Renée Slegers said that Arsenal were not ‘at the level that we need’ against Aston Villa in order to create enough big chances to win the match.
Slegers’ side conceded a 94th minute equaliser to Aston Villa‘s Lucy Parker after Frida Maanum had given Arsenal an early lead. Villa fought back in the second half and Arsenal struggled to muster an answer.
Slegers spoke to the media following her side’s 1-1 draw in the Barclays Women’s Super League and The Halfway Line was present to hear from her.
‘I don’t think we were at the level that we need’ says Renée Slegers
Saturday was very much a game of two halves. The first Renée Slegers’ Arsenal side dominated, but the second saw the home side take their foot off the gas and the visitors took advantage of that. Slegers spoke about what changed in that second half for Villa.
“I think there’s two things in the way Villa plays and what we had to solve” Slegers said.
“On our own half they pressed very aggressively, so that’s why we had to do things quickly and move a lot to be able to solve that.
“But then in their half, there was less aggressiveness from them. So that’s when we then have to dictate the tempo and put the technical details right and and those things.
“And I don’t think we were at the level that we need to be able to create bigger clear cut chances today.”
‘I believe in these players’ affirms Renée Slegers
Slegers was asked about Arsenal seeming lethargic in the second half, the stats tell a story that they were. Arsenal created three big chances in the match, all in the first half while they conceded only one and that was conceded in the second half.
“We’re going to review this [the second half] with the players” said Slegers. “It’s really important to understand [why the players seemed to lack energy].
“All I can say is that I believe in these players, and they can play at such a high level, and for some reason, we didn’t perform at our highest level today.
“And there’s some, like I just said, there’s there’s some things in it, intensity, urgency in what we do and getting to the right areas that we’ve decided that these are the areas for us that we want to go to an attack.
“But then doing that with conviction, then why that doesn’t happen today? That’s, of course, something we’ll have to review.”
‘We’ve lost four points and that’s not what we wanted’ laments Slegers
In the first two matches of the season Arsenal scored nine goals but since, they have only managed one in two matches. Slegers was asked to ponder if anything obvious has changed for her side.
“No, not for me, no” Slegers asserted. “So that’s, I think, where we need to stay very levelled.”
“I think, like I said we are still in the final third a lot. There are 19 shots today, and that’s close to where we want to be in these kind of games, so I don’t think we should be over analysing it.
“Of course, we’ll analyse it, but we’re still getting there. So that, for me, is good, and I think we need to stay very levelled in everything we do and how we’re going to review this.”
With four points dropped in the league, rivals Chelsea have the chance to go four points clear with victory at West Ham tomorrow.
“Yeah, no, [there is] pressure, because now we’ve lost four points, and that’s not what we wanted” Slegers admitted.
“But the only thing we can do, is learn now from this and learn very fast, because the next game is going to be very important.”
That next game will come in Manchester as Arsenal travel to the Joie Stadium to take on Manchester City next weekend.
