and in defence, and when you do that sometimes, these things happen.
"But of course, it's a special night - we know that as well. I think it was a well-deserved win but of course, 5-1 is an unexpected result against a very, very strong team, so I'm very happy about that. I think I've spoken about this before: you don’t always get rewarded for doing all the right things in football but tonight we got rewarded and that I think that will increase the likelihood of doing the right things again in the future."
Up next for the north Londoners in this congested fixture schedule are Matt Beard's Liverpool, this Sunday at Prenton Park. Despite the potency shown by his side against Lyon, something which was not present in the fortuitous 1-0 win against Reading at the weekend, Eidevall was quick to bring his side back down to earth post-match.
Responding to a question about this win proving any team can be beaten by his high-flying side, the 39-year-old said: "Of course, it is very nice to be able to get a result like this. But you're not entitled to play like this every game you play.
"It starts with your preparation. It starts with the way you train. It starts with ensuring that everybody works with the game plan and has big belief in that. And that part you have to do for every game. Nothing comes for free in football, you're not entitled to anything."
