By Rachel Cohen

“For me with football is all about relationships”.

In his pre-Liverpool press conference Spurs manager Robert Vilahamn discussed Ashleigh Neville’s injury, Kit Graham’s contract renewal, Angharad James’ surprise departure from the club. He also talked about Grace Clinton, Wang Shuang and reflected on Spurs’ upcoming games against Liverpool and Manchester City, making defensive mistakes and playing players in their familiar positions.

On Angharad James’ Departure

Vilahamn confirmed that he had known that James’ departure was possible for the past couple of weeks, so it was not a deadline day surprise. He was very complimentary about her and was clear that it was not his choice that she leave, but that he felt that James deserved to get playing time in her preferred position, something she has struggled to find at Spurs.

“I love working with Haz. I think she’s a great person, amazing player, and she’s been so loyal playing in a new position for her and helping the team and helping us to develop the way we want to play. I knew that she didn’t really want to play there, but she was always like straightforward. Like ‘I will play there just because I’m a team player’ and that’s quite unique in this football.”

“When a player in her age, her career wants to play in her position, and comes to me actually to [tell] me that it’s club who want to buy her. I actually want to listen to that. And I mean what kind of coach will I be if I’m not listening to that. And then it’s more like if you really want to go, then I will not stop her because I feel like I did she deserves to go if she wants to go because she did so well for this club. So, it’s sad to have her leaving, but I also feel happy for her that she [found] a good contract in that league and she’s going to compete in her position and have a bright future there.” 

Vilahamn also reiterated, both with respect to James and Neville’s injury that there was never the thought of bringing additional players in. “We don’t want to panic sign players because that’s not a part of the strategy we have.”

On Kit Graham’s new deal

With today’s announcement of Kit Graham extending her contract until 2025, Vilahamn outlined what he saw in her as a player: “I think when I when I signed here I saw a really good footballer coming back from a long injury and when I started to work with her I was like impressed by how good she is on the ball, how she could protect the ball, how she can finishing and everything. And then after a while we discussed the potential in her and some of my staff members started to suggest that she can play lower down in the pitch. We tried it out in the Arsenal games, and she was just brilliant. I think her potential in that role and how we can improve her will be, like she can absolutely be a starting player in this team and be a very important player for us. So that’s why we want to make sure she stays and works with us.”

He also highlighted Graham’s off pitch role, her professionalism and the importance of bringing existing players on the journey as the club develops: “She has a huge role also in the in the locker room and all around because she’s very professional. Even if she plays or is not playing, she’s acting the way we want people to act and she always do her best and always pushes the team and those players are very important for a team and then of course, you’re gonna be sad if you don’t play. And she’s angry when she doesn’t play and she pushes herself to get closer and closer. And now she is actually quite close to the starting eleven. So she’s one of those players who should be on this journey.

“I’m very happy to have her because she’s bringing the culture that we need as well, so you cannot just change the whole squad here and bring new players. We need to make sure we stay with the squad we have as well. And she’s one of the key players for that. So I’m very happy that she signed a new contract.”

Ashleigh Neville injury update

Vilahamn confirmed that Neville, who missed last Sunday’s game against Manchester City is likely to be off for three to five weeks with a twisted ankle, which he described as “a grade two” and so “a little bit more than we expected.”

As he noted it is “a little bit sad, but it’s also good that we sign new fullbacks. So we have good options there.” 

With respect to Charli Grant and Amanda Nilden who will be required to fill in Vilahamn conceded that “I need to perhaps play them even more, which is good in one way, because then they will learn directly. Both of them did a good game against Man City against probably one of the top teams in this league, so they already showed that they can handle this league.” He later noted that the advantage of Grant being double-footed is that “she can play left-back and right-back”.

Vilahamn also confirmed that with James no longer an option he will continue to work with Ramona Petzelberger as a fullback “because she’s a very smart player and she nailed the last minutes against City as well.”

Drew Spence remains injured. Vilahamn noted that she had been out longer than had been expected. But everyone else participated in a training 11 vs 11 game. This includes Luana Buhler who we have not yet seen on the pitch, but was in the squad last time out.

