Renée Slegers was back at the Sobha Realty Training Centre for her pre-Tottenham Hotspur press conference on Friday.
Our head coach previewed Saturday's north London derby, provided the latest team news after our 3-1 win over Chelsea and more.
Here's everything she had to say on the following subjects...
on if Catley and Foord are available and if there are any other team news updates:
Yes, Steph and Caitlin are available. I think I mentioned it before, Leah doesn't make it to this game. The other one is Kyra [Cooney-Cross]. She stayed in Australia to spend time with her family and we're respecting that. She won't be with us for this game and she won't be with us for the rest of the season.
on what Little brings to the squad with her quality and how she leads by example:
Yes, I think you see her quality on the pitch. She makes things work. Actually, if you look at statistics and certain metrics, I don't think it always shows what qualities players bring. So I think there's a lot of work that Kim does that is under the radar, even though her metrics look very good of course. But she does a lot of things that you almost can't measure; how she helps the team, how she keeps the distance short, how she connects, how she covers spaces and covers up for others to be able to play their role. So there's a lot about Kim and her game and the way she contributes and helps us, and then of course her leadership and who she is off the pitch. She is 100% always in everything she does. She is consistent with everything she does. She's just, with who she is and how she does things, she's such a rock for the team.
on having extra momentum going into this game from our 10th win in a row against Chelsea this week:
Yes, every game is a game in itself. We have to keep on doing what we're doing and fuel ourselves with the belief that we have and all the things that we're doing at the moment that are contributing to our performances and results. There's a lot of big and small things that we're consistently doing at a high level. That's what we're pushing and we want to keep on improving. This is another game, so everything that we've done before won't count in this game. We're going to attack this game together with the supporters. At the moment I think around 45,000 to 47,000 tickets sold. We'll be there together with the supporters and we'll be shoulder to shoulder. We want to give them everything we possibly can and they will give it back because this is a very special game. I think it will be a very special occasion at Emirates tomorrow.
on if our form can have an impact on a derby match:
We want to bring what we always want to bring; our basics, our foundation of who we are, we want to bring that to every single game. Yes, there's something special about this game. We have to play the occasion and use the occasion. But we are so strong because we are very much in control and in our controlled middle, task-focused and in the present. That's what's bringing us good performances at the moment. That's what we want to bring tomorrow as well.
on the frustration of our goalless draw away to Spurs earlier in the season:
That's a long time ago. Of course, we've watched that game back and I think we defended well in that game. We couldn't get the goal. It was a different phase in the season. We are somewhere else now. They've also moved. It's a new game, but of course we've looked at it. Of course, we're very hungry for tomorrow.
on the exciting occasion for almost 50,000 supporters tomorrow:
Yes we look forward to it. We've been talking to the players about connecting with the crowd and starting in the warm-up because they're going to help us in the game. We want to bring something to them, so that connection is really important for us. The earlier people can be at the stadium, the better, so we can share this occasion and make the very, very best out of this tomorrow.
on Blackstenius’ next game being her 150th for Arsenal and the impact she’s made this season:
Stina has specific qualities. I think that she will always bring to a game her physicality and her speed, but there are so many more things to Stina. I think you saw it clearly in the game against Chelsea, how versatile she's become, how many different sides to her game that she shows at the moment. We're really happy and pleased to have Stina. Of course, I've played with her a long time ago and I get to share a team with her now again. She's such an important contributor to the team and how we're playing at the moment.
on what kind of challenge we’re expecting from Spurs after our draw with them and defeat to them in pre-season:
I think those two games were different games for the personnel, the way we play and where we were at in the season, both teams. They've posed us different questions in those two games so far, so let's see what they do tomorrow at the Emirates, playing in the north London derby, what their strategy will be. Again, we have to plan for all the scenarios and be really good in all phases of the game. There's a couple of things that we really want to nail tomorrow, so that's going to be important. We'll have focus on ourselves and we'll see how Tottenham comes out.
on the conversations surrounding Little’s new contract:
Personally, I am not in those conversations, so that's all managed through Claire and Jodie. I think there's a very deep respect both ends, from club to Kim and from Kim to club. I just feel very privileged to work with Kim. We are creating something and Kim is a big part of it. I know she's been around for a long time, so she's been so loyal to the club for so long. She's been so consistent for so long, so I highly respect Kim. I think what we do at the moment is a lot of collaboration with the captain's group, with Kim, our captain, and get as much input as possible on things. I highly value that. She's such an important part of what we're building.
on the optimism surrounding Williamson’s future at the club:
Yes, the club is doing everything to build a really good squad. For the future, of course, and in the here and now. Game to game, a lot of games going on, but we're doing the work in the background with the contract.
on the short turnaround between matches we’ve had:
Yes, we love to be in this rhythm of playing games. It's a rhythm that we like, the short turnarounds. We get to work towards the next game. We have a great big squad. We have players ready to go, so we love to be in this rhythm. Of course, we look forward to playing in the north London derby in front of so many fans, together with so many fans. We are full of energy going into tomorrow.
on if players prefer to be playing matches than training:
Yes, of course. You want to play the games. This is the position we want to be in. We want to be playing all these games. We know that means short turnarounds and that's why we have this squad. We love to play the games and look forward to tomorrow.
on the biggest threats or issues we could come up against tomorrow after our 0-0 draw earlier this season:
Of course, they made it hard for us. I think we also didn't have our best performance. We want to bring more to the game. We want to bring different things to the game tomorrow. That's going to be important. We know that they're very brave on the ball. That's going to be an important part of the game. We know they're very good at dribbling with the ball. That's also going to be a very important part of the game and how we're going to manage that tomorrow. Like I said, we are focused on ourselves and we want to bring something to this game that is better and different from what we brought last game.
