Rehanne Skinner has said that her West Ham side “have to be brave” and ensure they don’t “hesitate” if they want to improve against the WSL’s best.
Skinner was speaking to the media ahead of the Irons trip to Brighton on the weekend to face a side they had mixed fortunes against last season. The Halfway Line was there to hear from the East London club’s head coach.
West Ham ‘have to be brave’ Rehanne Skinner says
When Rehanne Skinner spoke to the media after West Ham’s 5-1 defeat to Arsenal last Friday she said she wants her team to be “braver.” On Thursday, ahead of a visit to Broadfield Stadium The Halfway Line asked Skinner how she works with the players on being braver,
“[It’s about giving] the confidence that they can execute their roles to the highest level” Skinner said. “If you want to play the best teams, you can’t do that with hesitation.
“You can’t do that without the support and backing of the staff to go, we might make mistakes in these moments, but you know what?
We have to give it our all. We have to be brave.”
After the Arsenal game, Skinner also said she wants her team to play higher up the pitch. That comes with a risk, especially against teams like Arsenal and Chelsea.
“I think the biggest thing with it is knowing when and where” Skinner explained. “I think every time we pressed and turned the ball over, we caused loads of problems for Arsenal.
“So the timing of making those decisions is very important. It’s knowing your roles and the effectiveness and the kind of proactive understanding things might change against you.
“It’s knowing those moments that I think is the real key part, because then you can react to that faster or already be anticipating the problems.”
‘It’s a long season, so there’s plenty of opportunities” Skinner relishes
Defeats to both North London clubs mean that West Ham have lost their first two matches of the season. At this point last season West Ham had one point and the most points an Irons side has ever had two games into a WSL season is three. So this is not a unfamiliar position for the East London club find themselves in.
“It’s a long season, so there’s plenty of opportunities. There’s a lot of games” Skinner said unfazed. “We’re only two games in and we just focus on the one in front of us.
“It’s really early on and there’s plenty of games to go. We’ll just keep improving game on game.”
Her side won their home match against Brighton in February 3-1 in a match where all the Irons front three got on the scoresheet.
“I think we were in a really good headspace and we found ways to break down Brighton [last season] and to create good goal scoring opportunities” Skinner said. “So obviously we want to try and use those things to reinforce positivity with the players whenever we can.
“Whether that’s through our training or the stuff that we’ve seen previously.”
West Ham will face Brighton on Sunday in Crawley at noon BST.
