Pedro Martinez Losa and Alex Scott spoke to the media after Arsenal Ladies' 2-0 win against Okayama Yunogo Belle on Wednesday in Tokyo.
You can read a full transcript of the press conference below:
on the performances of Shinobu Ohno and Yukari Kinga
PL: Ohno and Kinga have given our team something different. Ohno’s attitude tonight was fantastic, she did very well. She’s a very intelligent player, she can cross very well and can combine in the middle and find the spaces to score goals too. I think the second goal was phenomenal and the first goal she was in the right place at the right time and that’s what high-level strikers are able to do.
AS: It’s been a great honour to have Ohno and Kinga come and play for Arsenal Ladies. I think the players have learned a lot from them and we hope they’ve learned from us too. We’re so happy that Ohno got on the scoresheet today and managed to score two goals in her home country.
on coming up against Japan captain Aya Miyama…
PL: We watched videos of the opponent so we knew what to expect. We didn’t put an individual marker on Miyama because I don’t like to do that but defending with three midfielders like Lianne Sanderson, Jordan Nobbs and Yael Averburch meant we were able to restrict the amount of time she was able to get on the ball.
on Arsenal’s formation…
PL: We were playing with Yael mostly in the holding midfield position and with Jordan and Lianne as more offensive midfielders. We have not been competing for over one month though and in the second half I felt our players were a little tired. So we brought in Kinga next to Yael in defensive midfield to give us some more cover and bring some more balance to the team.
on the support for Arsenal in the crowd…
PL: Since we came here we have been feeling a lot of support from the Japanese people. To see Arsenal fans at the game was amazing, and to see the power that the Arsenal name has all over the world has been amazing for the team.
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