**Renée Slegers reflects on a 4-3 victory over Manchester United that sees Arsenal secure second place in the Women’s Super League standings.**
A cagey opening half was blown right open after the interval, as an 11-minute purple patch saw Arsenal take a 4-1 lead heading into the last half an hour. However, Manchester United refused to roll over, clinching a brace back to keep the scoreline at a respectable margin in north London.
Reviewing the performance, Slegers spoke on the importance of holding onto the victory despite United’s late surge.
“We wanted to create momentum for ourselves, for now and moving forward, but we also wanted to create momentum in the game, and we knew that United was going to challenge us, because Villa and Brighton challenged us with a play for play press, and we knew that United does that as well, with the intensity and quality that they can bring. It was it was a huge challenge for us as a team coming back from the last two games, so that’s why I’m happy that we dealt with it much better today, and in the game as it’s played today, I think we had really good spells of control, and we could have controlled the game even more.
“If opposition plays like this, you’ll have to accept that at some point as well and play the game in front of you, and I think we did that much better than the last two games. So it’s about protecting the ball, supporting, winning the duals and second balls, and the ball is more in the air and handling those moments better. I think we we did that, and we played the game that was in front of us, and then us managing momentum in game was on a much higher level this game as well. So we stayed much more levelled, task-focused. We scored early goal, but then the challenges with the with the 1-1, it could have caught us and got us emotional, but it didn’t. We just we stayed very focused on the task, we stayed very connected, we kept on communicating and and that was on a really high level today.”
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Having faced back-to-back losses at the hands of both Aston Villa and Brighton last week, Slegers praised Arsenal’s ability to control the emotional value of the game as United commenced their comeback.
“What we need to do to manage out this game and create momentum back to ourselves, or if that’s not possible because of their pressure now, and they go all in and they had nothing to lose because they wanted to go for the win. We need to manage this space for the game, and that’s why we had really constructive discussions down the sidelines. So it’s not only about me, but we have other staff members as well, so playing to our strengths. I think we had effective messaging to the players coming all to the pitch as well. They had all the plans for the different scenarios that we that we could potentially use.”
Arsenal dominated the midfield territory in the opening 70 minutes, both Kim Little and Mariona Caldentey running the central areas with authority. A 70th minute change from United to replace Ella Toone with Lisa Naalsund did manage to even out the battle, something Slegers reflected on after the fact.
“We knew that they are a physical team, they don’t mind being direct and supporting the second balls. I think our midfield did really well, and they battled for everything, and they tried to get under your skin, but again, and I think we stayed so levelled, and were very task focused and in the present and reading things early. I think that is what’s key in these kinds of games, so they did that really well as the rest of the team, because all lines need to work together to keep the team compact and come back down. So it wasn’t just in the midfield, but also the support from underneath and the support from the highest levels.”
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Alessia Russo now closes out the season as joint golden boot winner (alongside Bunny Shaw), and Slegers had plenty of praise to share for the striker after the game against her old side.
“I’m happy that she got rewarded for all the work that she does day in, day out, and the team as well. If you look at Alessia, it’s not only the scoring contribution, but she contributes in so many ways to the team, on and off the pitch. It’s a privilege to work with with these players, and Alessia is definitely one.”