Chelsea women’s head coach Emma Hayes had accused her Arsenal counterpart Jonas Eidevall of ‘male aggression’ during the sides’ recent meeting.
Arsenal women’s boss Jonas Eidevall has now called on Emma Hayes to better ‘understand the consequences’ of her words, claiming that her actions were ‘irresponsible’.
“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 had 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.”
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.
Speaking ahead of their match, Eidevall brushed off the significance of Hayes’ shove at 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.”
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 also claimed he is ‘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.”