Presser Points | Spurs vs Brighton (WSL) | Robert Vilahamn
Fri 14 March 2025, 17:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Robert Vilahamn spoke to the media on Friday afternoon, ahead of Sunday’s Barclays Women’s Super League clash with Brighton & Hove Albion at Brisbane Road (3pm UK).
Here’s what he had to say…
On latest team news…
“Charli [Grant] will be out because of a concussion and Bethany [England] will be out because of a quad issue.”
On Kit Graham’s progress from injury…
“It’s nice to have her back on grass, obviously not with the team, but with the medical team. They’ve done amazing work to get her to that spot – both mentally and physically. She had a big injury before I came and had just came back the season before, she was finding a new position under how we were playing and she started this pre-season very well, that injury was tough for us and for her. But I can tell she’s very strong mentally to get back and be a part of this team. Obviously she’s now on grass, which makes it easier to motivate and push her, there’s a few more months to go but she’s making good progress.”
On this weekend’s opponents…
“I think they’ve pushed the boundaries this year by playing some really good football, you can see that the coach has an identity of how they want to play. They were winning a lot of games at the beginning (of the season), they had a few more difficult games after Christmas, but you can tell how strong they are, like in their game against Chelsea the other week, a good team with a lot of good players. If we win this game, we can possibly move up the league, but if we lose, we’re going to chase them even more. It’s an important game for where we are in the table, so it’s going to be a tough clash, but we have a good chance to win.”
On recent run of form in the WSL…
“I’m learning every year here that the top teams are very hard to beat. Arsenal away was not a good performance and we were smashed that game. We adapted a little bit for the Manchester City game, and we had a really good game actually, we were pressing high, defending well, creating chances and we could’ve won that game or at least got a point from it. Even if it’s a three-game losing streak, the last game is a statement that we have a good chance, if we have a good day, to beat the top teams. Now we go to Brighton, who are also one of the best teams this season, and we need to make sure we have a good combination of the press, creating goal chances and try to win this game because it’s an important game for us.”
Robert on what we have worked on over the last two weeks...
“It has been a mixture, but we really wanted to make sure we have a good pressing game, we want to make sure we’re good in defence, to win the ball higher up the pitch, so that’s one thing. Then, in possession, it’s the decision making, it's still an identity we want to have, to create more goal chances and we need to make sure we hurt them in the right moments, so it has been a lot about decision making and hurting the opponent in the right spaces.”
On Olivia Holdt…
“I think we have signed a really, really good player and person. She brings smiles to the faces; she’s a very funny person and she’s getting back to the shape she was in Sweden. She had a bad injury before the Christmas break, but we’d already decided to sign her before that so we understood it would take a while before she’s back. In the last game, she got 60-65 minutes against City and you can tell that she is back, she showed that she has some X Factor, she can get the ball out in tight areas, she can produce that last pass, so she’s taking steps all the time. We played a friendly game last week where she played her first 90 minutes for a long time, and she’s still adapting to this league. It’s a much tougher league than the Swedish league, so these six months is great for her and for us, because next season she’ll be one of the best players in the league.”
On climbing up the table…
“If you look, result-wise, we have a good chance to compete for fifth place in the league - that’s the best position we have ever had. You can speak about this being an average season or whatever, but we have a chance to do the best position for this club and we’ll always aim for that, of course. But the main thing is you don’t get anything for top five, you don’t get Champion’s League, you don’t get big money so, in one way, I want to make sure we take steps in how we perform, how we play and we’re going to keep developing. Next season is when we want to take even bigger steps, we want to reach the top five, but it’s also focusing on the performance so we can be very good next year.”
Looking back at our draw with Brighton earlier in the campaign…
“The first half was not the best performance from us, in that game. We weren’t nailing the press, we have worked a lot on how we press, but the second half was quite good, it was a good goal. We had a good chance for 2-0, they scored in a way where we had some problems with crosses and box defending so we need to find ways to get better there. But we know if we have a good day, we have a good chance to win the game. It feels we’re coming into this game with good self-confidence because even though we lost to City, we had a good feeling after that game.”
Watch the key highlights from that clash in Crawley
On the Women’s Football Awards nominations...
“It’s always nice when you get these types of nominations. Obviously, it’s nice for you as a person, but it’s connected to how we work together, it shows that we as a Women’s team and Spurs as a Club tries to push the level up. I think Lenna [Gunning-Williams], Jess [Naz], these are the young players we have invested a lot of time and training with, but we’re only in the beginning of something. In my first year, we were expecting something, then we were in the FA Cup final, I think this year we’re not pushing higher so you might think it’s a setback. It’s quite consistent that we are a mid-table team pushing higher, we had to rebuild this year because of a change of personnel and players, but I still think we have a good aim of where we’re going. We have a balance in the squad, next season we’re going to have a few players we signed this year that’ll be ready for the next step. If you look at Ella [Morris], she’s one of the players we’ve signed for the future but she’s already performing. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s in the Euros this year because she’s so good right now. We’re doing progress, even if you see we’re losing against the top teams again, behind the scenes, there’s a lot of progress, building the staff, squad, the youth talent we have, we have players in the young Lionesses as well. I see the progress, I see the future is bright, perhaps we don’t show you guys all the time, but we’re doing good stuff.”
On Becky Spencer’s loan to Chelsea…
“You put a lot of things into the box when you take a decision like that. It's about her, where she is, not playing right now here. If you think about it more, you’re helping Chelsea to beat the teams around us so we’re actually helping ourselves. In one way, we will not finish higher than Chelsea in the table, but if they are strong and beating the teams around us, we get a better chance to be higher in the table. We’re basically helping ourselves and helping Becky to have some silverware, perhaps. I think it’s a win-win, to be honest. If I said “no, you can’t go there, I want you as a second or third choice GK”, what kind of coach am I? I have two really good young goalkeepers coming up as well, so I think it was an easy choice because of these circumstances. I have enormous respect that the fans don’t want us to support the top teams, but, right now, they are a top team and we are a mid-table team that need to push higher. It’s a different story than on the men’s side.”
