Renee Slegers reacts to 1-0 defeat to Chelsea
Arsenal were defeated 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in the WSL on Sunday afternoon thanks to a first half goal from Alyssa Thompson. Renee Slegers spoke to the press post-match, the first two questions are from Arseblog News.
On not capitalising on a strong opening 30 minutes…
In a game like this, two strong teams going against each other, when you have momentum and when you have pressure on, you probably need to score because you know that it will swing when it is two good teams. We didn’t capitalise on those moments. I think we had two on the on the post, Kim and Mariona, so then they get a goal I think it’s between 30 to 40 minutes and I think after that in the second half, it’s harder for us and it becomes more equal. I think they get more time on the ball as well. We didn’t get as much pressure on as we did in the first half. I still think the game is open but if you if you look at the amount of shots and the amount of blocked shots and not on target, of course we need to be better in front of them.
On whether the substitutions confused the team…
I don’t think so. I think we have a lot of clarity in the way we want to play and principles, so all players can execute that. They know it. But of course, there’s different qualities in different players, so you have to make small adjustments in what you want to achieve. And I think we’ve had a couple of games in a row now where we are in a situation where we need to force a goal and then going into different scenarios, which we go through with certain players to the players on the pitch. And there was a couple of players on the pitch who knew what was happening and what we were doing. You have to be more optimistic and that’s what we did. So we played with two nines, went higher and tried to just get the ball forward. We’ve been in this situation a couple of times now and we got the rewards and lat two games, didn’t get it today, but it’s also a last resort. Again, I wanted to keep it away from the players because these players can score goals and they can finish and they will and they will get the rewards for their work. But today, again, we weren’t successful enough earlier in the game.
On how worried she is about player confidence…
Worried, no, and confidence is something that fluctuates. They know who they are and they know what they can bring. And what’s important is there’s always phases in the season and there’s different things you need to work on or focus on. And of course, like I just said, it’s important that we keep any pressure and any complexity away from the players because we believe in them and they can, be ruthless in front of goal and they can score. So it’s just really important that we keep that simplicity and clear heads, clear minds for the players.
On some Arsenal players appearing to be confused about where they were playing after the first round of subs…
That happened at the same time as Foxy went down and we had to then change shape for one minute to then go and get back to shape after that minute when we were one player down. So that was the discussion and it maybe looked more than it was because we just had to get them the message as quickly as possible and the players had to understand from within the pitch. So there were two different messages. What was happening now and was happening after that.
On Mariona starting on the left…
She’s played there a lot for Barcelona and she played out there for Spain. She played at first when she came to us. And she’s really good in that position. We wanted to create certain situations on the pitch, which I think. Especially first half, we did. She’s really good with her composure in and around the box when she can arrive into spaces so that’s what we look to set up and like I said, I think in the first half, without the goal coming, there was a lot of threat and issues that we created with Mariona in that position.
On where the players are psychologically…
We have to earn the right, again, to be in the conversation, because now we’ve lost points in three games. So at the moment, it’s just getting back, for the next game that we’re going to play and then City away next weekend. And like I said, it can it can get really heavy and the players want to own that and they want to make things better and they think a lot as well about what can be better. So it’s trying to take as much as possible away from them and giving direction and clarity on how we want to go forward.
On taking Mariona and Stanway off…
We wanted to create different threats on their back line and create overloads in a different way. We know Caitlin Ford and Chloe who came on at that moment and Stina, we created a new front three against their back line and giving different issues with our directness, so that’s why and it was physically demanding today in those positions as well, because if you look at Mariona’s position, she had to Carpenter, of course, joins a lot of attacks, had to track, and then being really good in her position, in possession and being really good with her decisions. And so it was demanding for both midfielders and we wanted to pose different threats on the back line for Chelsea.
On the motivation to deliver in a big game as they managed a few times last season…
Absolutely. And I think you could see that in the way we started the game, how impressive we were, how convinced we were in our actions. That was definitely there. And then I think there was a phase in the second half where we don’t get pressure on, where we get pacified and that’s when we lose momentum. And then I think what with the five game changers, we do everything until the end to try and create something in their box.
On withdrawing Lisa Baum after 63 minutes…
She has been amazing and she was really good today. She gave a lot of threats and I think so she was really, really good. The physical loads in that position is really high and I don’t think I share any other detail in this room. But yeah, there’s reasons why we take her off. But she’s been really, really good for us.
On the mistakes leading to the Chelsea goal…
I think similar to the United goal, it’s a moment where we turn over the ball in a low area on the pitch and opposition capitalises on it. So, you know, you always feel when that happens, it’s in your hands and in your control. So that’s that’s disappointing, of course. At the same time, I think on the other side, we caused some or created some turnovers for Chelsea as well, but we didn’t capitalise on those moments. So, yeah, something we will look at, of course.
28.Borbe; 2.Fox, 6.Williamson, 7.Catley, 22.O.Batlle (29.Cerci ‘81); 4.Stanway (25.Blackstenius ‘61), 10.Little(c) (14.Reuteler ‘81), 32.Cooney-Cross; 19.Baum (18.Kelly ‘61), 8.Mariona (9.Foord ‘61); 23.Russo
Unused: 3.Wubben-Moy, 11.Smith, 16.Misa, 31.Holmberg
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