Ahead of Spurs’ upcoming league fixture hosting Liverpool, Robert Vilahamn’s press
conference took place at Tottenham Hotspur Training Ground.
The Head Coach gave injury updates within the squad, reflected on their previous to fixtures
away to Aston Villa and Charlton, and looked ahead to Sunday’s fixture against Liverpool.
Here’s what he had to say on:
Injury Updates within the squad..
“Ella Morris is training on the pitch but also is being monitored so Spurs need to wait for
Saturday to see if she is available. Luana Bühler had her first minutes against Charlton and it
went well so she trained again today. Any other players are in the same phase so Shuang
Wang and Amy James-Turner will not be an option for this game but are still taking good
steps on the grass so it’s a matter of a few weeks but otherwise we look strong”
Looking ahead to Liverpool..
“They have a coach who has been in this league for a long time and has had great success
and you can tell he knows how to both win games and come back in games. His teams are
strong and work hard so when playing Liverpool you know it will be a tough game. We had
two good games in part of the games last season but Liverpool came back and scored goals
on us so we need to make sure we can game manage these games as well. Liverpool have
signed some new players as well so it’s going to be a really tough game but we have had a
good start to the season and a good preseason and if we have a good day, we know we will
have a good chance to beat Liverpool, but will need to be really sharp.”
Liverpool are yet to gain a win this season. Is it a bad time to play a team in this
situation?
“No. You can pick and choose whatever you want to think of that but we come with a good
feeling in their bodies and Liverpool probably come feeling they would like to have more
points as they had the lead in their two league games but came away with two draws so they
will want to beat us. I know it’s a new game and the players will be ready to compete in this
game and if I could pick I would rather play a team who hasn’t won than has won but it
doesn’t really matter and it will be tough game anyways.”
Only 4 shots from Tottenham vs Villa. Is this lack of offensive threat worrying against
tougher opposition?
“Not really, if you look at the week before with 22 shots it’s more of the performance around
it and decision making. We felt we were not happy with the attacking football against Aston
Villa because we took the wrong decisions and gave the ball away in a few situations we
could’ve scored or created chances. And because of that it was a transitional game which
made it difficult to create more chances, so everything is affected by other stuff. We need to
be better in those situations and make sure we are sharper but every game is back and forth
with what you are doing and scoring two goals with only four chances is a good thing so you
need to look at it in two ways.”
Whether Spurs will change their defensive strategies to counter the threat Olivia Smith has?
“She has been great in the first games and she’s a talented player with enormous power and
the finishing she did was really great, and she is a great pressing player as well. But we will
never adapt just because the opposition have good players but will need to be aware of
them but we have our strategies and how we want to play, tactics of how to break the press,
and defend against her. But I think she is a great player”
On the centre back partnership between Molly Bartrip and Clare Hunt..
“They work well together, they communicate and help the others around them as well. They
are organising the team in a good way and both are, when in possession, good players that
can handle the ball and want to make sure they are play makers. There is still a few things
they can take steps with such as how they are breaking the opponents press to make sure
there is different options in those scenarios. But they play well together and they help the
team in a good way. Out of possession, the defence work has been better this season with
defending the box with crosses and so on. And against Aston Villa they had a lot of crosses
so in those scenarios they have been great, set pieces as well both in possession and out of
possession. They are building a good relation there but it was also nice to see Luana score
yesterday and come back and Amy is hopefully soon back as well. So we have really good
centre-backs but Molly and Clare have been great most of the times in these games”
Was there any point in the games against Liverpool last season you noticed a switch
from winning to drawing looking back and want to do something differently this time?
“I think the first game, was quite a good first half from us before they switched a little bit of
tactics and formations and came back into that game. But it was basically a
miscommunication and they had a long cross and a great header from their Norwegian
striker so that was a little bit tough because I felt that game we should have won. The away
game, we were not great. It was very win the game at their stadium and the first half was not
great but then we actually scored a goal, and I think Amanda Nilden had a really great
chance to make it 2-0 and she had it hit the post. Then we should’ve just killed that game
but we ended up having a bit of a miscommunication, and they scored a beautiful goal in the
end. Game management is something we need to be better at, How can we make sure we
win those games. Hopefully with 2-0 instead of 1-0 but if we are not scoring that second goal
how can we be really sharp in those last minutes because what they do is they have so
much strength in their strikers and the power in that team so we can never sleep on them.
We can never be like ‘Okay we’re done now’ until the last second. They never give up. They
have a coach that makes sure they never give up. So game management and we need to
make sure we score more goals than one”
5 of the next 6 fixtures are against teams who finished above Spurs last season..
“I think it’s going to be very interesting to have a lot of those games in a row because I feel
like we want to be better in those games and we want to compete against those teams. I
don’t think people expect us to win all the games but we also expect us to be better than last
season so we have to make sure we compete in these games. And when we have done all
these games we can summarise saying ‘Are we ready to compete against these teams or
not’ and if we are were going to have a good position in the table and if we are not we can
make sure we take the steps quickly so we can fix it during the season. It’s more like to get
an answer on where we are and where we are going so we can improve even more. We
know we have a chance to play good football and compete and I feel like last season you
didn’t really know and you kind of hoped you were having a good result. This season we go
into it and make sure we get a good result and that’s the big difference this season I would
say”
Jess Naz making an announcement of herself and how big of a season can this be for
her...
“I think her X-Factor is one of the best in the league. She is so strong and powerful and quick
and she has the finishing to be the top player in this league and in this country and to play in
the Lionesses. Her next level will be to be consistent and make sure she can handle more
phases of the game. She’s still quite young, she’s still learning that so we are working very
much to be consistent with her and still have that X-Factor stuff that she has. I think she’s
great, I think her mentality is great. I feel like we give her time to grow into this role and not
expect her to get goals every game but make sure she contributes to the team. She presses
so well, she’s great in the link up, she’s great at threatening so she just needs to get the time
before she’s starting in the national team but I am quite sure she will get there because she’s
so good in some areas I don’t see any other player in this league can compete with her.”
Drew Spence still shining in the midfield even with newer and younger talent bought
in...
“I think sometimes you forget that it is not only young players who are talented or important.
Sometimes you can actually develop older players as well. The thing with Drew is that she is
probably one of the most eager players on the team to learn and to get better. So even if she
is not 19, she is actually probably the most competitive player in the league and in the team
that want to improve. Her way of doing that is a talent in itself and I think she probably
played one of the best football she has ever played. I haven’t seen her whole career, but
what she is doing right now is being dominant in possession and she does passes behind,
she does the link up play, she handles the ball. For me, it’s like she has taken steps and I
think she is much better now than last season because she has developed her game, her
fitness, her leadership so we don’t need to just educate and teach young players. We can do
it with older players as well because they are part of this club and they are part of this future
as well. It’s just more of the attitude and how they want to be on this journey, so I can play
players who are 35 if it’s the caseit doesn’t really matter as long as they have the passion to
be better and help the team to be better. The benefit though is she cannot play 10 more
years it’s gonna be hard so then of course, if you have a 19 year old, you could have 15
years with that player. But it’s all about what they are doing and how they perform and how
they act and Drew is a really pure role model for all of the players in this squad and great for
the fans as well because she is so talented.”
Comments