Renée Slegers has an impressive record at home in the Barclays Women’s Super League, as we’ve never lost a WSL match at Emirates Stadium or Meadow Park in her time at the helm.
West Ham United will be next to have a go at breaking that run during Saturday’s 12pm kick-off in N5 on their first visit to the stadium.
Asked about the record, and how the Hammers could try to manage the challenge of playing at Emirates Stadium, our head coach said: “I think we do things so much together with high autonomy for staff and players to work and to express themselves.
“There’s a big humility in the way we do things. We’re very reflective. We want to find the small margins constantly. The defending side of the game is a very important side for us. We pride ourselves on the art of defending. We think it’s beautiful.
“Even though I’m Dutch, I love to be on the ball and I think we are the team in the league or one of the top teams with the most possession in the league. But out of possession work, I think when I moved to Sweden, and then coming here, the way we do things now, I really love it. It’s an art. It’s beautiful for us. We love that side of the game as well. We see the rewards and the benefits. But it’s definitely a collective effort of staff and players.”
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Every word of Renée’s pre-West Ham presser
“I think the pitch is big (at Emirates Stadium). The pitch is going to be good. The ball will move quickly. There will be more noise. There will be a lot of red and white, obviously always at the Emirates, cheering us on. You’ll have to deal with that energy in the stadium. Because that energy will go towards us and not the opposition. You have to be able to manage that.
“I think it’s the first time they’ve played at the Emirates against us. We’ll see how they come out and manage that. I can’t control that. But we look forward to be at the Emirates again in front of our fans.”
So how will we go about managing West Ham’s attacking threat, with Martinez in particular scoring in three of the last five league games?
“That’s a big part of the game plan,” Renée said. “Because we know what they can bring with really hard work. With all the play, with runs in behind, with dribbles. So we’ll have to be really disciplined when we defend. So that’s one part of the game. The other parts are the transitions. So both attacking and defending transitions. And we also expect West Ham to come out disciplined.
“They got rewards for their hard work against United. They kept spaces really small. They defended as a unit all together. So if they do that against us as well at the Emirates tomorrow then we’ll have to be prepared to break them down and they will not make it easy for us. So there’s different sides to the game tomorrow.”
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