Robert Vilahamn’s Pre-West Ham Press Conference.

By Rachel Cohen

1^st October 2024

On Sunday Spurs play West Ham, in what is ostensibly the ‘winnable’ game in a WSL run that otherwise includes Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal. Manager Robert Vilahamn looked ahead to this game, discussed defensive frailties, the potential of Clare Hunt and said that he saw Jess Naz as number 9.

Vilahamn resisted calling Sunday’s game against West Ham “must win” but said that they would be looking to “bounce back and make sure we have a good game and a good result” and that it was “an important game to make sure we start winning again and get some points on the table.”

Vilahamn said every WSL game was a “battle” and that this was likely to be a “tough” fixture, despite West Ham currently sitting bottom of the league. He also acknowledged that Spurs need “to fix a few things” and “need to be very sharp.” And said that he believed that West Ham manager, Rehanne Skinner, would come to Brisbane Road with a plan, not least because they are familiar opponents, most recently meeting in a summer friendly (which Spurs won).

Focusing on Spurs, Vilahamn said that he was not “concerned” that Spurs currently have the joint worst defensive record because he could “see what we need to fix to be better” defensively and the team were doing this together. He also described this as “part of the journey”.

He conceded that the style that Tottenham play can be very effective if you are a top team and can consistently dominate games, but that as a mid-table team, “there’s always the balance of how much can we dare to go forward but  not look stupid losing the ball.” Analysing what went wrong against Chelsea he noted that “three of the goals came from mistakes in the build up or in that phase when we didn’t really push them down and then they had a really high quality player who can drive into our penalty box and we don’t stop her. It’s a mixture of the balance of when we lose the ball – and we shouldn’t lose the ball – and how we need to stop that player.”

After a poor game against Liverpool, Vilahamn’s side showed considerably more attacking verve in first halves against United and Chelsea but in both games went behind in the 44^th minute and were horribly punished in the second halves. Vilahamn talked about what went wrong suggesting that these goals did not come from folding under pressure but rather relatively isolated situations and that the team needed to be “sharper” and have better “collaboration and communication to make sure we don’t end up in those situations.” Including “better quality in the passes” and a “better strategy for how to track [the opposition] down” when Spurs lose the ball.

He said that they had been working on new tactics to respond to these problems, even noting that “a free kick can be really good in those scenarios instead of giving them the drive of the ball.” Vilahamn also recognised that perhaps the team needed to “manage the game” in the run-up to half-time, and “don’t need to go so much to score” – suggesting that perhaps we will see occasional moderations to Vilahamn’s attack-first tactical approach. That said he was keen to point out that the goal conceded against Chelsea just before half-time was the outcome of bad luck – an “unlucky header from Amanada” following the first corner the team had conceded.

Vilahamn talked about the “emotions” directly after the Chelsea (5-2) loss when the team spoke on the pitch. And he talked about how Clare Hunt had taken the initiative to start a conversation in the locker room after the game about how they had to take responsibility to stop conceding so many goals. Speaking about Hunt, who scored for her national side over the break, he described her as “mature and a leader” with “the strength, she’s very tall, strong and good on the ball”. He said that she was still fitting into the team and league but that the ”potential was so high” for her to become “one of the best centre backs in the league in the future.”

Last year Spurs scored more goals in the two wins over West Ham (4-3 and 3-1) than in any other matchup. It would be good to find that scoring form again, after three games in which the team have struggled to find the net from open play. Vilahamn emphasised that he was not worried about the team scoring goals (and that own goals were fine by him!) and repeatedly emphasised that the team had created chances against both United and Chelsea away. He did, however, admit that they needed to be “more ruthless”. In reflecting on this he highlighted a fourth minute chance against Chelsea in which there was excellent line-breaking build-up – noting that it was “all about decision making and relations” and said that he believed that “the confidence will come.”

The International break perhaps came at a good time with Martha Thomas and Clare Hunt both scoring and Jessica Naz getting an assist on international duty. Other players recorded important wins with their national sides. Speaking about Jess Naz – the first player to have come through at Spurs to start for the Lionesses – Robert Vilahamn talked about how proud he was to see her “starring for the Lionesses.”

He also said that although we have seen her more often on the wing this season, he saw Naz’s future as a striker: “If you look at Jessica Naz for the long-run, I think she will be a 9. I think her best strength is as a 9. I think she has a good chance to keep competing with the Lionesses as a 9. And I think sooner or later she might be a 9 in Tottenham as well.” The question he did not get into is whether the lack of output so far this season from Spurs’ other strikers, Martha Thomas and Bethany England, means that this may happen sooner than he had initially planned for.

One of the problems over the last few games and one of the reasons the team has not been able to maintain pressure or change things much in the second half has been injury-stricken squads and a thin bench. In an update on fitness he said that while Maite Oroz was still out, Wang Shuang, Amy James-Turner and Hayley Raso were all back in training and if they are not in contention for this week’s game will be the week after. There were also no new injuries.

Note: Loanee and second choice keeper, Katelin Talbert, will be ineligible to play against her parent club, West Ham. That means we are likely to see Becky Spencer start, despite her difficult start to the season, barring a surprise sighting of third-keeper, Eleanor Heeps, still untested in first team competitive games.