Renee Slegers addressed the media at Sobha Realty Training Centre ahead of our Women's Super League fixture against Manchester United.
Our interim coach was asked about our squad's successful international break, player availability and her approach to the upcoming matches.
Here is everything she had to say:
on Leah Williamson scoring for England…
It was a fair hit for her! I spoke to her this morning. A lot of emotion came out as well after that goal, and was maybe because it was the first goal after the ACL injury for England. So I’m very happy for her, but if you look at the whole squad and what they've done over the international block, we've had a lot of players assisting, scoring, with great performances. So overall, very good international window for Arsenal.
on how long she will be the interim coach…
I'll be in the interim role for this block. That's what I know.
on whether she sees herself in the head coach role long-term…
I definitely see myself doing it at the moment because I enjoy working with the girls for the club, and trying to get success. I've done it before. I really enjoy the role. Obviously, if you do it over a longer time, it becomes different, but the work I can do for the team now, I'm really enjoying my role at the moment.
on if becoming head coach is a lot more stressful than her previous role…
Compliments to the tech staff because I think over time, also when Jonas was still in here, we built a really good staff. So we work really, really well together. We have a psychologically safe environment where we’re very transparent and work hard to help each other.
But it’s definitely a different role: from executing more and going into more detail with players to having a more holistic view of things and more thinking. Yeah, so that's different.
on comparing herself to other WSL managers…
Honestly, I haven't been thinking about it. I think there are great managers in the WSL, and I think everyone is doing it their way. Everyone has authenticity in the way they work and it's fun to be part of this league. I think in many ways, everything that's happening around it, great managers, great players. So no, I don't think that way, but I'm happy to be a part of this league in my role.
on the new test of Manchester United…
Every game is a challenge. Valerenga gave us challenges with the way they went player for player in the high press, and how we had to beat that. And they come with a Norwegian style of play with a lot of physicality. Then West Ham, we know, the last two seasons we didn't win, so it was still a big challenge for us to play against West Ham.
Then Manchester United will be a different challenge. I think, obviously they've had very good results. They've been playing well. They've recruited a couple of good players, so they're a strong opponent, but if we look at ourselves, we're very, very strong as well.
on the reset of the international break...
It’s been a very big block. I think it was 13 weeks of pre-season in block one, so it was a very long time together. I think for everyone, myself included, it’s always nice to change pace, environment, get new insights, and meet new people, so I think it’s often in any branch or place you work at it’s good to get change. I think that’s always inspiring and you learn new things, so I think it was good for everyone. Obviously our block was long and eventful but if you look at how the players picked it up right before the international window and what they did during the international window, it’s been very positive and we want to keep on going with that momentum now.
on having time to develop a strategy for the next block...
This upcoming block is relatively short - 21 days in five games. What we did so well before the international break was being in the moment. What can we impact here and now? Can everyone take ownership? I think we need to keep on going with that mindset, just over a little bit of a longer time now in 21 days.
on Marc Skinner’s pre-match comments of wanting to take advantage of a wounded Arsenal...
They’re smelling blood? I can imagine how you can look at it from the outside. We know what’s happening on the inside and we’ve seen a lot of positive things, like I was telling you about before with the two games before the international window. The individual performances during the international block were very strong. Today’s training was one of our best training sessions, I think, so we’re very positive about what’s ahead of us, but we know a lot of hard work and ownership is going to be needed. What we know we can do, we all feel very positive looking ahead of this block.
on current injuries...
We have a great medical team and they work really well together with the national medical teams. Most of us are doing well so everyone came back fit and fresh from international games, which is nice. The only one you know about is Lotte who was pulled from the second game for England. She was back training but got some symptoms, so she’s still a question mark for Sunday. She’s back at the club.
on Leah Williamson’s mindset...
I think it’s easiest if Leah tells herself about how she’s doing. I had a good conversation with her this morning. When it’s windy or stormy like maybe it has been with us in the last couple of days of Jonas leaving, it was a big event, the players that are the high trees - we say in the Netherlands that the high trees catch all the wind - probably Leah is one of them. She’s fine, she’s good. I had a really good conversation with her this morning and she trained really well today.
on helping the squad move into a positive space...
