By Rachel Cohen.

In his press conference the Spurs manger talked about losing to Manchester City (again) and whether they were closing the gap; Spurs’ upcoming FA Cup game against Charlton; the Beth England-Martha Thomas partnership; what you miss with Ash Neville and Drew Spence out injured; building squad fitness; the problem of chance creation and clashing fixture times.

A third loss to Manchester City

Reflecting on the Conti Cup 1-0 loss to Manchester City, Robert Vilahamn emphasised that in the aftermath of Spurs’ two losses to the Manchester teams pre-Christmas his team had focused on how to defend agains top teams and this had produced good results: “now we doing that very well”. Less positively he identified the energy Spurs were expending on defence as part of why they had been less able to play their attacking game. “it takes a lot of energy to [defend well] because they are a very good team. And then you’ve got to be sharp when you win the ball or when you’re going to do and breakdown their defense. They are very good there as well. So we’re learning that: now we know how to defend; now we know what we want to do when we win the ball; but now we also need to make sure that we are fit enough to succeed, right?”

“It’s gonna take time, but I think everybody see that we taking steps and everybody see that we look like the thing we want to do. So I’m not stressed is more like the frustration to lose against them three times in a short time and that’s what it is.”

“If you look at the build up the other day against Man City, I think that was the best build up game from us this year. They couldn’t press our goal keeper. They couldn’t take the ball from us in the build out. So big step forward. [But] no shots on goal. That’s not a big number for us, right? So then we need to look at that.”

Vilahamn recognised that there remained a gulf in quality. “We’re learning how to play against them so we can compete against them. I still think the gap is quite big.” And he differentiated being able to compete (which Spurs are starting to do) and getting to the point when they could dictate games: “If you look at their players, how they dictate the game against us and how they play. It’s a big gap to actually dictate the games against them, but we’re learning how to compete against them right now and that’s where we are. Right now we are in a good spot, but we also realize it’s some steps to take before we can actually dictate against them, so we’re learning how to compete against them, but we’re also learning that it’s it’s more to improve before we can beat them.”

Saturday’s Charlton (FA Cup) game

Spurs’ next game is against Charlton in the FA Cup 5th round. The two teams have met previously in a friendly soon after the New Year. Vilahamn noted how tough the Championship team were to play against. “We [played] them in the friendly game and they had one nil in the second-half against us. I know they have some really good players in that team and you can see that they are well organized and they have a, you know, they play a style, which, I think they’re brave and have developed and that they’ve impressed as well.”

The Tottenham manager also spoke positively about former-Tottenham manager, Karen Hills: “Of course, I know that she’s been here before, and I mean, she had a long career for us as well and a good relation with the club so it’s going to be nice to play against her again. They are doing good. I think they are one of the teams that actually can nail it and go to the WSL next year. So I’m impressed with what they’re doing.”

But he highlighted that Spurs had the players to win if they focused: “of course, we have better players than them in all positions, so we should win that game if we reach the level we want to do. But every cup game lives their own lives, right?” He noted that cup games were unpredictable and that his team was “almost losing against Sheffield United” this meant that key was to be “very sharp from the beginning“ and to stick to the plan: “I know that we have a really good chance to win. So we need to go into this game with a very professional mindset and play our style. “

The FA Cup

Vilahamn emphasized how few games were required to get to the FA Cup final at this point, and that this was now the only realistic silverware on offer. “If you look at it, it’s three games before we can actually get Wembley for a for a title. So it’s quite close actually. So we very much want to do that because I don’t think we will win the league this year and we will not win the Conti Cup. So this is basically the last chance to have a title this year. And we want to be that team.”

He was also very enthusiastic about the possibility of winning at Spurs. “If I get a title with this amazing club in that amazing cup, it’s gonna be really cool, right? And especially for the fans, I think they they have longing to have a a title again and I think they deserve to have a title.“

Chance Creation and goals

The manager was asked about the team’s decline in shots taken, with no shots on target against City and what was behind this. He responded by focusing on how they were trying to get the balance between attack and defence right. “I think it’s if you look at the games we played the the last three before Christmas and these games here, most of these games have been against top five teams. So you need to defend more in those games and I think when you look at how well we have started to defend, it takes energy because if you’re going to defend very well, you need to put a lot of effort into that. And to be sharp and be creative you need to be feeling fresh. So if you put a lot of minutes into defending against Man City, of course, you’re not gonna feel that fresh when you’re gonna take good decisions in the last third or whatever. So it’s connected to each other.”

“So we need to defend well, because otherwise they’re gonna score goals and then we want to score a lot of goals. And now we are in the mixture. OK, now we know how to defend, but we need to make sure we perhaps gamble a little bit more because we want to score goals. We want to be that team, right? And we want to make sure we develop the fitness so we can do both. So in the long end, you’re gonna see a high pressing Tottenham that can defend well, but also attack very good. But right now we are taking steps in all areas and then whatever we choose to focus on, we lose a little bit on the other one. So hopefully tomorrow we can put a lot of focus in how we’re gonna attack. “

He also re-emphasised the importance of building relations, especially with new players and players (such as England) returning from injury. “Everything is connected to how you’re gonna attack. And when you find the relations, then you find the flow. “

Fitness.

