Rachel Cohen

15th November 2024

Robert Vilahamn spoke to the press ahead of his second home North London Derby after leading Spurs to a historic 1-0 victory over Arsenal last season.

The upcoming NLD

The Spurs manager said he recognised how big the game was to the fans and wanted to “make sure we make [North London] Lilywhite.” He said that “It’s a derby and we’re going to do everything we can to stop them and score some great goals” but also emphasised that the focus would not be about style of play but winning – even if it is “by taking a lot of duels”.

In speaking about their opponents he noted that Arsenal have seen improvements under interim manager, Renée Slegers. Vilahamn had played against Rosengård when they were managed by Slegers and had done his pro-licence with her. He described her as “a good person” with excellent football knowledge who had made teams better.

He observed that despite their improvements, Arsenal still struggled in some points of the game. And thought that there would be opportunities for Spurs. He also said that he believed that despite Arsenal’s recent good form derbies rarely came down to form and that Spurs’ rivals had pressure – both because of having an interim coach and because they needed to win games to get back into the title race in the league. He also said that being an underdog could be a good thing.

Playing style

The goal in last year’s game came courtesy of an intricate front-to-back passing move involving ten of Spurs 11 players. This year, in the last few games against top opposition and with Maite Oroz injured, Spurs have struggled a little with passing the ball. Vilahamn recognised that and pointed to Grace Clinton’s departure as having impacted the team’s build up play.

He also suggested that confidence has played a part. “We also have had some bad results and you know, no matter if it’s the best player in the world or the worst player in the world, if you don’t have the best self-confidence, you’re also going to lose a little bit of the quality in your first touch or the decision making and I think that’s the main thing.”

Vilahamn said that he thought that the way to get that confidence back was a mixture of reducing errors and being “brave”. But, he pointed out that passing is often also about game state and that “if you’re up with your goals, then you look really sharp just because you have the self-confidence [and] then you’re gonna play your best football and if you are two goals down you’re not gonna do it.”

On a positive note Vilahamn emphasized how good players were looking in training “I see the skills they have so you’re gonna see it come back, and you’re gonna see how they can be so good on the ball.”

Defensive weaknesses

Last year’s 1-0 victory was an edge of the seat game that required a huge defensive display from Tottenham. This season Spurs have been struggling at the back (conceding an average of 2.6 goals per game). Vilahamn repeatedly stated that this was a problem, but also noted that part of the poor set of results was that Spurs have played last season’s top five teams with three of these games away from home and they were not yet able to consistently compete at that level.  

Vilahamn said that given the team’s leakiness defence has been a bigger part of training. “We don’t want to lose games – we don’t want to look stupid with big losses. So yes, absolutely, we have more and more focus on the press and how to defend a little bit lower and also to make sure that when we have the ball, where should we risk it? Just to make sure we don’t give the opponent too many chances.”

Over the last three games Spurs have struggled to defend aerial challenges, with most recently, both West Ham’s Riko Ueki and City’s Kadeisha Bunny Shaw scoring close range headers. Vilahamn said that this was something that they had worked on last season and that consequently had improved by the end of the season, but with it emerging as an ongoing issue this season, is that this is something that the team has been addressing:

“Box defending in this league is something. A lot of teams cross a lot. A lot of teams have a big striker who is strong in the box. So we need to develop our strength and how to defend. You don’t need to win the duel, you just need to make sure you don’t lose the duel – a draw can be good, for example. You need to find ways to grab your opponent without creating a penalty, and then just make sure that the ball just doesn’t touch anyone.”

When asked about whether he would make changes to the backline after the City game Vilahamn said “I trust the players I have. I think they are great players. Sometimes you do mistakes [but] for me to, you know, change all the starting players like that – I’m not that kind of a coach. But then of course we get some few players back [from injury] now, so we have a good competition for the starting 11.” He also said that the focus was not just the defence about being sharper in the last third where they missed chances through not being sharp enough in the first half against City. He also spoke several times about confidence and described the Manchester City game as one that became “mentally tough” after the team had conceded on 23 seconds.

Bartrip’s position

Centre-back Molly Bartrip played last game at defensive midfield. Asked about his decision to play her there he said that when it had been tried in pre-season it was as an “emergency back-up because we didn’t have players and I thought that she is one of the – she is so good footballer – she can handle the ball in any tight areas. She’s very intelligent.” But the use of Bartrip in this game was both tactical – about what they expected from Manchester City – and to include Luana Bühler, who had “come back from the national team having [had] a great game.”

Vilahamn described Bartrip as “a brilliant player who can handle both positions [centre-back and six] and you know what? She can probably be a six in a long-time plan as well. But obviously Maite’s injured and different scenarios in different games but she’s a great footballer and a great character and I just love working with her.” He also praised both Bartrip and Buhler’s performances in the City game.

Strikers

Vilahamn addressed Thomas’s lack goals this season after she had scored the winner in last season’s NLD. “When you look at big games and big stadiums. Last year Martha was one of those key players in key moments who did it for us. But you know Jessica has had a few really good moments and other players as well.   But we also have other players who can do it I think for this season, like, Hayley Raso, she’s one of those players who’s been on the big stage for many years. She can do it. Bethany England, is normally a big game player as well. So I think [Thomas] will also soon find a way to score those goals that she did a lot a season ago. And then, you know, you have so many different characters.”

Discussing strikers Vilahamn explained his logic for the forward line against City: “we had a plan with Jessica Naz as a 9 to make sure when we won the ball to be more directly in behind. Obviously it didn’t work out so we needed to change that.”

Asked to elaborate on how the three strikers (Naz, England and Thomas fit in his planning he was explicit that he saw both England and Thomas as “nines. Jess Naz is fifty-fifty- nine and a winger.” He also provided more detail on how he sees Thomas and England playing together.

“If I’m in the ideal world – how I want to play with the 4231 and a 10 and a nine – no, they shouldn’t play together. Because then they are the number nine. The 10 role is something different I’m looking for. They’re very clever players though, so they can defend together, they can find ways to score goals together, but as a nine and 10, I don’t think they are the perfect match. And I think when you have Jessica Naz as a nine, both of them can play 10 behind her because Jessica can create that space for them, to make sure they can use their intelligence.”

“But they can play together. I mean, we have scored goals when Martha has been on the wing and Beth has been in the 9, or the opposite. So, yes, of course they can play together. But if you look at the perfect starting 11 for this team, they will probably compete for the 9 role and play starting or coming on and then you have other players with other strengths that match that level – especially in the future when we get to the point where we are more dominant in the games.”

Player availability:

Amanda Nildén was withdrawn against Chelsea, played one of two games in the international break and was not available last week but is back and available. Vilahamn confirmed there are no new injuries (other than Kit Graham and Maite Oroz).