Head coach Renée Slegers praised ‘new-energy’ Arsenal following a statement 1-0 victory over Manchester City at Emirates Stadium.
It was a first half goal from Olivia Smith that settled the score in north London, as Arsenal broke Manchester City’s 13-game winning streak in the Women’s Super League (WSL). Speaking in her post-match press conference, head coach Renée Slegers praised her side’s energy in a statement performance at home.
“I’m really happy with the performance and with the result, of course, another clean sheet,” Slegers said. “I think in the first half, the way we press them causes issues, we do it really well with a lot of intensity. I think our decision making on the ball on when to go fast and when to build a little bit longer was really good.
“It was managing 50/50 moments and getting the margins on our side. So, against a team like City, you have to work really hard to get the margins on your side and they can make the difference.”
Stina Blackstenius loves a goal against Manchester City, but she was unavailable today for the Gunners due to a small calf issue. Slegers’ plan today consisted of playing Olivia Smith up front instead. Her speed is ideal for runs in behind City’s back line, where they leave a lot of space.
“It started growing in the week when you put a game plan together and look at the strengths that we have in the squad and partnerships in our own team and connections in our own team are very important,” Slegers said when asked on the decision to start Smith in a central role. ”
We also look at what the opportunities are against the next opponent. We have been very successful with Stina in the nine. I think she’s so good with her physicality and her speed and she wasn’t available so we wanted similar qualities, even though Olivia and Stina are very different players.
“Liv had two or two and a half trainings in the nine position a lot of meetings with coaches giving her the detail without getting too much information on how so she could still play on intuition because that’s when she’s really good. She picked up the role brilliantly – the goal is exactly what we wanted to create.”
Renée Slegers says Arsenal are ‘clicking really well’ since the winter break
Since the winter break, Arsenal have dramatically improved on their league form. Handing Chelsea their first league loss at Stamford Bridge, all before defeating league leaders City, the Gunners have turned the tide on their lacklustre domestic form. Slegers believes that the upturn of form is down to players having some rest, among other factors.
“There’s a lot of things playing in,” Slegers said. “Players getting a rest, a break, mentally, physically, has done us really, really well, because, of course, there was a big tournament last summer, with high load on players.
“I think that break was really, really good for a lot of players. The way the players come back with so much new energy. So that reset has been really important. I think there’s a couple of tactical tweaks that we’ve been working on that have clicked really well.”
Talking points as Smith stuns Man City as Arsenal end Jeglertz’s winning streak