On Relationships, Communication, and Mistakes

Vilahamn has repeatedly talked about the importance of developing relationships and emphasized this again: “For me with football is all about relationships.” He linked this with the development of good communication: “Communication is so important, and it’s also important to get to know each other: What’s your strengths and how you can improve and help each other.”

Talking about the mistakes that have happened at the back, Vilahamn said some of this was down to players getting used to playing with one another and building relationships. At the same time he noted that mistakes will always happen, “you also need to be handling those mistakes because that’s the part of the game. And last game, when they [Votikova and Turner] did that mistake, they stepped up and just kept playing. And Amy’s game after that was brilliant. So that’s for me a good answer. She just took it and kept going. And I’m fine with that. We are allowed to do mistakes, it’s no problem.

On changing players’ positions.

We have seen Vilahamn move players into new roles and positions. But he clarified that when he signs players he expects that he will be playing them in their familiar positions. “When you take over a team you see potential in players and how you want to play. But you already have a squad and then you perhaps redo a few players because they’re going to fit the way you want to play. But normally when I sign a player, it’s because she’s going to have that role that I think she’s going to end up being.”

On Wang Shuang

Vilahamn said that Wang was very happy to be here and was keen to learn. He was very effusive about her talent and potential “You saw her against Man City and what she actually had. And she’s an enormous talent and I think she had something that not so many players have. This week she’s been shining in training. And she looks so sharp. And she has those qualities with her left foot, the through balls and one against one, and everything. So, she’s going to be very useful for us in the long term here. And she has something extra and I just enjoy seeing her play and I think the fans would love to see her.”

On Grace Clinton

Vilahamn was asked again about loanee, Grace Clinton. In response he expanded on some of his previous comments about how she has been developing in the side.

“I didn’t know about her before I signed for Tottenham and when her name came up about a loan I watched her a few games from Bristol time and she had some really good stuff there. But not all the time. Then she didn’t play in the position I’m playing her, but she was fine. When she started training I loved her energy, how she wanted to improve and how we want to do stuff. And then the first weeks was a little bit of a struggle because she was frustrated. [She] wanted to do the stuff she’d do now, but she couldn’t do it then.

“So then I just saw that the potential and we tried to surround her with a good environment and good trust. And every week from then she’s taking steps and then there’s some weeks is not the best weeks but then we know what she has. And I think the games this year she has been brilliant because she has been making the right decisions. She’s scoring beautiful goals she does the work for the team as well and she fights very hard to be get better. So now I’m not working with her. And you know, she’s a big part of this journey with Tottenham”

Upcoming games

Talking about the upcoming games against Liverpool (this weekend WSL), Manchester City (midweek Conti) and then Charlton (next weekend FA Cup) he suggested that there would not be rotation but with a newly “strong new bench” there would be “options where you can have some competition” for spots.  

Vilahamn said that Liverpool have “beaten top teams” but also have “had some tough games.” He praised their “good players” and coach who has “been in this league for a long time and he knows how it works.” Vilahamn identified Liverpool as “playing quite fun way of defending and it’s going to be interesting to see how we can deal with that and also how we can make sure we are a little bit stronger in our press.” It would, he predicted be “a tough game” and noted that it is “a very important game to win, also for the top five because they are on the same points as us.” But continued to emphasise that points were less important than developing and “playing our style” so that in the long run “we’re going to win these games.”

Turning to Manchester City, who Spurs have drawn in the Conti Cup meaning that the team will play them twice in less than two weeks Vilahamn said he was happy to have the chance to play a top team because “I like those games we need to play against the top teams to learn how to beat them because this is a different game compared to play against Bristol or West Ham or whatever. So, we need them. And now we got another one. So I’m happy about that actually.”

He described the learning process that comes when you have multiple games against the same side: “I think every time you play against them you learn stuff and every time you do that you can take steps in the development. First game against Man City. We played quite good football, but we were terrible in defending. The next game. We played quite good football. We were better to defend, but we didn’t really press them so well. They only had four chances. So it was a quite good game in defence work. But now we need to find a way where we can actually be better pressing them, be better when we have the regains and win the ball. So we’re going to take steps every game and I think next game we will have even better chance to beat them because now we know even more what how to act, right. And if we lose against them that game, then I’m going to make sure we have a better plan to win against them next time, in the FA Cup or whatever.”