Renée Slegers has praised her Arsenal side’s willingness to ‘suffer from start to finish’ to win.
Arsenal beat Chelsea on Saturday thanks to goals from Beth Mead and Mariona Caldentey. The result was Chelsea‘s first ever Barclays Women’s Super League defeat at Stamford Bridge.
Renée Slegers spoke to the media following her side’s 2-0 victory away at Stamford Bridge and The Halfway Line was present to hear from her.
Renée Slegers praises ‘fast’ start from Arsenal
As well as winning the tactical battle, Arsenal were impressive in the physical aspect of the game. Slegers’ side won more tackles and more duels than their opponents. Slegers was asked about that less fashionable side of today’s performance,
“Yeah, that’s what I what I love about the performance, how we were willing to suffer from start to finish” Slegers said.
“We did that. We are two teams that like to come out fast in games, both Chelsea and us. I think we came out really strong today, and then it was about controlling the tempo and managing the game.
“Especially second half with, of course, there are game changes that they bring on, how they change formation when the scoreboard changes, then there’s so many things you have to think about on the pitch to make good decisions. And I think the players did that really well.”
Arsenal ‘clarity’ helped ensure victory says Renée Slegers
Arsenal were not heavily favoured to win this fixture, they had never won at Stamford Bridge before and no Arsenal women’s player had scored at the Bridge before today. It was put to Slegers that this performance was a backs against the wall effort,
“When the moment is there for this team, when it really, really, really has to happen, they do it every single time” Slegers articulated with passion imbued in her voice.
“So there’s a lot of strength in this team in those moments. I think what was one of our strengths today was going into the game with a lot of clarity, and they kept that going during the game as well.
“I think they had very clear minds, which had them make good decisions, and had them stay in the moment, focused on the task. And they did that so well.”
Russo and Blackstenius ‘put in so much work’ lauds Slegers
Like in the encounter earlier in the season against Chelsea, Arsenal started with Alessia Russo in the 10 and Blackstenius up front. Slegers was asked if that plan worked as she had expected,
“I think they both perform really well” praised Slegers.
“And they put in so much work today as well because Chelsea was quite direct in the way they played. So we had to connect back, and they had to run a lot of meters and make a lot of decisions.
“But yeah, I think every time we’ve played them together this season, they’ve been effective, and it’s played them to their strengths.
“You see that they [Chelsea] change in their back line with [Naomi] Girma going central to manage Stina [Blackstenius]. That’s my own analysis, which then meant something else.
“So that was also a late change in how we wanted to set up tactically, and the players did that so well done.”
Slegers kept it ‘simple’ with half time team talk
Arsenal scored in both the 51st and 60th minutes today. That led Slegers to be asked what her half time team talk looked like, given the improved output in the second half,
“Yeah, it’s simple messages most of the time because the players are in the middle of playing a football game at the very highest level” Slegers explained.
“So we need to keep it simple. So it was about starting well in the second half, applying the details that we spoke about tactically, and then being ready for anything to change at any point.
“Because they [Chelsea] have really strong game changers and they can change formation, so they [the players] had to be on top of everything, and that probably helped them going into the second half, to be very, very on it, and they were. So I’m really happy with that.”
‘Not appropriate’ to put Frida Maanum in the squad says Slegers
When the team sheets emerged the size of Arsenal’s bench raised eyebrows with just five outfield players named. The Halfway Line asked Slegers why Frida Maanum was omitted from the match day squad,
“Yeah, we’re assessing it she trained yesterday, and she got a ball on the head. She headed a ball, and got some reaction to that so we’ll see.
“We didn’t think it was appropriate to put her in the squad today, so we’ll see how she is assessed today, tomorrow and the next couple of days.”
