This morning Arsenal finally appointed Renée Slegers as their new head coach after an impressive spell as interim head coach where she guided the Gunners to 11 wins in 12 matches. Slegers has signed a one and a half year deal with the option of a further year. The Halfway Line was present to see what the Dutch head coach had to say at her press conference this afternoon.
Slegers ‘happy’ to be in the Arsenal hotseat
Slegers, who is the first Dutch head coach of a senior Arsenal side, was happy to have been appointment and explained her thoughts on the day, she replied “I’m very happy with me sitting here now and we together made the decision to move forward like this, and as you seen what the players having been doing and how we have been connecting with staff and club and fans as well. So that’s really put into my decision to want to the job. Because obviously, when I got thrown into it, it was very sudden. It was very unexpected. I was here to serve the club. But then under my period as an interim, it started growing and you start to look at longer term things, and you see where we were going as a team and also the connection with the fans.”
She continued, “I think I’ve mentioned the game against Manchester United where we don’t get three points but get one point but you perform really well, and the fans are backing us and supporting us. I think that’s been a critical moment for me as well, to see this is something there’s something we can create, something positive.”
Interestingly Slegers spoke about the only match she did not win in interim charge, away to Manchester United as being the key moment in her own decision making about going for the job, she recalled:
“The Manchester United away game was probably the first time I was thinking, we’re really creating something now, and it’s positive in the group, with the outside world, with the fans after the game. So that’s probably the first time I had the thought in my head. But it’s along the way. There’s been different events and mostly in the building with staff and players.”
Slegers praises ‘mutual belief’ between staff and players
The new Arsenal head coach was asked about her relationship with the players, whether it will change now Slegers is the permanent head coach, she retorted:
“There’s been a lot of support from the players, also (also for) me stepping into the interim role. I remember our players came up and said let’s do this together. We support you, we are behind you, and we will tell them (the same) back: We’re supporting you we’re behind you, we believe in you. There’s this mutual belief I think that’s been going back and forth.”
‘Ultimately, we want to win trophies’ says bullish Slegers
The new Arsenal head coach is under no illusions, positive results will be necessary for the Dutch woman to keep her job. However even acknowledging the need to win trophies she was keen to state the importance of doing things ‘the Arsenal way’ she stated:
“Obviously, for this season until the end of May there is four competitions that we’re active in. We want to do our very best and ultimately win trophies. But like I’ve said before, we want to do it the Arsenal way, something that we want to do that we get enjoyment of, where we feel like we’re developing and progressing, getting better and a beautiful product to deliver to the outside world as well.”
Arsenal are ‘excited to play again’ confirms Slegers
Arsenal face Crystal Palace this Sunday for the first time in the WSL era, Slegers was asked to comment on what she expects from the opposition this weekend, she responded:
“They will try to play their game, and they will try to disrupt our game, I think with their setup. Let’s see what they do, if they want to come out aggressive in a couple of moments, or if they try and make the spaces really compact for us, we’ll see what they do, but it’s going to be a challenging game but we are full of belief and excited to play again.”
Kühl is ‘getting closer to a move’
Slegers confirmed during the press conference that Amanda Ilestedt and Victoria Pelova are back in traing after Ilestedt gave birth and Pelova ruptured her ACL. She also confirmed that Danish midfielder Katrine Kühl is “getting closer to a move” with reports linking her with a move to Roma.
