Presser Points | Spurs vs Chelsea (WSL) | Robert Vilahamn

Robert Vilahamn spoke to the media at Hotspur Way on Friday afternoon, ahead of our Barclays Women’s Super League clash with Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday (2.15pm UK, tickets still available).

Here’s everything he had to say…

On latest team news…

"Drew and Eveliina will return from suspension, while we have no new injuries, so we're looking strong."

On congratulating Chelsea on Sunday after winning the WSL on Wednesday night...

“Obviously we’re going to follow that routine and honour it, make sure we give them that, they definitely deserve that. I’m very impressed by Chelsea, the last six seasons in a row, but the main thing this season is they have a new manager and quite a few new players, so what they’re doing this season is massive, I think they are great role models for many clubs to follow. We’re trying to get there as well but I’m impressed with what they’re doing. They’re very good.”

On Rosella Ayane…

“She came back from the loan in Chicago and she’d picked up a new injury but, when she started to get rid of that and train, she trained consistently better and better and performed in the way she competes. Obviously she has some strengths that we use in the games and she has some competition in her positions, we always go for the competition in training but, right now, she’s competing very well and she’s getting the minutes she deserves.”

On Lenna Gunning-Williams…

“She’s been brilliant this season. The steps she’s taken, perhaps we didn’t expect that, but she’s taken steps, played some minutes and competed. The main thing is I see her as a nine but now when we train, she’s a winger, because we have Bethany [England] and Martha [Thomas] which means that she is playing in a different role. She has strength in that position as well, she’s always an option to come on in games but then there’s different games, different scenarios, what we need, what we don’t need. Last game, she had a neck problem, she was in the squad but very tight in her neck. It was the last sub I could make and I wondered if I should bring her on anyway, but we didn’t have anymore subs. She’s always an alternative, the game before she got a few minutes against Aston Villa. She’s taking good steps, I want to give her more minutes because she’s a really cool character and a good player, but we’re also competing and struggling in games, where we don’t have easy substitutions. But, for me, she’s in and around the starting XI, however, there’s five subs I can make and sometimes it’s not the right timing for that.”

On the differences from last season…

“We’ve created ourselves to be in the position we are (in the table). There are a few games where I think we should’ve won against those teams around us. If we would’ve won two of those games, we could’ve been in fifth place, that’s the small margins we speak about when everybody says we’re having the worst season ever. But, it’s true, we’re not over-achieving, we’re underachieving, but a few small games could’ve made this table look a little bit better. To be honest, I don’t care if we finish fifth or tenth, we need to be much better in being consistent when we play and, against the top teams, we need to be more competitive, some games we need to deliver more goals and keep clean sheets. We’re going to learn a lot from this season, not only on the pitch, off the pitch in the Club as well. I can promise you there’s a lot of stuff we know we haven’t been doing so good, that we need to improve on, perhaps we didn’t know it before this season, but now we know. It’s a mixture of learning from mistakes and stuff we didn’t know but that’s the whole plan, patience and what we want to do. We’ve an identity, a certain style of play but we need to win games through that, not just sit here three years in a row and say “we played some good football…” but we’ll always try to push for the next level. It’s not a good season, we’re not happy with it, but we know what we need to do to make it better next season.”

On Chelsea…

“I think Chelsea are so dynamic in how they play. Of course, you see a style, but there’s also tactical aspects and I think Sonia’s brought a few of them, sometimes playing Sandy Baltimore at left-back and moving her up anyway, building on three… you see a lot of rotations. But you can also see the different types of players. So, even if they play the same formation, they play a certain player, Mayra Ramirez as a nine or Beever-Jones as a nine, you get different dynamics, and that’s the biggest strength they have. They have tactics, but they also have some high-quality players, the bench is also high-quality players, they can always find ways to get into the game and find ways to win the game. Last game, they scored from a set piece and that shows the high quality of what they’re doing. Obviously, they showed everything in the transfer window at Christmas too, they keep investing, us and the other clubs need to keep going and keep going otherwise they’re going to extend the gap, and we don’t want that.”

