Renée Slegers was back in front of the media for her pre-Tottenham Hotspur press conference at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Friday.
Our head coach was asked for her reflections on Wednesday's 3-2 defeat away to Bayern Munich, thoughts on the upcoming north London derby and more.
Here's everything she had to say on the following subjects...
on how close Leah Williamson is to returning:
You’ve seen her today in training with us, that’s the progress she’s making, she’s been more and more involved with the team and team training which is really, really positive. She feels good and she has a couple of steps to take still, we expect maybe somewhere in December, somewhere in the next block we might see her again if everything goes to the plan. She’s doing well at the moment.
on if she might be back in December:
Yeah, it’s always hard to give exact dates and exact times, but we hope before Christmas we will see her on the pitch again.
on Kim Little’s availability:
Yeah, she’s progressing well as well, but we don’t think we’ll see her this block on the pitch. She’s working really hard, I think she did her first running session today but that will also be after the international break.
on if there are any other team news updates:
No, everyone came out of the Bayern game in a good way, so everyone seems fine.
on the boost is it for all the players with Leah recovering:
Yeah, really good. We all see how hard she’s worked and she’s a player with so much quality. You see it straight away when she joined the positional game today, the way she finds passes is so good. She looked really good, of course we’ve missed her as a leader as well. She brings a lot of presence, composure, solutions to the team, so yeah, it will be really good to get her back.
on if we missed a character like her when we conceded against Bayern:
Of course, we would wish her to play for us at the moment because, like I just said, she’s such a good leader. She understands the game so well, she communicates things really well on the pitch, she understands momentum and I think she has the tools to make the shifts and communicate to get the team aligned on where we’re at and what we need to do, so she’s really good from that perspective. At the same time, we have a lot of leaders and a lot of players with a lot of experience on the pitch against Bayern as well, so yeah of course we miss her, but we still have good leadership on the pitch.
on how the last week has been with the Chelsea and Bayern games:
I think if you look at where the squad was at after Chelsea, just positive. Of course, very disappointed but there was a real belief and there was a lot of good things in our performance, they turned that around in a good way I think. You see it in the first half against Bayern and I think we do a lot of really good things, but then of course we’re not happy with the second half, how we don’t manage that second half, that’s not good enough, so that’s really disappointing and we’ve acknowledged that as a collective, so everyone involved and everyone is taking responsibility so that’s good. Actually we had a really good session out on the pitch today with lots of energy, so the players will use this as fuel going into the north London derby.
on if the players have to take responsibility for what happened against Bayern:
I think what’s been strong in our environment is the ownership and accountability piece. This was the first day, we travelled yesterday, this was the first day to actually meet each other and reflect and close the loop on that game and learn from it. If I look at how that meeting went, it was good, everyone was taking responsibility and that’s all we can do. So that was both staff and players in the same room and that’s a safe space. We do everything together and we want to be aligned on everything, so that was a really good meeting.
on if VAR should come into the WSL:
Well I know that the club is driving things forward on all aspects and this is one of them. It’s good I think that we’re looking at how is the game growing and how does everything have to grow with it? Because of course, you don’t want the situation where referees are booed off the pitch, no-one wants that. They’re also human beings so that’s not a situation you want. So I think the league is doing everything and I know the club is pushing everything to make things better from a VAR perspective. Like you said, it needs to be made possible on all grounds, finance is included, there’s education included, it’s quite a big piece. But what I want, if I just say what I want with the game, is just decisions, as much as possible, because there’s more and more at stake also in the WSL. I know the club is pushing and the league is pushing to move that forward as well.
on if the referees could have done with the help of VAR against Chelsea:
Yeah, I think it would have helped for them, because if you look at those offside moments, it’s so small margins, it’s really hard to see in the moment, when you’re moving yourself, the players are moving, the ball is moving, it’s really hard to see in the moment. So I definitely think having the opportunity to watch it back on video and make a decision would have helped.
on if this will be the biggest north London derby she’ll have been involved in:
I think they’re all big, they’re big for us, they’re big for the players, they’re big for the fans as well, so no, it’s another big one, of course I was involved in the away game last year. We really look forward to this one because it’s an important one for us, for the fans. We know they will show up and we’re so grateful that they are with us and supporting us through all times and we’re going to do our very, very best for the fans as well.
on Spurs starting strongly this season:
They play different, I think they have some players that are performing well, they’re more aggressive in the way they play, they go high, they go player for player, they want to win balls in the opposition half and that’s different from what they did last year. So they’ve been performing really well, so we have to be really smart with how we manage the game and what spaces we try to attack in the game. But yeah, if I look at how the team came back in today, we’re full of energy and belief going into the next one.
