Following the international break, our interim boss Renée Slegers spoke to the press ahead of facing Aston Villa in the Barclays Women's Super League.
Renee was asked about the fitness of our squad, the building team spirit and facing the Villians at the Emirates Stadium this Sunday.
Read every word from her pre-match press conference below.
**on coming back after the international break:**
It was good to see everyone again, back in the building, everyone seems healthy, we had players on the pitch today, good session. Obviously it’s been different international windows for everyone, there’s a couple with just training games, there’s a couple with competitive games, positive results and a couple with results they didn’t want so they all come in with different entries but we try to get them back to our way as quick as possible.
**on staying in charge:**
Like I’ve said before, I’m happy to contribute to the team, I was really happy in the role I was contributing before and now I’m stepping in, doing this but again, I think we’re such a big group of people doing a really good job as players and staff. So I want to highlight everyone, I enjoy the role, I enjoy the other role, I enjoy the togetherness at Arsenal at the moment.
**on if her position creates a lack of certainty at the club:**
No, not for me personally and I can’t sense that in the team either if you look at the past block that we’ve played, I think it was a strength of ours to be in the present, be in the moment because we don’t know about tomorrow, we don’t know about the future, we have to be in the here and now and I think that’s helped us in the last block and I think, for us we turned that into a strength in the team.
**on if she would like the role permanently:**
This question always comes up in the press conferences! New block, same. I understand the question, I enjoy it at the moment, I don’t know about the future, I just do everything I can in my role at the moment.
**on her success so far:**
I think as a group we’ve highlighted what we wanted to do, again, I think the players have been taking big ownership, been holding themselves and each other accountable for a lot of things and we’ve tried to facilitate that and lead that process but again, big credit to the group of players, what they’ve done.
**on what she’s implemented in the squad:**
There are a couple of things, in the group dynamics that we try to work with, really feel a sense of togetherness and relatedness. We want the players to feel competent and confident, that’s something that’s important, I think. For performing, there have been a couple of tactical details we’ve been emphasising to the players.
**on team spirit being more important than tactics at times:**
I think in a perfect world it’s all working well, I think you’re good in all those areas and I think a team like Arsenal needs to be good in all those areas because we want to be competing for the top spots in the WSL and we want to be competing in Europe so I think we need to be good at all of those things on a consistent basis.
**on the impact of playing at the Emirates:**
Well there’s an energy in the group and there’s an energy in the stands as well and I think energy to energy brings more energy so I think we try to make each other stronger and I know how much it means for the players stepping out onto the pitch, seeing the fans, hearing the songs, I think everyone’s looking forward to playing on Sunday at the Emirates.
**on scheduling and positives outweighing the negatives of playing at the Emirates…**
It’s a process still, we don’t have two stadiums. We’re very happy that we share a fantastic stadium. Like I said before, it was a bump in the road, this clash of fixtures, but I think, over time if you look at what Arsenal does for women’s football and what they’ve been doing, how much they’ve been pushing, been helping grow the sports for a long time. It’s a bump on the road, analysing and moving forward.
**on injury updates of Lia Walti and Steph Catley:**
Lia is recovering well, still in Switzerland, we’ll see when she comes back. Steph Catley, in the building, trained for full session and looked good.
**on long-term absentees of Victoria Pelova and Amanda Illestedt:**
They’re both progressing really well, it’s nice to have Amanda back in the building, together with a little baby, so it’s a nice addition I think, it brings a new dynamic in the restaurant. Mana was back on the training pitch today, it will take some time to build this up, it’s a big thing to a female body to give birth. But she’s doing really well, and there’s no specific time frame that I can share with you guys now.
For Vic, she was training with us, we had a couple of players injured in the international break, and Vic did some bits of sessions with the rest of the players which was very positive.
**on facing Aston Villa:**
I think Aston Villa is a great team, I think if you look at their results, it’s been one goal difference except for the Brighton game. They always make it hard for their opponents, like us they always have strong game-changers that they bring into the game, they’re also strong at the end of the game so I think it’s a game we don’t want to underestimate, I think it’s a very strong opponent, every opponent is strong in the WSL, it’s been developing massively, Aston Villa in particular, so it’s going to be a good opponent that we face on Sunday.
