Renee Slegers has held her press conference ahead of our Friday night fixture against Brighton & Hove Albion at Emirates Stadium
Our interim coach previewed the WSL clash against the Seagulls on Friday, where we're expecting over 20,000 supporters in the stands.
Here is everything she had to say:
on Brighton’s passes in the defensive third...
They’re a very good side, I don’t exactly the numbers of how many players they’ve recruited but they got in a lot of good new players for the season – that’s a big part of why they’re performing so well. I think the coach has done a good job of getting structure into the team.
on whether there’s an update on Lotte and Laura…
Lotte is positive, she’s training with us. Laura did big parts of the training today as well, so both are progressing really well. Emily Fox is an important player for us and there’s a different way of managing players. We still have other players that can play in that position, but the way we are managing her now, is not about taking away minutes in the games but in other parts of the week. Emily is fine, she’s good, she’s motivated, she’s done really well recovering from her three games with the US and the trip back, so she’s in a good place.
on Steph Catley’s position…
It’s always a puzzle – all players come with strength, most of our players come with a lot of strength, good players and we always try to build the puzzle. Steph is always good in the air as well, she’s maybe not the tallest player but she’s got really good timing, and she has good courage in the aerial duels. Then, Steph has her left foot and it’s an advantage in building the left side of possession so that’s a big part of the reasoning that we have great centre-backs, great players in all positions, who all come with strengths, so we always try and build the puzzle for what we need in each game.
From a set-piece perspective, also part of open play, it’s about being ruthless in both boxes, so that’s still an area that we’ve been focusing on this week. Set pieces are a part of it, looking statistically we’ve been doing well in the WSL defending set pieces so I don’t think we can get too emotional about the goal we conceded on Sunday. It’s obviously a part of what we want to work on, our own box and the offensive box, I think it gets quite emotional as well.
on Edu leaving the club…
I think he’s meant a lot for the Women’s team at Arsenal, he’s meant a lot for the whole club. Sorry he’s leaving but he’s got a really good opportunity, so wish him all the best, but the structure we have in place here is very strong, it’s not dependent on one person. So, I think what Arsenal builds is much bigger than that, so we feel comfortable with the structure that we have.
on whether this impacts the search for a new head coach…
I think there's a process in place. So, there is a technical committee working on this process, and it's not affected by this so there's a good process in place.
on the Champions League match against Bayern being moved…
I understand it's a question, and I understand that it's being discussed in the media, as well. I think it's been a very hard dilemma for the club, two great teams competing in competitions. But I think what Arsenal has been doing well is pushing the growth of women's football for a very long time. So, I think this is a bump on the road, but what Arsenal has done for women's football over time is very strong.
on whether the season is going to plan…
We have no concerns around that because what we are doing, you could say we live in a little box with the team and the staff. For us, obviously, Jonas leaving was a change, but all the other things that we are doing is not impacted by those external things. So, what we need to do is work on our football and work on the group dynamics and that's what we do day in, day out. So that's where our focus is.
on the importance of the Brighton game…
It's still early in the season, but I think all games are important, and as I said before, this is going to be an important game for us tomorrow night.
on our attacking play…
We are talking about forward intent, and we are looking at the details. So, our passes need to mean something, because we want to go towards the goal. So, every pass needs to have a message or a meaning in our game. But I think a lot of things we did really well against United, performance-wise and attacking-wise.
I think we found good spaces, and we had good movements. We linked up well together. Again, we had more and better entries into the box. So, I think we are closer, but again, we need to score those goals as well. But I do think overall we had a lot of positives performance-wise against United.
on Alessia Russo’s performance against Manchester United…
I think the whole team was functioning well in many parts of the game and many phases of the game and that obviously helps the individuals as well. I think as a team, we were doing that well, and then you could see we got the best out of each other as well. And I think that showed with Alessia. But Alessia works really hard. She's a great player, we've seen it in training, all the qualities that she has. I think it's a group thing. If we work well as a team, then individuals will be able to flourish as well.
on whether the brevity of the season means we have changed our focus...
No, we haven’t been talking about that. We try to break it down a little bit more and it’s a cliche but we take it game by game and what we have ahead of us in this block. Now it’s three WSL games and two Champions League games, so that’s our focus for this block. We see a lot of improvement and I think the league is very big and there is still a lot to play for. Top teams still have to play each other, so we haven’t been talking about changing strategy or what we want to achieve.
on whether the location against Bayern will provide an advantage...
We look forward to playing against Bayern Munich, having a Champions League night either way. I think the girls are comfortable at Emirates Stadium as well. Boreham Wood has felt like a home for a long time and Emirates Stadium feels like a home as well, so we just look forward to playing these games and we’ll see where we will play it.
on whether she would like to stay at the club beyond her interim role...
That’s my thinking at the moment. I enjoy being part of the club, I enjoy working with the players, I enjoyed the role that I had before I had to step in and take this role temporarily, so I hope so yes.
on if Brighton’s recent form has changed our approach...
No. We have a big focus on ourselves and belief in ourselves. We know we have areas to work on but we see ourselves as a top team. Of course, Brighton have been doing really well and recruited top players so we respect them as an opponent, but we try to see what we can bring to the game tomorrow. Every team will have strengths and weaknesses and Brighton will have that tomorrow as well.
on Brighton’s specific strengths...
They have good individual qualities in all units I would say, so that’s obviously something that makes them stronger. They have some setups in their game tactically that can be hard for the opposition to solve. For example, the way they set up in their build and invest a lot of numbers - they’re things the opposition needs to solve. They’re playing a smart game, a game that they believe in. I would say it’s a high-risk, high-reward game that they’re playing and we hope to exploit that tomorrow.
on if she’s feeling more comfortable in the role…
I try to be myself, so I'm no different from what I was before, but I hope the players feel comfortable on the pitch, because they are the actors that need to do it for us. So anything that can help, we all try and help with - all staff at the whole club - to make the players perform as good as possible. And I think that's what we are going after.
on the strength in depth in the WSL…
Like I said, I think they have strengths in their team. They do things really well, but there are also things that we can exploit. And we believe in ourselves as a team and who we are. We have top players who are performing better and better at the moment, and we, as a team, had a really good performance against United. So we have a big belief in ourselves for tomorrow night.
on whether she’s looking forward to the evening game tomorrow…
As a player, to be honest, I loved playing under the lights in the evenings, so I'm really looking forward to it. I think 21,000 tickets sold, so it's going to be good to see all the fans out tomorrow.
on managing Emily Fox’s load…
I'm not having conversations with Emma Hayes through these kinds of formats. I'll talk to her directly. It's the same answer as before. We are trying to do our best to have our players as fresh and fit as possible for all games, and as we see it now - Foxy, like we call her - she's doing well, and she's good to perform. She's fit and fresh enough to perform.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
