Jonas Eidevall paid the price for setting Arsenal an ambition he could not reach

Eidevall’s resignation, after just four games of the Women’s Super League season, shows a new type of pressure has arrived at the top of women’s football

The reaction on social media may have said it all. The “Jonas Out” brigade was building for weeks, to the point it was painted on a wall outside the Emirates, as Arsenal fans displayed mock P45s in the stands.

In the defeat to Chelsea on Saturday, there were boos following Mayra Ramirez’s early opener and after Sandy Baltimore had the freedom of the pitch to score a second 12 minutes later. At full time, there was no hiding from the resentment, the anger. “I’m hurting, the players are hurting,” Jonas Eidevall said.

He cut a lonely figure on the sidelines, but football is a cruel and unforgiving business. On Tuesday, Eidevall resigned and the reaction of the “Jonas Out” movement was triumphant. Social media can amplify the noise of the minority but among the 45,000 Arsenal fans at the Emirates last weekend, few would have been of the view that the Swede deserved more time after the club’s dismal start to the new season.

Arsenal thanked Eidevall for his “dedication, commitment and role in the growth of the club”, yet that is also what contributed to his downfall.

Over his three years in charge, Eidevall has seen Arsenal transform as a club. Historically the most successful women’s football team in England, Arsenal have led the way into the new era. Their average home attendance is, by far, the largest in the Women’s Super League and the relationship between the team and its supporters has created a fiercely loyal core that now travels to away games in record numbers. On the pitch, Eidevall had been backed by an ambitious approach in the transfer market, assembling a squad of international talent.

All of that, though, only served to increase expectations and build disgruntlement when Arsenal fell short of them. What Arsenal often suffered from most under Eidevall was inconsistency. His sides could sometimes deliver on the big occasions, winning two League Cups, but in a league of fine margins, Eidevall’s Arsenal were not cut out for the title race: the gap to Emma Hayes’s Chelsea was five points, 11 points and one point over his three full seasons in charge. Taking just five points from their first four games of this season is already enough to write off a challenge this year.

Jonas Eidevall has resigned as Arsenal head coach (Arsenal FC/Getty)

What hurt Eidevall most was that the collective disappointment was impossible to escape from. It was there after the dispiriting 0-0 draw with Everton in front of 20,000, or when applauding the Arsenal fans who had travelled to witness the 5-2 capitulation to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, or when Arsenal showed the same flaws against Chelsea in front of 45,000 in a game they had to win. Perhaps there used to be a time when Eidevall could have survived such a start and Arsenal showed him patience. For sporting director Edu and director of women’s football Clare Wheatley, it would have been much easier to ignore when the Arsenal home crowds were smaller and there wasn’t the same level of emotional investment.

It was clear Eidevall needed a good start to the season. The departure of Vivianne Miedema, the club’s popular all-time record WSL goalscorer, heightened the feeling of discontent after Arsenal decided against offering her a new deal. Eidevall, clearly, had no designs to work Miedema into his attacking plans. The signing of Mariona Caldentey from European champions Barcelona was a statement but, so far, Spain’s World Cup winner is just the latest piece in a star-studded attacking line-up that has long been accused of underperforming. Under Eidevall, Arsenal struggled with both breaking teams down and finishing. If wastefulness is outside of a coach’s responsibility, Arsenal were often too slow and predictable on the ball.

Eidevall talks with his team during the Women’s Super League match against Chelsea (Arsenal FC/Getty)

At the other end, Eidevall’s sides often displayed a defensive vulnerability that would cost them in big games, particularly away from home. Arsenal, at least, qualified for the Champions League group stages, avoiding a repeat of last year’s disastrous elimination in the play-off rounds that followed the World Cup.

But the 5-2 defeat in Munich was arguably the lowest point of Eidevall’s tenure. Having conceded three times from corners, the coach said ahead of the visit of Chelsea that his team had spent time working on their defending in training. Arsenal duly conceded from a corner inside four minutes.

Eidevall was a good talker. He was a likeable presence on the BBC’s coverage of the Women’s Euros, won by the Lionesses in 2022. Yet he also had a sharper edge on the touchline, developing rivalries with Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor, who accused him of bullying a fourth official, as well as Chelsea boss Hayes, who claimed he showed “male aggression” following their clash at the League Cup final last season. There was a fire within Eidevall, and his passion certainly fuelled the club’s development. His finest achievement was taking Arsenal to within minutes of the Champions League final in 2023 while negotiating an injury crisis.

Arsenal’s Ireland international Katie McCabe with Eidevall last week (Arsenal FC/Getty)

That was the game where Arsenal played in front of a sold-out Emirates for the first time, setting the ambition which Eidevall ultimately decided he could not reach. Whoever Arsenal replace the Swede with won’t face that pressure immediately and should be afforded time to install the sort of project they want.  But while the next manager of Arsenal may have certain advantages over the rest of the WSL – receiving the most support in the transfer market, playing in front of the most fans at the Emirates – Eidevall’s departure shows they will be working under a different sort of pressure, too.