Arsenal were held to a 0-0 draw away at Spurs in the WSL at Brisbane Road on Sunday, Renee Slegers spoke to the press post match. The first two questions are from Arseblog News.
On whether she felt Arsenal created enough to win the game…
I think the first half we’re kind of feeling each other out and I think Tottenham are much stronger this year than last year and they have a more aggressive pressing structure, they can do it physically, and are very brave on the ball when they build and especially in our press, we wanted to be patient and bait them in areas and create certain turnovers. I think we did that at times. So that’s why maybe the first half looked a little bit like we were feeling each other out, that was the case.
We wanted to to find the right moments and we always knew that the second half was going to be important for us off the back of the Munich game, but also knowing Tottenham and how they usually play their 90 minute games, we knew the second half is going to be big for us. I think we showed that in the way we come out and the players coming on with a lot of energy and quality, with Taylor and Olivia and from the 46 minutes.
We create momentum, so I’m happy with that and we have a lot of situations in and around their box, but we need to capitalise when we have momentum. It was again about momentum like it was after Bayern, but now on the other side, what we’ll look at is can we, I think we get passes into their box. The finishes aren’t so easy from those moments we get in the box, so that’s definitely something we want to look at. Yeah we have shots, but can we creates bigger and better opportunities with clearer shooting opportunities?
On whether it feels like a difficult period at the moment…
Yeah, of course. We said it in the changing room with the players. It’s hard at the moment. We can’t deny it and even though we are happy with Leicester, happy with a lot of things, not a result against Chelsea, but a lot of things in the performance, happy with the first half against Bayern. So it’s not only hard and negative, there’s also a lot of positives, but we’re not getting the wins that we want at the moment and a club like Arsenal, of course, wants and needs to win. So it’s a frustrating period, but we still see enough to keep on building on and we see that there’s things we can do, that will turn it around for us, because we believe that we we have all this quality and we did so well last year that hasn’t just gone away.
On the drop off in performances this season…
It depends on what you’re looking at and what angle you take. Champions League was also hard for us last year. We had to come back a couple of times, and we scored those three goals against Madrid in the second leg. Like, it wasn’t easy, but we had the grit and determination and the belief that we could that we could get what we wanted. And that’s still there. I think after that Champions League win, I think that showed how good we are when we’re at our very, very best and that’s something we need to keep on building on. How can we be consistently at our best? and how do we get things over the line when things are hard for us? Like I just said to Tim, there’s no denying that it’s not coming easy for us at the moment.
On why the team still can’t find consistency…
That’s the million dollar question that we all try to answer and that we all try to work on every single day. Is it different expectations off the back of the last season and the success we had? I think that’s always playing a little role in the background, probably. Then there’s some changes in the squad, so you have to build new relationships through the season, through the first block, a couple of players come away from us, like Leah and Kim, Kate Reid now. But everyone goes through that, we just have to look at our game and I think the WSL has changed more teams can compete, you see it, it’s not as easy anymore and teams play differently, so we have to find solutions for those types of games as well.
On whether winning the Champions League inflated expectations…
A good question. I don’t think we spoke much about it ourselves, but of course, what we said off the back of last season is, look at what we can do when we’re at our very, very best, and that creates belief in what we’re doing and how good we can be. But we set ourselves in the place as well. We need to be very humble because that was a one off, and it was a difficult journey for us as well, that Champions League journey and the challenge is to perform at this level consistently.
On Kyra Cooney-Cross’ performance…
Very good. She’s shown that she was ready to start today. I think she was disciplined in her positioning. I need to watch it back, there’s always detail where she could have done something like everyone else. But in general, she has discipline in her positioning and then you can see how much quality she has on the ball.
On the double substitution at half time…
We always planned for scenarios but it was partly technical. There was a yellow card involved as well. It’s a North London Derby and we know that gets heated and has emotions involved, so that was one of the reasons on the left back position, also Taylor Hinds has been doing really well consistently, trains really well. I think she did well today coming on. And then Olivia Smith, we’ve loaded Beth a lot the last couple of games. She’s played a lot, so we needed a new energy injection and something else on that wing and wanted to go more one v one on their fullbacks. And then, of course, Olivia Smith is a really good option for us, and we’re really happy. She’s been managing some medical issues since the camp with Canada, but she’s been training more consistently now and she was ready to play today, so that’s a real asset for us.
On Steph Catley’s leadership with Little and Williamson missing…
We miss Kim and Leah. They are our captains for a reason. They feel strongly for the club. They understand the club really well and they are experienced players Of course, we miss them, but we have a captaincy group with Katie McCabe and Steph Catley and they all do it together now and still Kim and Leah are in the environment are still good leaders for us. They’re just not active for us on match day. So Steph is wearing the armband and she does it really well. She’s calm, she’s a leader. She communicates really well and especially in these kinds of games, you need composure and someone who is composed and likes to find solutions. But they’re carrying it together, so together with Lotte and Kate is just someone needs to wear the armband.