“So she is one of the best strikers in the world.”
Sheffield. Jonas Edval’s comments about Fridolina Rulfo on the BBC made headlines.
For Sportbladet, the Arsenal coach develops logic around the player – and pays tribute to the two national team captains in tonight’s semi-finals.
These are the two best coaches in this tournament, says Edevaal of Peter Gerhardsson and Sarena Wegmann.
First of all: Jonas Edvall knows how Sweden’s defense shaped in the semi-final against England:
One hundred percent triple back line.
why?
– Because the three-back line gives you a natural cover on this triangle that England keeps going in and trying to load the outside with. Which consists of a winger, attacking winger and attacking midfielder.
Edvall leads down the right with Lucy Bronze, Beth Mead and Georgia Stanway.
– In addition, the three-back line gives you the advantage that you have a striker on your wing who will naturally be in a good defensive position as a full-back because defenders in England are not attackers. It’s a bit more balanced, it adapts well to having an outside attacker in that area.
Something Spain made good use of in the quarter-finals.
– Now it was their full back, but they played with the outside defenders who are very aggressive in their defensive game, Olga Carmona was against Beth Meade, then the question comes: who is covering up behind the full back? Idival asks.
If you play with a four-way linebacker, it’s going to be about choosing whether you have to move the center back to do that or move a midfielder down, which is a very difficult communicative task, and I don’t do that. I really think Sweden has the kinds of players to be able to cover those surfaces.
“Operating Rolfö as a back arm”
The Arsenal boss notes that Joanna Retting-Canried has a lot of experience playing right-back.
– But I could also have imagined seeing Fridolina Rulfo playing at left-back. There you can use all her running power and strength and you’ll naturally get a little bit more surface to run on. Jonah Anderson is my first choice to play left-back, but if she wasn’t available, my second choice would be to play Fridolina Rulfo as left-back, says Edevaal.
Just Rolfö has become a hot topic of discussion regarding Sweden’s victory over Belgium. In the BBC’s studio, Jonas Edvall said the winger had not lifted the match and that a change could be made.
– I think so, so far in the European Commission, and what my criticism was about, is that we saw Fridolina Rulfo becoming very stagnant in her actions, says Edevaal and elaborates:
– When you got the ball, you didn’t gear up for speed, you didn’t get straight. So how can you achieve this? Often times, if the surface is not centrally located, it will be wider in one’s position so that they can run to the surfaces from there or speed up the ball because most opponents’ defenses will prioritize the central surfaces. So in the case of Fridolina in particular, and what I’ve been talking about in my thinking for the BBC, it’s about finding a broader offensive position that allows you to reach centrally at the right timing and speed.
“So she’s one of the best players in the world.”
He points out that you can play outside and forward in many different ways.
“But the most important thing, and when Fridolina Rulfo plays at her best, is when she can stand upright and quickly, with or without the ball, she is one of the best strikers in the world,” says Jonas Edvall.
Peter Gerhardsson was aware that opponents make sure she stands out more than the other players. Do you think it could have an effect?
– number. Obviously there is prioritization, and you want to play close to a very skilled player. But that doesn’t change anything in my logic, the surface in the center would be more priority. This speaks more to the fact that you can’t have the same starting deck and the same final deck if you want to be able to act fast. Regardless of whether opponents play positional defense or defensive defence, it is still the same principle.
Praises Gerhardsson’s steadfastness in principle
Other than that, he especially pays tribute to the common characteristic of tonight’s national team captains, Sarina Wegmann and Peter Gerhardsson.
I think they both have a great deal of similarity in that they have a great deal of integrity in their leadership and training. They always do what they think is best for their team. If that means making a change early, Peter Gerhardsson doesn’t hesitate to do it either, says Edvall.
Regarding the match against Belgium, Gerhardsson was criticized for making a few substitutions. Jonas Edval believes that this is a strength in itself.
If he thinks it is better to make a change late or not to make a change, he will stick to that decision. For me, both in the European Commission so far and looking back, these are the two best coaches in this tournament,” said the Arsenal coach.
They have a clear idea of how they want the matches to be played. I think it shows to be a success factor if you lead a national team.