on what the main issue was on Wednesday against Bayern:
Well I don’t think there’s big issues in the first half, I think we dominate and we control a lot of parts of the game. But then the second half, they come out strong, they have to, it’s 2-0 to us, they are 2-0 down, they are playing at home at the Allianz Arena, they need to do something, so they come out differently. 2-0 is a dangerous score I think because one goal and they come back in. So we also reflect back and think how we could have been more ruthless in the first half, but they change things. I think their structure changes, they stack numbers high and they start to play in behind or in front of our backline so it becomes more of a long ball, second ball game. They also make some personnel changes, I think Pernille Harder comes in and has a really positive impact for them, she’s really intelligent in spaces. So they change the game, they had to, they had to do something different. Like I said in the post-game interview, we don’t manage that well enough as a collective, the way the game changes. So I think they create their momentum and we didn’t stop their momentum well enough. So that’s why we take our responsibility because we wanted to and should have done better in the second half.
on if our problems have been solved ahead of the Spurs game:
I think if you do it well, and I think we've developed our options and our cohesion as a team as well when teams press us high. So we have a couple of different strategies. But it's always hard. It's a high-risk-high-reward game for both teams if the game is played like that. But I think we have a couple of solutions. Like I said, we've developed that across the season now. It's about how do you not play into that pressure. So that's going to be key for us in the weekend.
on how Leah’s absence impacts our passing progression:
Of course, that's one of Leah’s big qualities, her progressing passing, longer passing and also the passes in the air onto players or in behind into spaces. I think the pressure we're under with the different way that teams press now makes it that maybe the success rate of the pass itself might be lower. But then it also becomes more about the second ball game and what you do in that second phase underneath. I think it's just the way the game is played in the WSL at the moment, how teams press differently. But yeah, interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing.
on many of Bayern’s and Chelsea’s shots coming from transitions:
Yeah, of course we miss Kim because she's always that presence in front of the backline. She has so much ability to cover ground and read things so well, both in and out of possession. We've been missing her because we've built a lot of things around her on the pitch. We've been looking at what we can do structurally out of possession to make sure that that space isn't too open for the opposition. It's of course also the personnel question. What player is the player that plays that role for us when Kim isn’t on the pitch?
on if we’ll look at recruiting a player similar to Lia Walti:
We have a fantastic recruitment team and of course we're in a really good position as well. We're a very attractive club, a club that pioneers and is world-leading in a lot of things. We're always looking to build for the here and now and the future. We're looking at where we need to strengthen, where we want to strengthen and how we build moving forward. That's always happening in the background in several positions at the moment.
on if we can lean on how we dealt with pressure last season:
That's in this squad and in the individuals as well. They've done this and they've shown so much resilience and strength. They know what they can do and what they can achieve. That's definitely within our foundation and in the pillars - that we have that belief. That's always good, when things become harder or you're not as successful as you want. You always have that in the back of your head, knowing that we can do it. That's of course helpful.
on learning about how to be adaptable with the squad when key players are injured:
That's football. Anything can happen. You can't just build on top of players because you don't know. That's why we have this squad. We have so much quality in the squad. If you see how so many individuals have been contributing to us, and I’m not saying only on matchday and minutes on matchday, but everything they do to help the team move forward, then I think we have a really strong squad. But of course, like I just said, we miss Leah and Kim. They are our captains. They understand the club through and through. They have a big drive of building a legacy. At the end of their career, leaving this place in a better place. That's everything off the pitch. On the pitch, they bring us so much composure and leadership. Of course we miss those players, but we also have a squad, so if things like that happen, then we can deal with it.
on if she would change any rules about the way the game is played:
Oh, okay. I have a couple probably, if you would give me a little heads up. Can I text you? I'm [keen on] justice in the game and keeping it entertaining, because it reaches out to so many people, so the game needs to stay entertaining. So whatever we need to do from a rule book perspective, anything that helps keep the game moving fast, not too many stoppages, interesting, so goals are being scored. All those things, if that can stay and even be pushed, then I think that's good. Because that's for the greater good for everyone involved. But then justice is an important one as well.
on Manuel Pellegrini’s basketball-inspired idea that you shouldn’t be able to pass backwards if you’ve gone beyond the halfway line:
Interesting, there's a lot of things you can learn from other sports. Interesting. I wouldn't say so, because I think that takes away a lot of elements in the game, but it's an interesting one.
on how important it is to stay composed in the derby:
Yeah, I think that there was a lot of learnings in the Bayern game, because they start to stack numbers. It's long ball, second ball, it's duels, it's chaotic, they rotate. Within that, keep your own structure, keep your own head cool, and accepting spells of opposition momentum. I think that's what we did really well last year. I think the perfect example is the Champions League final against Barcelona, where we knew we had to suffer, but we were accepting it and kept our structure really well. So that's going to be important, and a big one is as well to make sure that we create that momentum for ourselves.
