Renée Slegers was thrilled with our dominant display in Wednesday’s 7-0 win at home to Leicester City in the Barclays Women’s Super League.
We gave the Foxes no chance, scoring four goals in the first half and keeping up that ruthlessness in the second.
For our head coach, it was all about our aggression, intensity and counter pressure.
“We went into this game wanting to win it, of course,” she said. “We needed the three points, so that was the starting point. But the way we do it, I’m so pleased with the way we do it, how we do it together and players playing different roles, different partnerships.
“Things change on the pitch, but the football just keeps on going and we keep a clean sheet and we score seven goals. I’m really happy with it and I think there was a variety of things that we did on the pitch. I think our aggression and our intensity and counter pressure was really, really good, which meant that we could stop them from going forward quite a lot today.
“And then sharing this moment with the fans as well, because it’s a Wednesday night, seven o’clock, and without the fans, it’s not the same. So I’m pleased to be able to share this with all these people.”
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Report: Arsenal Women 7-0 Leicester City
We also asked Renée about Smilla Holmberg’s position on the right wing, and how much Frida Maanum pulled the strings on her 100th WSL appearance.
“Smilla’s been coming on in that position for us a couple of games,” she said. “She has the quality, so she’s fast, she has really good crosses and she’s really disciplined out of possession. She can press, so I think she has the skill set to do it and she did that really well. So I think she had two goals and an assist tonight. Yeah, she was very impactful, so I’m really happy with Smilla.
“Frida’s great. Always ready, like the whole squad at the moment. Everyone is always ready to perform. So prepared mentally, physically, tactically, wanting all the detail to be able to perform at their best. And Frida is a prime example of that. She’s always ready. And I think because she always prepares so well, she brings out these performances. She was really good today.”
Naturally, the players will now be full of confidence, and our supporters should be full of belief going into this weekend’s UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final second leg away to Lyon.
“Everything about these next two days is about recovery and preparation,” Renée added. “So we have to be super ready and we look forward to the occasion on Saturday. From what I understood, there’s quite some fans travelling to Lyon as well, so we’re happy to share that moment with the fans again and we’ll feel their support and we’ll try to connect with them as much as possible. So we’re really happy to have these fans.”
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