While Jess Naz may have made her senior debut in Arsenal red it’s often forgotten that she started out at Tottenham. So for Naz it must have felt right for her to return to the lilywhite side of North London in 2018. Since then Naz is close to making 100 appearances for Spurs and has been called into Sarina Weigman’s England set up, where she has earned six caps for her nation.
The Halfway Line got the opportunity to speak with the Spurs and Lionesses star and hear from her ahead of a busy run in for her club and a major tournament for her country.
‘We always stick together as a team’
Prior to the international break the number one focus for Naz remains rediscovering her club form and helping her side to end a run of five straight defeats in the Barclays Women’s Super League. Tottenham lost 2-0 to West Ham United on Sunday but they hit the woodwork twice and were unlucky not to at least find themselves on the score sheet. Naz was asked about her side’s current run, she replied:
“Ultimately, I think we’re taking steps every game. What we want to do is play our football and get results out of it. I think we’ve got to a point where, sometimes we’re playing good football and not getting results.
So I think just getting down to creating more chances for ourselves and putting ourselves in positions where we can get goals will ultimately help us.”
Last season Spurs made it to the final of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup and finished comfortably in the top half of the table. However this season there has been no exciting cup run nor charge up the table, the Lioness forward was asked why she thought that was?
“I don’t know. I think we’ve obviously had new players in the team, so having to get the players to gel. I think we don’t quite have the connections that we did last season. Why that is [I’m not sure] but I think we’ve stuck together as a team. I think we always stay together as a team ride it through, and I think now we’ve got a couple games to get some good results. I think [we] just focus on that.”
‘Being consistent’ key for Naz
Naz has had some huge highs this season, she has featured against the Olympic champions in the USWNT and the world champions in Spain but she has also endured difficult moments and has not scored since the opening match of the season in the league. Naz was asked about how she views her season so far, she thoughtfully responded:
“I think it’s been ups and downs for me personally, I think for me being in the England environment, just growing off the players and how consistent they are, trying to bring it back here at a club, and just working hard knuckling down. I think just trying to build that consistency.”
In the Summer England will travel to Switzerland for the European Championships and Naz was asked how she can ensure she makes the squad, she responded:
“I think ultimately it starts here at club, because I’m here every day. I take the feedback that I can from England. I try to bring it into club. I think just working closely with both, trying to get me in the best possible place.”
Naz continued and described the feedback she had received from the Lionesses coaching staff:
“Just being consistent. As a forward they are relying on us to score goals, to create chances, so I think the more I can do here at club, it will help us win games and it puts us higher on the table. And then obviously puts me in a position where hopefully I can get selected.”
She continued, reflecting on her England experience:
“Yeah, I think the levels has helped, it’s a big jump for me. And I think just being in that environment soaking up as much as I can.”
She concluded praising her England team mates: “The players are amazing. I think just the values they live by every day, trying to improve every year, [other] countries are getting better and better. So I think [we need to] adapt to that and grow.”
England are set to announce their squad for a UEFA Nations League double header against Belgium at 11:30am on Tuesday which Naz will hope to be a part of. Naz and Tottenham Hotspur face Leicester City at the King Power Stadium next in the league on Sunday knowing they could climb as high as 7th with victory or fall as low as 10th with defeat.
