Ahead of the League Cup game against Charlton Athletic, Robert Vilahamn held his press conference at the Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre.
The head coach fielded questions from the press around the upcoming away fixture, team news and reflection upon the weekend’s draw against Aston Villa.
Here’s what he had to say:
On any squad changes…
Luana Bühler is back in the squad for tomorrow’s fixture, but Ella Morris has undergone a small setback so will be resting.
Becky Spencer suffered a small knock at the weekend, but is not injured.
On the 2-2 draw away at Aston Villa last weekend…
I think when you look at the performance and you watch it back again as well, it’s not the standards we normally have, especially in possession, how we can keep the ball and so on, so it becomes quite transitional. You need to look at it as Aston Villa away at Villa Park, it’s a good opponent as well which makes it difficult for us. In some phases of the game, we need to develop. For example, we give the ball away in some of the phases too easily, and they are very strong to counterattack and create crosses and balls into the boxes. In some games, you need to find a way to get a point, regardless of performance. Sometimes when you win, you can feel like ‘yeah, we won,’ and when you lose, everything is bad. It was a bad performance but good result in a way. We need to make sure we have good standards for the game tomorrow, and then we will take steps forward for the Liverpool game.
On the takeaways from last year’s FA cup game against Charlton…
Obviously they were competing in the top table last season, they were giving us a really tough game in the cup. They’ve started in a brilliant way this season, they have Ellie Brazil who we know very well, and she’s been performing very well for them. It’s not going to be an easy game, it’s going to be really fun to play at their stadium. I think we have a good chance to get a good game. I have enormous respect because they feel like they are pushing for the Women’s Super League for next season, so no, it’s going to be a tough game, but we are prepared for it.
On facing Ellie Brazil since her move to Charlton Athletic…
We know her well and I’m very happy for her that she gets game time and goals that she deserves. She’s brilliant, it makes me very happy to see that she’s performing well. It’s going to be a threat for us as she is quick and she can run so much, she’s a goal scorer. But, on the other hand, we handle good strikers every game, we know how to try to minimise space and chances, so of course we know how to try and stop her. It’s going to be interesting to see what she can bring.
On managing Bethany England’s talent, both on and off the pitch…
For me to work with Beth as a professional athlete, how she handles everything, even if she’s not starting a game, how she handles her speech for the group, how she stands up for the team, how she’s a super captain for me, I just love to work with her. We have so many good players. Martha’s pre-season was amazing, so she started the first two games, then Beth came on - that’s what you need to have if you want to be a top team in this league. She acts like a role model for the other players and shows how you handle being on the bench, which is brilliant. The goal she scored against Villa was really important to us, and I feel like she is definitely going to get a lot of minutes tomorrow. We need to keep going and keep building her because she is a big character for this group.
On three teams automatically progressing to the quarter-finals…
I personally like the cups when you are either in or you’re out, so basically every round is a knock-out round. Then, if you have a lot of games in the Champions League, or if you have a tight squad, you might need to gamble and use the younger squad members, if you want to compete every week. Of course, it’s very important that we don’t injure players and put too much pressure on them, but we still need to compete on the same level. It’s quite tricky to know that three teams are already in the quarter-finals and those teams are really good. I kind of want to have it more fair for everybody, but I’m new to this country so I’m not going to sit here and complain about the structure you have. It’s very odd though, I’d never heard about it before.
On his squad depth…
I think it’s important that we find games for squad players if they are good enough to play, as we cannot play everyone all the time. This cup is brilliant to find ways to get more players minutes, and actually compete in those minutes rather than it being a friendly. So for me, it’s always using the whole squad in these games because we still have very good players. It’s not like I’m rotating players and don’t care about the result. I know that I’m going to have a really strong starting XI tomorrow on the pitch, and I know that those players are ready to show what they can do for this club. You always want to compete, you always want to win trophies, so yeah, I’m going to use the squad.
On how last year’s loss in the FA Cup makes the squad more determined…
Yeah, I think when you get a taste of something, you want to have it again. I feel like the taste we got of the FA Cup gave us the urge to keep going. We had a good league cup run too last season, but we were knocked out by Manchester City, so I think we are enjoying those games, and we also feel like it’s quite a short way to a trophy, so we want to compete for that. On the other hand, it’s quite hard to reach the final because it’s a big job, but we are going to try.
On Charlton’s winning streak so far…
Sometimes when you look at an opponent and how they play, I look at this season and last season, which is when you see a structure, an organisation that’s really high quality. You see how they maximise players and obviously she [Karen Hills] has some really good stuff going on in that club right now. I think the signing of Ellie Brazil was a brilliant one actually, she’s so quick, she’s a goal scorer, she gives them the threat they need. It’s a very competitive Championship league this season, it’s started very well, and I think they are going to be one of those teams that compete to go to the WSL. I must say, I’m impressed about how they look, how they play, how they win games.
On the centre-back pairing between Molly Bartrip and Clare Hunt…
They’ve both been brilliant during pre-season and in the league. Amy had a concussion, Luana had a small injury, which gave them the chance to play together, which is good for them as they can build a good relationship. Luana is back now and has showed a good attitude. Amy is training to get back as well, so I feel like we have four strong centre-backs, but I must say that Clare and what she gives us when box defending and set pieces is something we didn’t have last season. Molly is so consistently good on the ball and is dominant every game, so right now, those two are playing really good football.
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