On Everton’s change of fortunes in the last month…
“They've done really well, since a change of manager in Scott [Phelan], and I know Scott quite well from my time at Everton. [He’s] a really good coach, a really good person and he's made an instant impact there, they've had two from two under him, just come up short in the FA Cup against Liverpool. But, in the league, if you're putting their games back-to-back, they are three from three, a dangerous team, don't concede many goals. [They’re] very good with the ball, very direct on transition and very hard to break down with a very rigid structure.”
On what the message is to the players ahead of the final six games of the WSL season…
“We just have to make sure that we try and build performances. This year was about building the foundations that you can build a team from, then going into the second year it is about the growth of the team, sustaining it and becoming part of that elite group in those years ahead. We've done well, we've pushed boundaries that maybe we didn't think we could push as much, but you have to make the players believe that. We're three points adrift of equalling the points total for the Club in the Women’s Super League. There are other parts of the objective that we're looking at in terms of goals scored, clean sheets kept, and so on, so there's so many other objectives and stats that we're looking at that can push ambition and push motivation in the group. I'm proud of the players and staff, they've done exceptionally well.”
On winning the WSL Manager of the Month award for February and receiving credit from Andy Rogers, Spurs Women’s Managing Director…
“The award is not for me, it's for the staff, for the players, for the team and for the Club. It's not just for me, I'm not the one who does the work, and I make that very clear. Nice words from Andy [Rogers], the managing director, I work very closely with him, he's a big advocate for Women's sport and Women's football, and for this team, especially the Club with how long he's been here. He's constantly pushing for us to make sure we can be better, he's constantly challenging me, it's nice words from him about myself, but I probably have more than enough words to say about him on a positive note.”
On Matilda Vinberg’s turn of form and scoring in our FA Cup success over London City Lionesses last month….
“Really impressive. She was suffering with a couple of injuries early on, some illness and she really didn't get going but now she's starting to show what she's capable of. She scored against London City in the last game of the FA Cup, she scored against West Ham and she's contributed to large parts of performances, even though the statistics that everyone looks at are assists and goals, she's contributed in large parts statistically in how we're playing and in performance. She deservedly gets a call-up [for Sweden] and an opportunity to be around the senior team, which is nice for her because it'll probably give her motivation and confidence moving forward. I hope there's many more call-ups for her. This is only the start for Tilly and hopefully we see a lot more goals, assists, but, for me, more consistent performances.”
On consistency in the WSL and gaining points from teams in and around us in the table…
“I think if you're looking at the points, they come against teams that are below us or teams that people would see that we're competing against. It's not to say that we haven't performed against the teams above us because we have, I think we've grown in performance in those games, we've pushed some of those teams really close, but I think it's not anything we're doing differently compared to what we do against any other teams. We prepare for every team the same way. It's more just you go into games and you know that maybe the level increases when you play against certain teams, more motivation and more drive when you play in these big games, but I think against those top teams we've built on performance and I want to make sure moving forward we can continue to do that.”
On having flexibility in the team, using a range of different players in different scenarios…
“It's probably a big part of the DNA in terms of how we want to look with the ball. The way I want the team to look, I want us to be hard to beat, but with the ball I want us to have more fluidity and probably be a little bit less predictable with how we look. Having the players, that's why I'm big on the flexibility, the players that come in, no-one's profile is the same, so it becomes probably a little bit more unpredictable when they come on the pitch against any opposition, that they can't expect the same kind of traits. But I think we've been a lot more fluid, I want us to be a lot more fluid than we have been in probably the last few games. We need to be a bit braver with the movement and a bit more open with the movement, and that just takes time and confidence to do that. I think we're in a good space, we have a clear identity of how we want to look and play in both our half and their half, and some of the clear characteristics and concepts when we play in-game are there to see.”
On the impact Scott Phelan has made since coming into an interim role last month…
“I think with Scott, he's been at Everton for a long time, he knows exactly what the Club requires, he knows the DNA and the ethos of that club and he knows what an Everton team should look like, and the players will definitely know what an Everton team should look like. They're harder to beat, they're more compact, the distances are a lot closer defensively when they play and then with the ball, they've still got the fluency and bravery to go forward and be direct, they’re really exploit those spaces higher up quickly. They've taken big steps, I think. When you're not conceding many goals, in the first two games they won 1-0, they didn't concede, it's a sign of a team that's actually defending really well, and a team that actually on the other end of the pitch can go and convert. We know in both phases, with the ball we're going to have to be very, very good, to break them down and be patient with that but, off the ball, we're going to have to be even better because even their open play structure or their transitional play is very, very good.”
With the Asian Cup still in progress, both sides will be missing key players for the fixtures, so he was asked about how he plans to set-up…
“You try to look at what players may play against you and what threats the individual players collectively pose, so we've looked at those situations, but what you never know is when so many players have come out of the team and the team that's going to play you is going to look different, you don't know who's going to play where. So, it's more trying to pick up what they do from a consistency perspective with their patterns and how they move and how they play, trying to defend those situations and then looking at the individual players when we get on that game day of what threats they pose.”
On targeting a strong end to the season in the WSL and Women’s FA Cup…
“In these games now, we know we have between seven and nine games, if you progress through the FA Cup competition and go all the way, we know there's still a bundle of games that we need to be competitive in, we want to continue to build on what we're setting out this year to make sure there's very clear structures and foundations in place so when we move forward, we know what's expected from a bare minimum, and then we can build the layers on top of what will make us a different team and a more productive team. All of these games coming up, I think the refreshing thing for us, we're still pushing in the league to finish as high as we can, we're still pushing in the FA Cup to see how far we can go and that then brings a motivation, definitely an aura about the team to know that they can push for these competitions.”
On facing his former side Everton…
“I have so much respect for that club as I've said before. They gave me opportunities to work there and be part of that club when I was younger, and I think I've got so much respect for them as a club. Any game I go into I'm working with Tottenham Hotspur, I want to win the game, I want to win for this team, for these players, for the staff, and it brings a really nice feeling for me because we played them earlier in the season at Goodison Park, which is one of the most historic stadiums and I enjoyed it. But, when we come here now and for the 90 minutes, I want to make sure that Spurs is the team that comes out on top but, as I always will, I have a place for Everton because they contributed to a lot of my development as a person, as a coach and so on.”
