Gustavsson full of praise for Arsenal’s development of Catley and Foord relationship | OneFootball

Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson praised Arsenal’s handling of the on-field relationship between Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord following his side’s 4-1 victory over South Africa at Kingsmeadow yesterday.

The pair combined for the CommBank Matildas’ fourth goal against Banyana Banyana, Catley setting up Foord to score, while both players had also assisted earlier in the game.

When speaking in the post-match press conference, Australia head coach Gustavsson hailed the connection between the two players with special praise being directed the way of Arsenal.

“It was massive and I credit Arsenal here because all of that happens in club land,” Gustavsson said. “When you see them play together at Arsenal and the job that Jonas (Eidevall) and the club have done with them, it is just about bringing that back here and saying ‘copy and paste’.

“It is massive for a national team coach to have that cohesion in a club, whether that’s a centre-back pairing or two midfielders, left side or right side, that’s exactly what you wish for but you can’t control it.

“That’s not our work, that’s the players and Arsenal. It is a privilege for me to bring them in and do the same thing here.”

Foord’s goal came at a time in the game where she was becoming more of a central point in the Australian attack. After scoring, the player was presented with as many as four good chances to add to her goal tally but she failed to take any of the opportunities which came her way. Head coach Gustavsson said that he was pleased with Foord’s work centrally, although the player was self-critical.

He said “There are mixed emotions. We wanted to put her up as a nine because she has played well in that position for Arsenal and we wanted to see her closer to goal. She was very active as a nine but the first thing that she said to me when she came off the pitch was ‘I should have scored another two’, that’s how she looked at it.

“I think she looked really active and is an interesting option as a nine.”

Australia are next in action on Tuesday when they face Denmark in Viborg.