Martin Ho spoke to the media at Hotspur Way on Thursday afternoon, ahead of our Adobe Women’s FA Cup fifth round tie at London City Lionesses on Monday evening (7.30pm UK).
Here are some key points on what he had to say…
Martin on London City Lionesses...
"It's a tough one. They have a very good overall squad depth, a good blend of experience and youth, I think they've grown. They've now got a new coach, they're playing in a slightly different way now to what they have before, but I think in the games they've been in, Manchester United last weekend, and then before that when they played Manchester City and so on, they've been competitive in those games, so we know it's going to be tough."
On the result against Aston Villa last weekend...
"I'm happy with the attacking performance. There are still areas we can be better, there's still a lot of room for growth, but I was just pleased that we were able to capitalise on a lot of those opportunities we got, in the attacking third and in the mid-to-attacking third, we were very dynamic. This week, we've made sure that we keep our feet grounded, one result like that doesn't make you a top team, consistent results do, and we have to be able to deliver those ruthless performances with the ball every single week. The defending side, as I said after the game, I don't want to concede three goals, we shouldn't be conceding three goals, we gifted them two of them, and if we do that at the top level you've got to always outscore, and I don't want to have to be scoring more and more every single week, just to outscore an opponent."
On Cathinka Tandberg...
"She works hard, wears her heart on her sleeve, loves Tottenham, loves Spurs, and just puts her head down. She's had some restriction on minutes in the last couple of games because of coming back from the injury she had, but to come on and score two goals, I think it was a sign of her quality - and we knew what she has. I'm just delighted she got on the scoresheet because she's probably been waiting for that since the injury she had."
On himself and four players being nominated for this year’s London Football Awards, with Martin the only WSL manager shortlisted for the Manager of the Year award…
“I’m delighted in terms of being recognised and nominated, but a lot of the work probably goes behind the scenes from the staff and the players, they do a lot more of the work than I do - I just have to sit here as the Head Coach. But, I'm proud for everyone because it's a collective, all the nominations are collective, we all play part of the team. We're all in a team sport and I think it's good recognition for the players compared to where we were previously, that their qualities and their skill set but also their performances are being recognised.”
On the Club reaching the FA Cup final in 2024 and what it means to him...
"People have spoken about it, people want to get there, they enjoyed the experience, it was a real sense of growth from the Club and from the team in those moments to get to that part. Then, the experience of being there as a Head Coach is something that you want to do. I've been there as an assistant coach for Manchester United, so I know what that feels like, but wanting to be there with this Club and help this Club achieve its dreams and more, the accolades and honours of winning trophies. The FA Cup is the prestigious one where you get to play at Wembley and I think every member of staff, every player, wants to be part of that, and we'll do everything we can to make sure we do."
On Clare Hunt, Maika Hamano and Toko Koga heading off to the Women's Asian Cup and whether he is worried to lose a core of his backline...
"We have wonderful players in that position, I made that clear before, we're not just going to bring anybody in at any point just to fill a gap for three to four weeks of a season. I want people here that are going to add value and are going to be with us for the long term. We have good enough players in there, Molly Bartrip, Josefine [Rybrink] can play there, Amanda Nilden can still play there, so there's lots of players you can play in that position. I have a lot of faith in the group, you lose Toko, Clare and Maika to that competition, but then that presents opportunity for other players to step in."
On wanting to be competitive in the FA Cup...
"You want to be amongst it, you want to make sure that you get to those latter stages of the competition, and we want to make sure that it's not just seen as, as you said, a team from the top four that has always won it over the last period, we need to make sure that we can upset that. But it starts with the game against London City, we can't think too far ahead, if we think too far ahead we'll probably come up short, and London City is a difficult task ahead of us. Whatever it presents after that, if we get through, then we'll focus on that but, for now, it's London City. We want to be amongst it, we don't want to just be here to take part, we want to make sure that we can be successful and get ourselves through to the final."
On dealing with the threat of Freya Godfrey...
"Since she's gone to London City, she's definitely shone and she's been a very, very key and valuable player within their team. She contributes to a lot of their goals, you've seen the assist she got for Nikita Parris on the weekend, and they've got lots of dangerous and wonderful players in their team now. They now have really good attack and threats, but Freya is probably one of those players who we know can open us up, like she did when we played them last time, I think she got the Player of the Match last time against us. I think we have to make sure that we nullify those threats as much as possible, as well as Freya and other players. If we do that, we give ourselves a chance, but we're under no illusion it's going to be a tough game."