Rehanne Skinner emphasised being a head coach is often ‘about making sure that all the things are functioning properly’ to allow players to perform, but says ‘that’s not always the case in the women’s game’.
In a timely reminder that life is about more than what happens on the pitch, Skinner had spoken to the BBC about the importance of focusing on the mental health of managers and staff in women’s football.
Skinner reflected on what it meant to create a supportive atmosphere for staff as well as players when the team’s in a tough spot.
“At the end of the day, the person that gets asked a lot of the questions about what’s going to happen next [is the manager]. I’ve been asked in this press conference already, you know, essentially the tone is around, how long are you going to be in your job?
“But for us as coaches, we obviously are setting up a lot of things that are going on behind the scenes that people don’t always see. There’s a much bigger picture. The aim is that turns into the outcome. But invariably, you can’t control everything on a match day every time.
“It’s about making sure that all the things are functioning properly around [the team] that then enables players and managers to be able to be at their high performing best on a weekend. And that’s not always the case in the women’s game,” the manager explained frankly.
“I think the biggest thing is, you know, we’ve got to make sure that we all look out for each other, and we raise awareness of that, because you can’t talk about a team without talking about the manager. Everybody is a part of the process, so the staff shouldn’t be overlooked in the conversation.”
International break an opportunity for West Ham to ‘reset’
Despite their position in the table and a tricky opponent in Manchester City on Saturday, the mood in the Irons camp is one of positivity and “excitement” following the international break, and players are “looking forward to stepping up” after the reset, said Skinner.
“Resetting was probably important for us. I think that the opportunity to go and have a different environment helps people. It’s just change of setting with different people and all the players have been really keen to come back in.”
Ten of West Ham’s players were called up to their national teams — “the highest number of internationals to go away we’ve ever had”, confirmed Skinner — showing the quality in the squad despite disappointing results of late. This included first senior call-ups for England’s Anouk Denton and Germany’s Shekiera Martinez.
More positivity needed in both boxes says Skinner
The West Ham boss wants her team to be “confident and comfortable in front of goal” against Manchester City this weekend, and believes they can build on performances so far to “make life hard for them.”
The struggling Hammers will travel to the Joie Stadium on Saturday, hoping to pick up their first points of this Women’s Super League (WSL) season against the second-place Cityzens.
The Hammers’ struggles so far in this campaign are evident in their performance in both boxes. A West Ham player is still technically yet to register a goal from open play in the WSL, with a Daphne Van Domselaar own goal and a Vivianne Asseyi penalty their only goals so far this season. At the other end of the pitch, they’ve conceded 17 goals — the most in the league — meaning they currently sit bottom behind fellow strugglers Liverpool.
Despite this, Skinner is hopeful they can build on solid performances, including two wins in the Subway Women’s League Cup, and start gathering momentum. “We’ve had good performances in the league,” she said, “we just haven’t been able to get it over the line. It’s sometimes those bits where luck’s just not quite with you and things then go all of a sudden.”
“Our focus is on being consistent across the 90 minutes, and being a little bit more positive in both boxes. We’ve defended really, really well in a lot of games, and just come unstuck by little moments of magic sometimes from the opposition.”
‘We’ll get opportunities’ stresses Skinner
Heading to a top side to try a pick up points may seem a thankless task, but the Hammers may be buoyed in part by their last outing against City, securing a well-contested draw at home and taking their first ever league point from the Manchester side.
Skinner is confident that her side will be able to build on this and again show who they are against City:
“We worked really hard to get a point out of them last time at home and there were parts of that game where we felt like we could have had more actually, which obviously provides confidence to the team that when we’re functioning at our best, we’re definitely in a position to compete with those teams and make life hard for them.
“We want to give a good account of ourselves, stay in the game and when we get the opportunities — which we will get — we just want to be really comfortable and confident in front of goal,” Skinner concluded.
