Here’s what he had to say…
On winning the WSL September Manager of the Month award…
"Over the course of those [four] games, apart from Liverpool, our performances were okay. We showed more of what we want to be about. Not the London City game in October, though. Over the course of September, the players delivered good performances. We started to see new players integrated and started with four good games."
On whether there will be much reflection with the squad on the London City Lionesses game…
"Everyone's back in today and we won't touch on it that much, we'll pick it up individually with players. In terms of areas we want them to be better at, I will address it as a collective, but in a different way. It was uncharacteristic from us; it was completely against what we usually do and how we usually play. Me and the staff have tried to really dissect it is. We feel we know certain parts where we were good in the game and certain parts we weren't. But we were on the end of a ruthless London City with the chances they had. They showed in the first half with the six chances they had, or five they had on target, and they scored three. We have to be better, we want to be more consistent. That lies with me and starts with me and we'll make sure we go into this Chelsea game in the best place."
On our history with Chelsea in competitive matches and changing the narrative against the top teams in the league…
"If you look at last season, 1-0, 2-1 and 2-0. At the [Tottenham Hotspur] Stadium, we were very, very good in terms of performance. We hit the crossbar twice, the post twice in the first half, but they got a set play and they scored from it. Apart from that, I think we were competitive in the cup game, we were competitive against them. They scored a really good goal from Veerle Buurman in the latter part of the game. We know that there's always going to be a gap between us at this point, we're 15 months into trying to evolve, develop and establish a playing squad, but also trying to get to that point where Chelsea are. Chelsea didn't do that in 15 months. Emma [Hayes] and her staff, the club have built that over years. The same with Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United. It takes years to build a winning team. You can't just expect to turn up after fifteen months from fighting relegation and go, ‘Okay, we're going to go and compete with Chelsea and win the league’, it’s impossible. I'm realistic with it. We have work to do, but I believe we're getting closer and closer with those results. I think we've showed that. We just have to make sure we iron out some of these individual errors at times and some of this kind of mentality part that we need to overcome.”
Predict the score | Chelsea vs Spurs
On players gaining confidence over the international break...
“The players getting away at that point was probably good for them. They go away with their nations, they're able to go and perform in competitive, fixtures where they know they have to. Most of them have to go into games where they have to win to qualify for that next phase going towards their World Cup campaign and a lot of them did well. Victoria [Pelova] Olivia [Holdt], Signe [Gaupset], Julie [Blakstad], Cathinka [Tandberg] did really well. Toko [Koga] had a good camp over with Japan and then the Swedish players went away and did really well with their qualification. So hopefully, that enthusiasm and confidence comes back, and I know it will. The group are disappointed with the last performance, as we all are, and it's uncharacteristic in a lot of moments for us. But what we have to do is show response and I think if we can maintain large parts with the ball that we did in that game, then just make sure that we're more diligent when we defend, I think we can be competitive in the game.”
On addressing the challenges of a high press that Chelsea could pose this weekend…
“Everyone knows we want to play and I think what we have to be smart too, being a little bit more vertical at times, too. We can be smart and look good when it works, but when it doesn't work, it can look ugly. But we have to be smart with the game plan and the strategy if teams do want to come one for one, which happens to us a lot, and London City did it to us. We go and press aggressively, and they just bypass the press, so we've got to be smart at doing that ourselves at times, but not becoming a team then that doesn't get control, confidence, or have rhythm with the ball. I know that Chelsea will do that. They have really good regains in attacking areas of the pitch, so we want to make sure that we can build out in the right way and we have a plan to do so, but also we need to be smart with our decision-making in that phase too.”
Predict the starting XI | Chelsea vs Spurs
On what he learned from the Chelsea games last season…
“We can be competitive. We can compete with them teams when we are all in and we're not half in. So, with the ball, I believe we can compete with anyone, the way we play, how we use the ball, the chances we create and the players we've got. Then, off the ball, when we're really focused and concentrated, we can defend well. We defended in their home game when we were away last year. We defended most of the time in our half, but the way we defended the box was outstanding and then the game at [Tottenham Hotspur] Stadium, I thought we defended very well. They create chances because they're a good team and have good players, but we also defended well in large parts there. So, I know we can defend and we can play well against them. You have to respect them, which you will, the individual quality they've got, but we want to make sure we can apply ourselves and put ourselves our imprint on the game.”
On the importance of putting on a strong performance this weekend to attract supporters for the north London derby the following weekend…
“It's important. The way you attract fans, the way you get people to come and watch you is by entertaining and performing, but also showing a willingness to do the hard work that maybe gets overlooked. I know the Tottenham fans will want a team that will fight, will work hard, will be competitive, will do the hard work and do the hard yards, but want a team then to be exciting when they're attacking. I'm very aware of that and we always work towards that. We need to make sure that we give the players the confidence on the day to go and do that, so we can continue to grow this fanbase because I think we've got a really strong fanbase now from where we were previously to where we are now. I want to make sure that we can continue to build a relationship with them moving forward.”
Watch | Martin Ho's press conference in full