In her pre-Aston Villa press conference on Friday afternoon, Renee Slegers admitted that the squad had struggled with injuries in certain areas of the pitch during this season. Arseblog News asked whether midfield, in particular, had been challenging with Kyra Cooney-Cross on compassionate leave for the second half of the season.
‘Yeah, it has been, I think, in a couple of positions on the pitch. We’ve had phases in the season where we’ve been quite thin. But midfield, yes, that is definitely one. So the loads on Mario and Kim Little and Vic Pelova has been high, especially with these tight schedules.
‘At the moment, the centre backs as well, of course, with Steph Catley, Katie Reid and Leah out at the moment and we’ve had stages in the season with our wide forwards, but we’re happy to have Chloe and Beth back as well. Smila is showing that she’s she’s really good in that position as well.
‘But we’ve had stages in the season where we have been stretched in a couple of positions for different reasons, whether that’s personal reasons or injuries. But the players have been stepping up and doing absolutely everything they can. When we get to the end of the season, we’ll see what we could have done differently and how we want to go into next season as well.’
Arseblog News went on to ask whether the conclusion was that Arsenal need to make the squad slightly bigger ahead of next season. ‘It’s a balance that we need to get right, I think. We have a lot of discussions on the size of squad and what that looks like in an ideal world, that’s ongoing, that goes on in the background, throughout the season, there’s some other people in the club who are constantly working around that, but I’m also involved
‘That’s all in a good place and I think we have been unlucky with a couple of very unfortunate family matters. We are always working on the next season, but we’re also in here and now because even though there was still a small chance for the trophy in the WSL we’re not there anymore and we have to face that reality.
‘But also with these three games left, we want to do everything to secure Champions League qualification and also play our very best football in these last three games.’ The Gunners have been involved in five competitions this season and finish their campaign with six games in 20 days.
Slegers also says the size of the squad is important due to an increasingly demanding schedule, ‘The turnaround that we have now playing quarter to 8 at Brighton and then 12 o’clock tomorrow, that’s extremely short. I think that’s something we can have a look at- get some scientific input of what’s fair to athletes and what turnarounds do we do we accept?
‘That’s a challenge. It has been a challenge. That’s why in answer to Tim’s question, that’s why the size of the squad is so important. So you have the depth to be able to play different players, to keep everyone fresh, towards the back end of season when the games are really high stakes.
‘Then everyone is mentally and physically fresh. So that’s important and the balance of the squad is important- if the squad is too big, then it’s also going to be hard. Definitely the scheduling and using the scientific evidence or how long a football player needs to recover to be able to play 90 or 120 minutes again.’