Arsenal women's boss doubles down on Emma Hayes after Chelsea incident - 'You need to understand'

Arsenal women's boss doubles down on Emma Hayes after Chelsea incident - 'You need to understand'

WATCH NOW: GB News sport roundup as Arsenal boss speaks on Emma Hayes

Lewis Winter

By Lewis Winter


Published: 12/04/2024

- 12:46

Jonas Eidevall has a clear opinion after he clashed with the Chelsea boss

Arsenal women's boss Jonas Eidevall has doubled down on his verdict that Emma Hayes was 'very irresponsible' after last month's Continental Cup final.

Chelsea manager Hayes pushed her rival after losing at Molineux but it was her comments that caused particular controversy.


Arsenal won 1-0 in extra-time to beat their London opponents and win the competition for the second year in a row.

Hayes was unhappy with Eidevall's behaviour in the technical area and shoved him in the immediate aftermath of the game.

Jonas Eidevall and Emma Hayes

Arsenal women's boss Jonas Eidevall has doubled down on criticism of Emma Hayes

Sky Sports/Getty

She then claimed the Swede showed 'male aggression' in her post-match press conference, comments that Eidevall branded 'irresponsible' at the time.

He has spoken to the media for the first time since that day ahead of Arsenal's WSL match against Bristol City this weekend.

Eidevall insisted it was a shame that his players' performances were marred by what happened afterwards.

He said: "I think that was a real pity because obviously it was such a nice moment for the team and the club to win the second trophy in two consecutive seasons, and in the way that we did it.

"With players performances that I thought were incredible but sort of drowned in the noise. I thought that was a real pity.

"There's so many of these individual stories and I thought they performed at a really high level.

"And if there is only one thing that I think that had some dark shadows over the game is that they didn't get fully in the spotlight like they deserved."

Hayes escaped punishment from the FA, something which didn't surprise Eidevall.

The 41-year-old insisted he was happy with how he behaved and wouldn't do anything differently.

He added: "I'm very happy with the way I conducted myself. Emotions are of course high in football.

"There are two really competitive teams and they want to win so sometimes one team tries to stretch the rules and that's fine - that's what we have the referees for and they made sure we stayed to the agreed rules.

"So from my perspective, I wouldn't change anything.

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Jonas Eidevall and Emma Hayes

Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall clashed with Chelsea manager Emma Hayes

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"Not really [surprised Hayes wasn't punished]. I thought the comments that I heard after the game were very irresponsible.

"They were not mirroring the conduct that I had in the technical area.

"That I thought was irresponsible, but that's all I basically think about it.

"The other parts when we shake hands after the game that's a very minor incident, for me that's nothing."

Jonas Eidevall and Emma Hayes

Arsenal beat Chelsea women in extra-time in the Continental Cup final

Getty

Eidevall says managers have a responsibility to be careful with what they say in a clear message to Hayes.

He said: "I think when you make comments about other persons, you have to take into consideration what effects that they can have.

"Especially when you're a leader, you need to be very good with your words. You need to understand the consequences of both your actions and your language.

"That's why I think it's really important that we treat each other with a lot of respect and that we stay at facts as much as possible and don't get too emotional."

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