Tottenham Hotspur manager Martin Ho was forthcoming on his team’s reflection on last week’s loss against Liverpool stating his side were only ‘half in’.
Spurs lost their match away at Liverpool last weekend after Mia Enderby scored two stoppage time goals for Gareth Taylor’s team, leaving Spurs stunned. Tottenham had a lot of the ball but did not manage to convert their possession into clear-cut opportunities. Meanwhile, they failed to defend well against Liverpool’s threat.
The Spurs head coach spoke to the media ahead of their visit to West Ham this weekend in the Barclays Women’s Super League and The Halfway Line was present to hear from him.
Martin Ho says ‘honest’ Spurs players have ‘reflected’ on Liverpool loss
Defeat to Liverpool last weekend was a punishing one for Martin Ho’s side. Liverpool had only lost to sides in the top half at the time prior to the defeat. Asked about the team’s reflection on the loss, Ho was forthcoming,
“What’s really good with the players, they’re very honest” Ho explained.
“They know when they’ve been all in and they maybe know when they’ve been half in. And we would look at it back as a team and say, we were only half in, if we’re honest.
“What that was? That you can put that down to so many different aspects pre game, post game, during [the] game, but actually what we needed to do, we reflected quickly, we parked the game and left it. We focused on what we need to do going into West Ham now.”
‘Diverse experiences’ necessary to thrive in UWCL says Ho
One could argue that Spurs are currently competing for third place, the final place that secures UEFA Women’s Champions League [UWCL] qualification. However, Ho told the press last weekend that he felt Spurs weren’t ready yet for a stint in the UWCL. The Halfway Line asked Ho to elaborate on what he feels the team needs.
“You need consistency” Ho explained.
“You need very clear foundations and a platform. You need experience. You also need to elevate the squad, enhance the squad, build the squad. And you need different variations of that.
“You need to understand adversity. You need to understand playing with the ball, playing without the ball. You need so many diverse experiences to be in the Champions League.
“And what definitely gets you there is a consistency and a persistence with your performances”.
Ho went onto say that he wants Spurs to be able to compete in the UWCL in the future, “We don’t want to be a team that just gets there and then falls out” Ho said.
“You want to be a team like the ones who are up there now with Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, and Man United [who] have started to come into that.”
West Ham are ‘very well drilled’ says Ho
Spurs play away at West Ham this weekend at the Chigwell Construction Stadium. West Ham sit just one point above bottom-of-the-table Liverpool. They recently let go of their manager Rehanne Skinner and have brought in Rita Guarino, in the hopes of saving themselves from relegation. Ho expressed his excitement about the match,
“It’s got that derby feel to it” Ho said.
“Two teams who want to defend on the front foot, two teams who want to have the ball and want to be excited, want to be direct with the play.
“Obviously we’ve seen their games previously now under the new coach, and I think she’s given them definitely a lot more organisation and stability. They’re very well drilled. You can see that.”
There are no new injury concerns for the North London side. Martin Ho confirmed that defender Charli Grant is making good progress in her recovery, as she has started training on grass. The Tottenham manager also gave updates on players who are out with a long-term injury,
“Ella Morris is very close now to being back in full team training” Ho stated.
The match between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur kicks off at 11:55 on Sunday, February 1st. It will be shown live on Sky Sports.