Robert Vilahamn also reflected on where the team is with respect to fitness. And noted that this remains a work in progress. “I think [fitness] is like one of the big things we try to do. So it’s like when we came here and we did all the testing when we started in August, we realized that. …we realized we need to improve here quite much, but you cannot do that too quickly because then you get the injuries as well. So you need to make sure you have a plan and do that step by step and I think what we’re doing now is to try to take steps that still doesn’t risk too much. I mean getting them injured and so on. And when we come to the next preseason, we can take the next step because next year we should be ready to actually be that fit so we can do it.”

“But yeah, we need to get even more fit and better technically. Otherwise we cannot play the way we’re gonna do. We cannot defend the way we’re going to do so we’re not gonna stop there. But it takes time.”

He also identified fitness as a big part of how they are recruiting players. “We tried to sign players that can handle it as well, so Amanda and Charli’s two great examples of their physicalities, that they can bring to the way we play. So we want to make sure we sign players that can handle the game we’re gonna play.”

Martha Thomas and Beth England combining:

It has been clear that Martha Thomas and Beth England have not quite clicked as a #9/#10 pairing and Vilahamn was asked about this.  “I mean, first of all, you need to find the right role according to the team and how we play and Martha’s dropping us at 10 quite many games and some really good relationship with Jessica. And she has been a nine. And when she and Beth have worked together, they started to get to know each other. But they are quite similar players so they need to get to know who’s dropping who’s running in behind. And how can we make sure the rest of the team is putting the balls in the right spaces for them as well.”

He also pointed to how much defensive work both had to do and that this impacted their sharpness. “They do a lot of hard work for us defending against Man City for example and then it’s a bit harder to be really sharp in the last third when we’re gonna attack.” But he was confident that the combination could work. “When Martha and Beth play together they’re going to find relations because they are very clever.”

Vilahamn did, however, highlight the growing depth in attacking positions: “Shuang Wang has been amazing in the games and training and we have a good squad now that you don’t just pick any player and say that they’re gonna play 90s every game because we have so many good players, which is quite nice to have because I think that’s the way for us to close that gap with the top teams, because they have national team players on the bench.”

Ashleigh Neville

Robert Vilahamn was asked about Ashleigh Neville, who started all the club’s WSL games until she was sidelined with an ankle sprain two weeks ago. His response will resonate with many Spurs supporters, who enjoy watching her precisely because she is that player who does things that no one would predict, and has the potential to do something amazing (even if she doesn’t always carry it off). Plus there’s the defensive strength.

“Ash is a very funny player to work with because you don’t really know what she’s doing. Sometimes she carries the ball forward and she goes to the left side, right side, she uses both feet, she shoots from strange distances and she crosses the ball, sometimes very well and sometimes not that well. But it’s very fun to work with her because she can break the patterns and she can be something extra. Just like Grace as well. So when you have her on the pitch, you know that she can find ways to break down the defense, for example.”

“And she’s very good physically. She can run a lot and she can actually win one against one duels as well. So, of course we miss her because she gives us something that’s very good for us to have. But she’s soon back, which is good, so it’s not too many weeks before you will see her again. “

Drew Spence:

Another player who is currently out is Drew Spence, who suffered a hamstring injury back in November. Vilahamn was positive about her timeline. “I think she’s back now doing the warm-up some technical stuff with the team. So she’s very close to actually going and play with the team in training. So hopefully it’s not too many weeks left now.”

He also complimented her style of play and vision. “She looks very good when she’s in the technical part because she’s so good with the ball.  There’s a few players who can be very creative in games [like the previous two]. That’s Grace Clinton. That’s Drew Spence. Players who can see stuff that nobody else can see, and who can break a line. Drew can do that amazing pass in behind or whatever. I miss her because she has some X factor that not many players have.” 

Kick of times clashing with Spurs men

Saturday the 5.15pm kick off means that supporters who have gone to watch the men’s 3:00pm game against Brighton won’t be able to get to Brisbane Rd on time. When asked about this Robert Vilahamn said that the club wanted to facilitate fans attending both games but that sometimes the decisions on these things were not in the club’s hands.

“Of course, we want to make sure that our fans can come to both games. We always try to push that to make sure we don’t play at the same day too close to each other and everything. But sometimes you cannot really stare everything. Sometimes the media, the television, everything is not so easy to to solve. So we try to do everything we can to make sure our fans can come to all the games we have, and sometimes it’s also very important that the TV can get the right games in the right order and everything. So I think it’s tricky. I think we can find a way. So we don’t end up in the same time same day, of course, but sometimes we cannot decide everything. So it’s a little bit tricky. But like as a club, we don’t really want to do that.”