**on when she will get an answer on her future:**
Well, obviously, permanent manager over time, that’s the best thing for the club but like I said before, the place that we’re in and the reality we’re in, we’re actually trying to turn it into something very positive for us and that’s being in the here and now and that’s living in the day because we don’t know about tomorrow. I think everyone has been very professional, both players and staff but also, we need to plan ahead because we don’t know when a permanent manager will be there so we have to plan for this block, we can’t just live day by day, that’s the balance we try to find but communication to the players is what we need to do today.
**on her thoughts on taking the job:**
There are lots of thoughts living in my head. When I come home at night, that’s when they pop up and a million other things.
**on what the uncertainty does for fans:**
I think it’s hard for me to get into the supporter perspective. I can see what we are doing in the building and I can say with all my heart that all the work that we are putting in, from everyone. I’ve said it before; players, staff and everyone involved has been on such a high level. So I don’t think anyone needs to worry about that on the outside but of course, I don’t know the perspective of how you see and perceive it from the outside but on the inside, we’re very comfortable and confident about the situation.
**on communication with the club:**
My communication with the club has been very good, we have constant communication and I know that there club is doing a really good job to try and appoint the right manager in the future.
**on more smiles at the training ground:**
I’m not a joker! They have to enjoy what they’re doing because that’s when you get the best out of yourself, wherever you are in life, whatever you do. So that’s what we try to create. We think about the way we coach, the kind of drills that we design, what’s our energy, what do we reinforce, what do we not reinforce?
So we try and use all these different tools to create an environment and try to facilitate but at the end, it’s the players feeling comfortable and the feeling that they want to create a certain environment. That’s what they’ve been doing really well but just laughter is not going to win us games, it’s all very serious as well. Behaviours are infectious, I believe in that, strongly. But we work really hard on the pitch but I think if you enjoy something, you tend to work even harder and feel more motivated.
**on Beth Mead doing her coaching badges and advice to her as a leader:**
Direct and honest. This is like an interview. I think togetherness is very important, to have people engaged and involved. I’m also a winner, I want to try and win things.
**on the Emirates experience:**
From the perspective of being professional athletes and trying to maximise performances, the Emirates is brilliant because we have all the facilities, we can prepare the players in the best possible way, we have all the equipment, rooms, facilities, everything is there for the players to perform, I think Boreham Wood was great, what I liked about Boreham Wood is the intimacy of the stadium. But the facilities and the dressing room was all very small so it was always trying to fit everything in and it worked, and it’s going to work against Bayern Munich as well but from a professional sports perspective, the Emirates is brilliant for us and we can have more fans in the stadium so we can share the experience with more people.
**on contingency plans around moving games to Meadow Park:**
I think hopefully not in the future. I'm not the one in these discussions, but I'm quite sure that there are other people in the club working with these questions. I am sure that is happening at the moment.
**on whether Emirates Stadium could become our permanent home…**
Well, I think it's great, yeah. So if you want my personal opinion, I think it will be very good. Again, from a maximising performance perspective, but also in terms of growing the women's game and sharing a football game with as many people as possible.
**on balancing the emotions in the team after European qualifiers:**
So in the last block, when they came back, there were a lot of positive performances, both individually and on a team level. That's when we presented back some of those successes to the players and shared with everyone what everyone had been doing while they were away with the national teams. This time, we didn't do that. We felt like there were mixed emotions but also, we want to go as quickly as possible back to what we want to do with Arsenal, because there's so little time. We had to prioritise the time, and we want to go back to what we are as Arsenal.
**on supporting Katie McCabe:**
Yeah, it's emotional for her. Ireland means a lot to her, so exactly that. Arm around the shoulder and not too much talking today. Just out on the pitch and training football. But yeah, definitely the arm around the shoulder.
**on three former Gunners being inducted into the WSL Hall of Fame:**
Yeah, that's brilliant. That's nice. It's always nice when people or players are being recognised for things. Gilly \[Flaherty\], I've played with in the Arsenal academy team, so I've known her and seen where she comes from as a young girl. So that's brilliant. That's very positive for them.
**on former players finding a career in media afterwards…**
I think that's also a big part that's been growing in the women's game. I've become a coach now as a retired player, but there are so many different roles at the moment. I think it's good to get all those ex-players into different roles in women's football to help push it forward. I think they bring perspective. They know where it comes from. They have the history. So that's very positive.
**on whether Renée will be involved in January transfer window conversations:**
Oh, there's a big team working on this. It's not really part of my role at the moment, but also, when I was in my other role, we got asked for some opinions and we did some assessments on players, both internally and externally. So that's the same at the moment, but there's a whole other department working on this question.
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