On Martha Thomas’ season…

“It’s a long season and she’s been in different roles. She was on fire in pre-season, scoring goals and creating chances, so then we went into the season with her as a nine and Bethany on the bench. To keep Bethany on the bench, you need to find your way to deliver and Martha did well, she pressed, created chances but, after a few games, if you don’t score, you don’t assist and we start to lose a few games, Bethany will knock on the door and say “I want to play”. She’s a leadership player too, you want that on the pitch, so you need to move Martha around a little bit and I put her on the bench sometimes, that had an impact on her self-confidence. She already had a few games where she didn’t score, so perhaps that’s the bad wheel of confidence, but it’s also something you need to go through. I need to pick the players I believe in for that day and the good thing with Martha is she works so hard for the team, she’s worked the whole season to get better. She scored a few goals in the cup though. Right now, she’s a nine and competing with Bethany England and she’s giving us some good stuff. She’s not playing 90mins but, for me, she’s a loyal player, I know what she can do. It's only a matter of time before she starts scoring again.”

On recent performances…

“Brighton was not a good game. But, from West Ham to this last game, performance-wise, we’ve looked like we wanted. We’ve created chances but we’ve failed to defend the box in crucial moments when the opponent has scored, then we’ve started to score and come back but we haven’t closed the game out. So, right now, we’re performing decent but we’re not good enough to manage the games. This is connected to the bad run of games we’ve had, we’re playing with confidence, but the confidence is lacking because, of course, you haven’t won for a while. Chelsea always find ways to win because they have great confidence. Right now, we play a certain style that’s going to give us a good chance for next season, then I know that fans, media, everybody is going to say “you haven’t won in seven games” and I get that, we’re trying everything we can to win, but we’re also trying to do it the way we do, the way we recruit, educate, develop players. This is why I’m quite calm, I’m not stressed about what we’re doing, how we progress, but we need to be a little bit more stressed about how we get the wins because we need to win, that’s what we’re working on every single day. We’re competing, we’re playing some good football, but I get it, we need to win games as well.”

On returning to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium…

“We love to be at that Stadium and we think you also love to be there as media, it’s a good environment. Normally we play the big games there against top teams, it's always tough games, now against Chelsea who haven’t lost in 20 games, but that’s what we want to do. We want to play the big games at the big Stadium and we want to compete. This is a good chance to show everybody that we’re a good team, we really want to be the first team that beats to Chelsea. We had a tough season but we’re taking steps forward, we can stick with our identity and compete with Chelsea. But, of course, we need to be smart in some situations. Overall, it’s going to be an amazing game against Chelsea at our Stadium.”

On his message to the supporters…

“What I really love with our fans is they have so much passion and feeling. They can be upset, angry, happy but they always come back and support us. Those are the core fans that I love. I know we’re going to have the fans behind us in the game on Sunday so we’re going to do everything we can to get a win.”

On what he wants to see in the final two games…

“I want to see us show the Club and the fans that we’re doing everything we can to finish on a high. I want to see the commitment to take the duels, defend, run back, the attitude to wear the Spurs shirt, to make sure we’re proud of that. I want us to be brave enough to make sure we dare, even if we’re not winning games right now. The first goal against Liverpool, we were 1-0 down, but we were playing out from the back, combination play, we played through their press, we attacked and then we scored. It was an own goal but it’s about how we got to that goal, I want to see the bravery and determination, to fight for this club, because they’re paying our salaries and we are very proud to be a part of this Club.”

On the most improved players in the squad…

“Ella [Morris] is obviously a signing we saw a lot of potential in. When you see her play now, she has so much energy, bravery, she has so much commitment to what we’re doing here, so I’m really impressed with what she is doing and I’m very happy for her because she’s a great role model as well. Then there’s a few players that have been up and down, of course. Molly [Bartrip] is always consistent, always delivering on the pitch, Eveliina [Summanen] really consistent as well. It’s nice to see Olivia [Holdt] coming now, understanding how we want to play, taking steps with it, she has high potential. It’s also nice to see Jess [Naz] come back from a spell of bad games and she’s now on fire again, so I really hope she can make it into the England squad. It’s been an inconsistent year with performances, but a lot of players have been taking steps anyway. I think, for next season, we’ve seen how we can learn from this.”