The media heard from Arsenal interim head coach Renée Slegers after the Gunners inflicted a 4-0 defeat upon Aston Villa in the Barclays Women’s Super League (WSL).
The victory sees the Gunners progress to third place in the WSL table. Asked whether her side could still be in contention for the title, Slegers said: “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.”
Expressing confidence in her squad as supporters continue to see progress, Slegers emphasised that even during transitional periods both on and off the pitch, “With all the creativity and intelligent players around, we still fill all the spaces that we want.”
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Arsenal showed ‘ruthlessness’ and ‘control’ says Slegers
Aston Villa emerged from the tunnel after the break looking for change. During the first 20 minutes of the second half, the Villans had their only real opportunities of the fixture, before Slegers’ side regained control.
Asked about the Gunners’ adaptability during the game, Slegers explained “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.”
Goal difference can make or break a team’s ambitions in the WSL. Slegers, however, affirmed that rather than focusing on this “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.”
The interim head coach continued, “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.”
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A ‘cocktail’ of things working well for the Gunners
In the absence of both Kim Little and Lia Wälti – two of Arsenal’s most senior players – today’s lineup introduced a new midfield pairing of Mariona Caldentey and Kyra Cooney-Cross.
Slegers packed on the praise for the duo, saying “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.”
The interim head coach elaborated, “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.”
It was a team effort today for Arsenal, with the club’s forwards continuing to flourish. The interim head coach highlighted the importance of confidence for attackers, detailing “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,” Slegers said.
Pleased with the performance, the interim manager went on “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.”
“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,” summarised Slegers.