_Arsenal were 4-0 winners over Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon. First half goals from Alessia Russo and Beth Mead and second half strikes from Stina Blackstenius and Russo again made for a comfortable afternoon. Renee Slegers spoke to the press post-match, the first three questions are from Arseblog News._
**On starting with a midfield pair of Cooney-Cross and Mariona…**
They were world class, they are world class players both of them. We try to prep them as best as we could because it’s a new partnership. Kyra plays in that role always but it’s newer for Mariona. She is so intelligent as a player we were confident she would solve it, there were a couple of details we went through from a defensive perspective, for example what her role is in a low block because that is new for her. Otherwise, it was quite straightforward. I am very happy and they worked together well too, their collaboration was very good and they played to their strengths and it was very well done by both of them.
**On Villa slightly coming back into the game in the second half and how Arsenal readjusted…**
Players coming on, we had a couple of energy injections. We made changes at half-time and after 30 minutes of the first half from a defensive formation perspective which helped. Otherwise it wasn’t so much changing things in the second half, it was more about whether we could play in the spaces on the pitch where we want to be. We did that after that first 15 or 20 minutes where we struggled a bit, even though I wouldn’t want to say ‘struggled.’
They had a couple of crosses and a couple of breakthroughs when Chastity Grant has a shot blocked by Steph and they have one more shot blocked by Lotte. But that was it, they don’t create much. We are used to dominating possession and we didn’t in that period, I think it was 50-50 today. That was different for us, the ruthlessness we showed and the control we had even though we had to defend a little bit, we do that really, really well and we put a lot of emphasis on that as a team.
**On withdrawing Emily Fox at half-time…**
Foxy plays a lot for us she plays a lot for the US, we felt comfortable as a team in the game. It was also important to get Lotte back in the group and give her a decent amount of minutes.
**On whether she is paying attention to goal difference…**
We pay a lot of attention to how we act in both boxes, how we defend our own box and how we attack the opposition box. I think that is where games are being won or lost. That is what we focus on. We don’t look at the table with the team and look at positions and goal difference, that isn’t what we do, that needs to be a result of what we do. We have had more focus on how we defend and attack the box.
**On Alessia Russo coming into scoring form again…**
We defend as a team and we attack as a team, it’s the forwards getting on the end of the attacks but it is credit to the whole team and the way we create. On training, we worked specifically with the forwards, we have Kelly Smith with us and we spent a little bit more time working on finishing specifically with the forwards in their roles. That hopefully is a part of why we are so ruthless and clinical at the moment, Kelly puts in great details. Again, it is all the players and how much effort and investment comes from them. We are in a good place at the moment and we need to maintain that.
**On dropping Russo deeper when Blackstenius came on…**
The height of the press was the same for the second half, we wanted to press with the same height with Frida as we did with Less and Stina. In attack, Less is usually a 9, she comes down as a 10 and there is a specific space we want her to find in the 10 role, so someone else comes down and fills another space. We want to play to the players’ strengths so she plays a little higher there and comes close to the 9 position. With all the creativity and intelligent players around, we still fill all the spaces that we want.
**On the increased confidence of the forwards…**
Yeah exactly that, at the start of the season we were really good as well and outperformed our opponent on almost everything, but we just didn’t score as many goals. We work on a lot of specific stuff in both boxes, I can’t say it has been exactly one thing, I think it is a cocktail of things together that are working at the moment.
**On whether she believes Arsenal can win the title…**
Yeah I think so, we have to believe that. We are happy to be in the top three at the moment but we won’t settle for third place we try to go for more. The same in the Champions League group, we want to go for the first place there too. We are not settling, we are not happy yet but it is a good step.
**On how much fun she is having as the manager…**
I am enjoying it and having fun. It is very hard work as well so sometimes you can forget to enjoy it cos there is so many things that need to be done in planning, preparation and reviewing, so you are working most of the time. But match days and these results, seeing the fans at the Emirates and being able to play for so many fans these are moments where you really feel the enjoyment in what you are doing.
**On whether Arsenal are making a statement with their performances…**
I am not thinking about making statements, we are helping the team to perform and get results we need. At the moment that is working really well so I am happy, especially with the clean sheets and how the whole team is invested in defending together. That is one thing I think we are separate from the rest so I am very happy about that, but it is all about the team.
14.van Domselaar; 2.Fox (3.Wubben-Moy HT), 6.Williamson(c), 7.Catley (26.Wienroither ‘74), 11.McCabe; 8.Mariona, 32.Cooney-Cross (22.Kuhl ‘83); 9.Mead, 12.L.Maanum (25.Blackstenius ‘60), 19.Foord (17.Hurtig ‘74); 23.Russo
Unused: 1.Zinsberger, 5.L.Codina, 16.Kafaji, 56.Godfrey