Renée Slegers was back in front of the media for her pre-Chelsea press conference at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Monday.
Our head coach was asked to provide the latest team news, share her thoughts on our UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final opposition and more.
Here’s everything she had to say on the following subjects…
**on Leah and Olivia's availability:**
Leah Williamson is not going to make it for tomorrow, she's progressing well but too early. Otherwise, there's a lot of individual management with these short turnarounds. You didn’t see Liv on the pitch \[in open training\] but everyone's on their individual programmes.
**on our Australian internationals:**
No, so they landed early this morning. They're staying at home today, they'll be in for a short session, some gym work tomorrow. But they won't be available to play tomorrow.
**on our strong home record under Renée:**
We love to play at the Emirates, of course. It's a special stadium, it's a special atmosphere, so many fans. We want to bring energy with the way we play and we know that the fans are always bringing us energy as well. We look forward to this occasion and it's part of the draw that we will play at home first. But I think, with the last game we played at the Emirates, in the sun, early days, now tomorrow under the lights, we love to be at Emirates, so I think it's a good start for us in these two legs.
**on Chelsea's form this season:**
I think all teams go through different phases and it's much easier said than done to just be unbeaten and be at your highest level constantly across seasons. If you look at Chelsea and what they've been doing, I think they've been excellent at doing that for a very long time. All teams go through phases, like I just said. If I look at their team and their squad, they have a lot of quality. So we're very prepared to play against a very good team tomorrow at Emirates.
**on if Leah will be fit before the April international break:**
I hope so, that's the plan. It's not a big issue, we just have to be smart and find the right moment when her body is fully ready to have her playing.
**on preparing to face Chelsea:**
It's of course been a very short turnaround from the West Ham game, so we've had two full days to prepare. It doesn't mean that the work hasn't started earlier, so there's a lot of work already been done. But all the details were set in these two days. I think there is an unpredictability with how Chelsea are going to come out and how they're going to play this first game at Emirates, what shape they'll play in, what players they'll have available. So we’ll just have to be ready for all scenarios, that's the bigger picture, where we have to prepare for scenarios, but on the other hand, that's also us focusing on ourselves and what we want to bring to the game regardless.
**on Chelsea's performances in the last two weeks:**
Yeah, of course we’ve watched those games, and we’ve picked up on really good detail - our analysts do an amazing job, but every game is different - different challenges; different opponents; personnel can change. All we know is that Chelsea’s games are strong in certain phases of the game, certain periods of the game, and we have to be ready for that. There will be momentum shifts, phases where we’re strong and phases where they will be, and I think it’s about who manages those moments in the best way. We’re definitely preparing for a very strong Chelsea to come out tomorrow.
**on injuries in both squads:**
There are injuries, there is the Asia Cup, so both teams are having players away, players missing. But I also think it’s important, of course, that in the top teams you often see the winning teams. I’ve been doing some studies that the average age is quite high. If you look historically at the Champions League for example, and what the spots look like, I think it’s important to have experience but it’s also important to have young players, because the game is growing so fast. We’re going to need those young players who are growing with the game, so I think they’re going to play a huge role in the year now, and the next coming years - it’s great to see young players get opportunities.
**on our history against Chelsea:**
It’s one of our strengths I think, it’s a big occasion of course, but we know we’re at our very, very best when we’re task-orientated. That’s one of our big strengths in our team, so we want to stay in control for as long as possible because we know that we can make the best decisions on the pitch. But of course, there’s passion as well, and that can give us a couple of extra percentages. If you ask me, in my role, I want to stay as controlled and as composed as possible for the full 90 minutes, because I think that’s going to help the team make really good decisions. And the passion and fire will be there anyway, because we’re playing a Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea.
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