Presser Points | Spurs vs West Ham (WSL) | Robert Vilahamn | OneFootball

Robert Vilahamn spoke to the media at Hotspur Way ahead of our Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against West Ham United at Brisbane Road on Sunday afternoon (2pm UK).

Here’s what he had to say…

On upcoming games

First up for Robert was asking about the upcoming schedule after the international break and the importance of picking up three points this weekend…

Robert: “West Ham is separate to the rest of the games because that's what we’re focusing on. Obviously, we have those two games coming up, but we’re coming from a tough loss where we had a good performance, but we conceded goals too easily against Chelsea. We want to bounce back, make sure we have a good game and a good result against West Ham. So, no matter what result is in that game, we will play in even more games in the league but, obviously, it’s an important game to make sure we start winning again and make sure we get some points in the table as well.”

On West Ham

West Ham travel to Brisbane Road without a win in the WSL so far, picking up two points in five games, and Robert was asked about the psychology of playing a side searching for their first win…

Robert: “I mean, all the games are a battle, we need to win against all sides in this league. It's very competitive and I feel like there’s not an easy win, there’s no easy games. You might think that they haven't won yet, so it's going to be an easy win, but it's not like that. We played against them last season, they were really, really tough games, we succeeded to win, but they were difficult games. I know that Rehanne will have a plan to come to our stadium as well…. we know them well, but it's also they have top, top players, we’ll need to be very sharp. We need to fix a few things from the last game and we need to make sure we are at our best, then we have a good chance to win but it’s a tough game."

He was then asked on what he has thought about West Ham’s performances so far…

Robert: “If you look at their starting XI, they have some really good players, some of them play in the national teams and, obviously, Rehanne knows the league very well. In the first game against Man United, they were they were quite good in the beginning but then Man Utd scored from a free kick and goals change the mindset of games, but they had a good game until that goal. I think against Liverpool, they did a really good performance and they came back to draw then, I think, they were really good against Arsenal until they got the penalty…. so obviously it's a good team. They have some quality players but, on the other hand, we know what we can do and how we can play against the top teams and those teams as well. So, for us, it's making sure we take steps in our performance and how we play. If we do that, we have a good chance to actually win the game, but I'm also aware that West Ham aren’t a team that are just going to lose every game this season, they're going to compete every week and if we're not doing everything right, they can win on Sunday. We need to be very sharp and we have enormous respect for them."

On the mood in the squad

Following consecutive defeats before the international break, Robert was asked about the mood in the squad ahead of our return to WSL action…

Robert: “They’re in a good headspace, even when we won games, they were focusing on how we can get better now and now we lost a few games, they're actually very self-aware of what we need to improve. They don't try to blame anyone else; we see the structure, we see the way we play and we see some really good stuff but we’re quite frustrated that we conceded some easy goals and I think everybody's on the same page still. I know the players had a great meeting after the Chelsea game, when we were on the pitch, we know what we need to fix and we're doing it together…it's a part of the journey. Last season, we had some good games, a few set-backs, then really good games again. This season we started really well, we had a few games where we struggled to get points, we don't play bad football, but we need to defend better, this is a part of the way we need to go through and they’re really keen to get better and, hopefully, we can get a result and a good performance on Sunday.”

On Clare Hunt

The defender scored her first international goal for Australia over the international break and Robert was posed with the question about working with Clare in the opening weeks of the season…

Robert: “The key thing with her, why we wanted to sign her, is that she's a quite a young centre-back with experience, she's mature and she's a leader. She has the strength, very tall, strong and good on the ball so, for us, we see a potential high-quality centre-back in this league and probably one of the best in the future. Now, she's in a journey in which she gets to know us, how we play, getting to know the players around, our opponents and this league. I still think she's been really good for the first few games in the league, but I also know that when you get to the next level where she can have long balls, short passes and take the duels even more. The potential in her is so high to be a top centre-back in this league, she's already giving us stuff, but I also know that this can be even better in the future once she gets to know the game model and the team-mates more.”

On our Young Lionesses

Robert was asked, ‘Lenna [Gunning-Williams] made her debut for England Under-23s, Araya [Dennis] in the Under-19s as well, so that must be super pleasing?’

Robert: “Yeah, that made me very happy because that's the whole procedure with having an academy, having a good youth system and for us, as a club, to show the whole of England that we want to have these upcoming Lionesses. If you look at Lenna, for example, she played for Ipswich last season on loan… she took so many good steps last season and in pre-season, now she's competing in our team and playing in the Under 23s for England. I had some really good feedback after their camp that they really enjoyed working with her as well. Araya hasn’t had so much playing time yet, but she's still doing good stuff in training and, you know, she has an X-Factor, which is really interesting. I'm very happy to work with them, I just hope that they can have the patience to keep working because I feel like it's a good match with Spurs. You can obviously see the journey that Grace Clinton did last season and how she acts in the national team, and now Jess is doing the same stuff. It's clear evidence that we can bring young players up to the system and get them to their national team, that's the main thing we want to do with academy. It pleases me that we already are now doing it because it's quite early in the academy phase, to be honest.”

Watch Robert speak to the media