Being in the moment, everyone needs to take ownership of what we’re doing together. The togetherness of everyone - all staff and players - we can all impact our successes. Those are the main three things that we’ve been talking about. We try to bring energy, bring togetherness as much as we can if it’s on the pitch, off the pitch, in the meetings, in the lunch room. Celebrate small successes and try to build momentum off of that.
on Manchester United’s start to the season…
I think they’re always a very good side. This is going to be my second time playing against United away, but obviously followed the league for many years. I think it’s a strong team, but I can definitely say that the additions they’ve made to their team, they’re very good individual players, so they’ve started the season really well, haven’t played against any top four teams yet but what they’ve done so far is good and I guess they’re happy about it. We’re mostly focusing on ourselves because we know how good we are and the quality of our players. I think if we are playing at our top level, we can beat any team.
on how she spent the international break…
We had a couple of players training at the club, so obviously spending time with them and making sure that the sessions for the players at home are relevant and realistic with those small numbers. We had the weekend off which was nice, and then last week we were working really hard planning for the upcoming block, obviously with a couple of staff members down, we all need to step up and we’ve been talking about our roles and how we’re going to organise things and what we want to get out of the block, what we want to develop in our football, how we want to work and we’ve spent a lot of time together with the staff organising things.
on the positive timing of the break…
I think they’ve [international players] been doing really well. Going back to when I was a player, I always loved going to the national team, because you love representing your country and at the same time your club as well. A change of environment, new faces, new people. Like I said, it can give positive injections, so I think it was a very positive international window for our players.
on what success looks like for Renee during this block…
We are competing in two competitions in this block: WSL and Champions League. If you are very straight to it, we’re going to go for five wins. That’s what we’re going to try and achieve in this block, so it’s as easy as that, on paper! I know that it’s small margins against top opposition, so they’ll be hard challenges, but we believe that we can achieve that yeah.
on whether she’s enjoying the opportunity…
I enjoy it when I’m in the middle of it as well, so I don’t necessarily feel like I need to step back and see what’s going on. It’s actually enjoyable for me at the moment as well. Obviously, it comes with a lot of new things, questions and challenges but I’m enjoying it in the moment as well. The international break was good to get a bit of distance, perspective, what actually happened, what we need to do, so that was a really healthy time for me and the whole staff I think.
on whether our approach to each opposition changes…
It’s a lot about how we play, but we will look at opportunities against specific opposition and see where we can hurt them the most. I think the strong thing about this team is that we’re good at a lot of things, we’re good at pressing, we’re good at building, we’re good at counter-attacking. We have a lot of elements to our game with the specific qualities we have, so yeah, we try to find the right thing to do in every game. We’re very versatile and we can play the game in very different ways.
on whether she is shaping the team in her style…
I don't think it's about that at the moment, I think we have a really good foundation from the years before. Obviously, there are some small tweaks that we want to do. There are some focus areas that we've discussed with the players this morning, but in general, we want to keep on building the foundation that's here. And the players have been involved in building that foundation, so who do we want to be as Arsenal Women? And we had a workshop for a year, about a year ago, on the training camp, and it's still what we refer to. So it's the build up of what the players want, and the type of football the players want to play as well.
on whether it’s too early to see Manchester United as league rivals…
We don't look at it that way so much. So, we're just looking at what kind of opposition are we going to play against. What do they look like? What do we have to look out for and what are the opportunities for us against this opponent? So that hasn't been on our minds too much. We’re just trying to find the right way to attack this game on Sunday.
on whether we’re likely to make more changes in the upcoming matches…
It's still finding the right balance in all these games, getting the right players on the pitch that are fresh. It’s 5 games in 21 days, so it's still a puzzle. So, I can't say we’re going in one or the other direction at the moment, but we're trying to get as good players and good dynamics and partnerships on the pitch as possible. And on that, the support is so good, we have such a good squad. And if you see, like for example, against West Ham, the players coming on, what they mean for us, how they change the game and how they impact the game. So yes, the players that start the game, but it’s also the players that finish the games, that are so important to us.
on whether Alessia Russo’s previous experience with United will be useful…
She just came in this morning, and we've been very busy this morning, so I haven't had time to speak to Alessia yet individually, but always interesting to ask the players, obviously, there are players that she knows well, to ask her how to attack against those players, or what are the strengths and weaknesses. It's always good to get some information, we've done that with other teams that we've played against, for example, Hacken, we were sitting with Rosa Kafaji. So, it's always good, I think, to get the players' perspective, and they sometimes know more than us. So, we will talk to her.
on if there’s extra motivation when players return to their former clubs…
I hope players are always motivated to play for Arsenal. I think they are, but I think every personality reacts differently to it, some get extra motivation out of it and fuel, and others find it hard. But no, Alessia will be ready to perform on Sunday.
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