Renée Slegers felt our performance perhaps deserved more than just the one point against Manchester United on Saturday.
We were fully in control of possession and created the lion’s share of chances despite being able to find the breakthrough at Emirates Stadium.
“I think absolute dominance from our side in the game,” our head coach said. “I think they threatened us, early in the first half, they have the header, Rolfo’s header, but I think after that moment we dominated the game and we do so many things so well on the pitch.
“United is a strong opponent and I think we pacify a lot of things that they like to do in their press, which we did really well. We get to the final third, we create chances but unfortunately we didn’t get the ball in the net today and that’s what you need to get three points.”
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Asked about the performance of Leah Williamson, who demonstrated the vision and passing ability we’ve missed in her absence, Renée continued: “Her progressive passing is really good. She can do different things. Short, long, she can disguise her decisions really well so yeah she definitely does that, but there’s so many other things that she adds to the team.
“It’s great to have her back, her first 90 minutes after quite some months away from the team so she was really good today.”
Lastly, we asked Renée what she made of new signing Smilla Holmberg, who she gave a debut to in the second half on Saturday.
“She spent about eight days with the team now and of course she comes from the Swedish league, from Hammarby, coming to Arsenal, a big club, big organisation, getting to know a lot of people, understanding their methodology, the game model, so it’s been very intense for her the last week,” she explained.
“She makes her debut today so it’s a big moment for her and I think if you look at the short period of time she spent with us, getting to the Emirates, making your debut, I’m very impressed with how she’s handled everything, how she’s prepared herself and how she look very confident on the pitch and shows who she is. I was really happy with her performance.
“She has a lot of qualities. She’s a powerful, physical player with speed. She has qualities going forward. She’s brave to take on 1v1s. She’s got a really good right foot to cross so I think you could see some of those things already in the 20 minutes she played today, so I’m really happy with that.”
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