Arsenal women’s boss Jonas Eidevall has called on Emma Hayes to better ‘understand the consequences’ of her words after the Chelsea head coach accused him of ‘male aggression’ during the sides’ recent meeting.
The two rival managers clashed shortly after Arsenal’s League Cup final victory last month, with an agitated Hayes pictured shoving Eidevall and waving her finger in the Swede’s direction.
It came after a separate altercation on the touchline involving Chelsea midfielder Erin Cuthbert, who had been thrown a spare ball to ensure a quick throw-in was taken as the Blues searched for an equaliser.
Discussing the moment after the Gunners’ win, Eidevall revealed that the two teams had disagreed over whether or not there should be a multi-ball system in place at Molineux – and this was the source of the tension.
Hayes argued that Eidevall should have seen red for his behaviour and went on to accuse her counterpart of ‘male aggression’ at an extraordinary post-match press conference, comments which have divided fans and proven a hot topic of conversation in the media.
‘I’ve been in women’s football a long time and I don’t think we should tolerate male aggression like we did today,’ Hayes told reporters.
‘He [Eidevall] received a yellow card but perhaps should have been more.
‘Fronting up or squaring up to a player is something that’s unacceptable. I’ve never been booked in 12 years of my career.’
The FA have since confirmed that Hayes will face no action for pushing Eidevall but the Chelsea manager has received heavy criticism from some quarters, with Ian Wright claiming she could have ‘finished’ Eidevall with her accusation of ‘male aggression’.
‘When you talk about the clips, when you look at the clips, to use those words, “male aggression”, and I don’t know what was said with Erin Cuthbert when she went over to him, if he’s said anything, I don’t know,’ Wright said on The Overlap.
‘But she totally negated everything by pushing him afterwards.’
The ex-Arsenal and England striker added: ‘Listen, she doesn’t lose. She’s not used to losing.
‘Last season she lost, now twice in that competition against Arsenal, but I thought that she would have gone in the dressing room afterwards and thought: “You know something, I was out of order”.
‘She went in and doubled down on it and came out and said that. It’s really tough.
‘I can totally understand how she’s feeling, she’s not used to losing. But to come out like that, that could have finished him. If we don’t see those clips and we can see that, that can finish him.’
Arsenal return to Women’s Super League action this weekend and could move to within three points of second-placed Chelsea with victory over lowly Bristol City.
Addressing the media ahead of the match, Eidevall brushed off the significance of Hayes’ shove at the full-time whistle, but said the Chelsea manager had been ‘irresponsible’ with her choice of words after the final.
Asked if he was surprised that the FA had not taken action over Hayes’ behaviour, Eidevall replied: ‘Not really. It’s not really something I’ve thought much about.
‘Like I said, I thought the comments I heard after the game were very irresponsible and they were not mirroring the conduct that I had in the technical area.
‘That, I thought, was irresponsible but that’s basically all I think about it. The other parts, when we shake hands after the game, that’s a very minor incident. For me, that’s nothing.’
On Wright’s claim that Hayes’ comments could have ‘finished’ him, Eidevall added: ‘I think always when you make comments about other people, you have to take into consideration what affects that can have.
‘That’s why you need to be, especially when you’re a leader, you need to be very good with your words. You need to understand the consequences of your actions and your language.
‘That’s why I think it’s really, 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.’
The Arsenal manager remains ‘very happy’ with the way he conducted himself and ‘wouldn’t do anything differently’ if he was made to relive the day again.
‘It’s never nice when people say something about you that you don’t find is true. Maybe I’m lucky in that situation that everything I do is recorded,’ he continued.
‘So, for me, it’s not my opinion or someone else’s opinion.
‘Everything is on video, everything is recorded, so I need to be accountable for my actions.
‘That’s what I can take responsibility for and in these situations here, I am accountable for that.
‘I’m very happy with the way I conduct myself and I wouldn’t do anything differently if I could redo it again.’
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