Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers has insisted that Arsenal ‘can’t relax’ nor can they ‘get complacent’ despite securing victory over West Ham in impressive style.
Arsenal made it two wins from two in the WSL this season on Friday night as Slegers’ side ran out comfortable 5-1 winners in East London.
Arsenal’s Dutch head coach spoke to The Halfway Line following the match at the Chigwell Construction stadium.
‘This is how we want to start the season’ delights Renée Slegers
Arsenal have made a blistering start to the season, the Gunners have scored nine goals in two matches and have taken maximum points. It took Arsenal until a five goal victory in November against Brighton to score nine goals in the league last term.
“This is how we want to start the season” Slegers said. “So I’m really pleased with that. There’s a lot of good things but also we can’t relax. We can’t get complacent. That’s why we get this result today, because we are so on top of everything.
“We knew we had to, because we know that last season yes, we had a fantastic high performance against Barcelona and the whole Champions League journey, but we also saw those moments in the season where we when we didn’t [see those performances].
“That’s why these type of games are so important for us right now. So that’s why I’m really happy that we got the result.”
Renée Slegers praises Arsenal’s ‘game changers’ off the bench
Despite two comfortable victories, Arsenal fell behind in both of their first two matches of the season. Slegers’ side have conceded in the first 30 minutes of each of their past five WSL matches dating back into last season.
“Yeah, [I want to iron out these early mistakes] very much because it’s not the scenario you want” Slegers said. “Especially not well [in] both scenarios actually, especially not your first opening game at the Emirates with so many fans and everyone very excited.
“But also not when you go away and play West Ham, because we respect this ground and this opponent, and we know they can make it really hard for us, and that’s what they did today.
“Intensity was really high in the game, so it was hard. But I think in the end and we have a lot of late goals today, again, with the game changers coming on. Our opposition getting a little bit tired, and then we have so much quality that comes on to the pitch, and we capitalize and that’s what we did today.”
Next up for Arsenal is a trip to Leigh Sports Village to face Marc Skinner’s Manchester United side on Sunday September 21. All of the action will get underway at 14:50pm GMT.
