Arsenal head coach Slegers says the side must enter their WSL game against West Ham with humility and a clear focus on themselves.
Arsenal travel to West Ham on Friday 12th September for their first away test of the new Women’s Super League (WSL) season. Arsenal kicked off their campaign with a convincing 4-1 victory against newcomers London City Lionesses at the Emirates and will be looking to continue this momentum on Friday night.
Slegers was asked about the type of game Arsenal are expecting against the strong outfit of West Ham. Slegers commented on their strong organisational skills.
“They play a type of football that they believe in and they’re very disciplined in the way they do things. We expect a very hard game, I know historically it’s always been a hard game for Arsenal to go to, it’s a hard ground”.
Slegers focused on the need for Arsenal to focus within, with a remained strong sense of self belief.
“We of course believe in our own qualities, but we go their humility because we know it’s a hard game and we have things to do for ourselves. We need to understand the setting and opposition, but at the end of the day we look a lot at what we want to bring to the game tomorrow and that’s what we focus on”.
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Arsenal ‘must build squad layers’ to compete in WSL says Slegers
Arsenal finished 12 points behind last season’s title winners Chelsea and will be hoping to close the gap to their title rivals this season. Slegers described how she wants “to build so many layers that we can bring to the game, whatever is asked from us and what is needed”.
“Liv (Smith) is definitely a good addition on that,” the head coach said. “She adds things to our game, so we’re really happy with what she’s bringing to us. She’s also very young still and just turned 21, so what’s really important for us now is that we support her really well. We can see so much potential and she’s already contributing a lot”.
The Halfway Line asked Slegers to comment on the difficult balance of developing a strong identity and consistent way of playing, but also remaining unpredictable to opponents.
“I think those things go hand in hand. I think what we tried to do in preseason is create clarity in our identity, what we want to be, and what we want to look like and how we do that. I think we have a good idea, but I don’t think it means that you have to be one sided in everything you do.
“So, I think that’s the nice thing about the WSL. It’s getting better each year, and you have so many different styles of football. I think you also see that everyone is trying to do better and better in every phase of the game. You’re multidimensional and you can do different things, depending on what’s asked of you in the game. It’s just a really good challenging league so I’m really, really happy to be in the league”.
Slegers confirmed no changes in team news, as Leah Williamson continues her recovery. Slegers confirmed that Williamson is “progressing well” and is making “positive” strides. Slegers also stated how she was pleased with the overall status of the squad after a record-breaking transfer window.
“We have a really good squad. I’m really, really happy with the squad and the competition in all positions. And that’s where we wanted to get to and we’re driving things forward. We’re going to need everyone”.
West Ham United will host Arsenal this Friday September 12, kicking off at 7:30pm GMT, with it being shown live on Sky Sports Premier League.