Renee Slegers reacts to 5-1 victory over Charlton
Arsenal were 5-1 winners over Charlton in a pre-season friendly at Meadow Park on Wednesday night. Charlton took a first half lead through Lucy Fitzgerald before Georgia Stanway equalised and Mariona slotted home a penalty shortly before half-time. Kyra Cooney-Cross hit a second half screamer to make it 3-1 before Olivia Smith’s late strike made it four and Frida Maanum’s long range curler made it 5-1 in stoppage time. Renee Slegers spoke to the press post-match, the fourth and fifth questions are from Arseblog News.
On her thoughts on the game…
We worked really hard in pre season to try to make things gel and we connect on the pitch, we know the quality of squad we have and the identity we have. I think you saw some steps from the Paris game today, we had more shots and more end product, that is something we spoke about. I am optimistic but we are not there yet.
On moving the ball quicker in the second half…
The intent was the same in the first half to try to take spaces early because we knew they were going to drop off in a mid to low block, we looked at opportunities to restart quickly or attack spaces early. There was a lot of intent in the first half as well. There was some positional detail we spoke about at half time which the players applied really well in the second half, which was also down to the opposition getting tired in defending and us being on the ball so much and moving them around, it was that combination. But the first and second half teams did their jobs really well today.
On Kyra Cooney-Cross scoring a great goal in the second half…
Kyra has been amazing coming back in because you can’t imagine what she has been going through. We are so happy to have her back. She has been good and good on the pitch, she is training on a really high level and built her minutes. A moment that happened today was a moment of magic. I spoke to her after and of course she was thinking about her mum and we were thinking about her family, she has been through a lot but we are so happy to have her here and we try to take good care of her.
On Mariona playing wide left and having more depth in the spine of the team this season…
Yeah absolutely, we have a much better balance in the squad now and we have all positions doubled up, plus we have versatility where players can play in other positions where needed, that was the reason why we played Mariona on the left because Chloe Kelly is still out with illness. If there are moments or scenarios in the season where we know we need someone else in the position then of course we know what Mariona can do there and that was the reason why we played her there. She has played different positions in pre-season and at Arsenal in general and wherever we play her we try to play her to her strengths. You could see her relationship with Ona and you see the connections they have from Barcelona. We have so many options but i am really happy with the balance in the squad, it is better than last year.
On Holmberg playing at centre-half and whether she is looking for another centre-half this summer…
Katie Reid is taking good steps so we hope to see her back soon. We trained Smilla there and she played there and did amazing. When she played with Hammarby she played in a three which was similar and quite close to being centre-back, we know she can cover that position but she is still primarily a right-back for us.
On taking on more shots from range tonight…
We have fantastic players so it’s about intent and what we look for when we build our attacks. It was simple today, we said ‘think goals’ so everything we do needs to lead to goals and that is what we did today. Also the spaces that open up depending on what the opposition does and we saw spaces on the edge of the box.
On playing newly promoted Charlton and Palace in pre-season…
It is hard to tell in pre-season, playing against Palace there were a lot of changes and a lot of academy players on both sides, so it’s hard to judge. But long-term it is really good for the league to expand and a positive step.
16.Misa (28.Borbe HT); 31.Holmberg, 6.Williamson (3.Wubben-Moy HT), 7.Catley (14.Reuteler HT), 22.Batlle (2.Fox HT); 10.Little(c) (24.Hinds HT), 4.Stanway (9.Foord HT), 23.Russo (12.L.Maanum ‘61); 19.Baum (11.Smith ‘61), 8.Mariona (32.Cooney-Cross HT); 25.Blackstenius (29.Cerci ‘74)
Unused: 40.Damm, 50.Conway, 55.Teer-Hutchins
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