\n<\/p>\n
Ren\u00e9e Slegers was back in front of the media for her pre-Chelsea press conference at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Our head coach looked ahead to Wednesday’s UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final second leg, shared the latest team news and more.<\/p>\n
Here’s everything she had to say on the following subjects…<\/p>\n
on the latest team news:<\/strong> on the reaction to our big win on the weekend:<\/strong> on what it\u2019s like going into the second leg 3-1 up:<\/strong> on not getting sucked into Chelsea\u2019s game tomorrow:<\/strong> on if Leah Williamson could make the bench:<\/strong> on being aware of how quickly a two-goal lead can change:<\/strong> on why we wanted to sign a fourth goalkeeper in January:<\/strong> on Stina and Alessia playing together:<\/strong> on how to work on the partnership between them on the training pitch, and if it has to be an instinctive understanding or rehearsed in training:<\/strong> Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ren\u00e9e Slegers was back in front of the media for her pre-Chelsea press conference at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Tuesday. Our head coach looked ahead to Wednesday’s UEFA … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
I think you saw the whole squad on the pitch today, apart from the long-term injuries. It was one of Leah\u2019s first sessions, so we\u2019ll see how she responds to the session, but she was out on the pitch as well.<\/p>\n
Positive of course, but it\u2019s been very good for a long time now. What\u2019s important for us is that regardless of results, we always have the same processes. Players are in control, in the controlled middle – never too high; never too low, I think that\u2019s been one of our biggest strengths – so of course, happy with the win. It was an important win for us in the north London derby, but we did our review just like we normally would, and then quickly got into preparation for Chelsea.<\/p>\n
It was a very tight game against Chelsea in the first leg, and we know it\u2019s going to be a battle tomorrow as well so we have to be on it. It\u2019s only half-time, so there\u2019s a lot of work still to do for us, and that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to approach the game. Of course, we have a lot of experience in the group as players, as staff as well, how to manage different moments, and that\u2019s what we definitely want to bring to the game tomorrow.<\/p>\n
I think there are always battles between us and Chelsea. If you see the games we\u2019ve played so far against each other this season, it\u2019s always been a very tight game – and we know that will be the case tomorrow as well. It\u2019s two very good teams going against each other, and we don\u2019t think too much about the scoreline – we just want to go and play our game, and do what we\u2019re good at. We have a game-plan in place and we want to execute that with full belief in the players, where they\u2019re at, and the strength we have in the squad from start to finish. It\u2019s going to be a tight game and we have a way that we want to approach it.<\/p>\n
Yes, so we\u2019ve just come off the training pitch, and she was on the pitch today, so we\u2019ll have to see with the medical team how she responds. It might take a little bit more time to see how the muscle responds, but she was on the pitch today, yes.<\/p>\n
Yes definitely – we were on the other side of it last time. We know what it feels like as a team chasing it, and we know what the opposition did against us, but that\u2019s another game, another time. It might look different tomorrow, but of course you build experience with playing those types of scenarios. Chelsea have done it as well last year, having to turn over a two-goal deficit. I think we both possess a lot of experience at this moment, but we can only focus on ourselves and what we want to bring to the game. I think we\u2019re quite clear on what we want to bring to the game tomorrow. <\/p>\n
Well, we were active in five competitions. At the moment, three.\u00a0Yeah, five at that point in time, so it was important for us to have a big setup,\u00a0not only on the match day,\u00a0but our training environment is very important\u00a0to us as well.\u00a0So for the team, it is important to have\u00a0goalkeepers.\u00a0We do a lot in trainings with split practises\u00a0and we split off in small groups at the end of sessions. So that’s important for us to have high quality\u00a0in everything we do.\u00a0But it’s also important for those goalkeepers\u00a0that are with us that we offer them\u00a0the absolute best opportunity to develop and contribute.\u00a0So that’s also part of the decision. So there’s quite some things going into this,\u00a0but we’re really happy, like I said,\u00a0we’re really happy with the setup\u00a0that we have from a goalkeeper perspective. <\/p>\n
Yeah, they’re two really good players,\u00a0really important to us.\u00a0I think they’re quite different as players\u00a0and that’s why they make such a good fit.\u00a0You sometimes say opposites attract. I think they are quite far away from each other\u00a0and that’s what makes them such a good partnership\u00a0because they want to do different things on the pitch\u00a0so they give each other that space\u00a0and opportunity to do those different things.\u00a0It brings a dynamic in the team\u00a0that’s really good for us.\u00a0They both can play the nine role. We have other players that can play in the nine role.\u00a0Less has been playing in the ten.\u00a0We have other players that are really good in the ten. Again, it just comes back to the quality\u00a0that we have in the squad\u00a0and the different options that we have\u00a0with different attributes that we can use\u00a0in different moments in the season, in the game.\u00a0It’s just a luxury position for us as coaches\u00a0to be really detailed with those decisions,\u00a0how to start, how to finish,\u00a0what does the opposition do,\u00a0what do we want to do and so forth.\u00a0That partnership has been great for us.<\/p>\n
Both, of course, to get repetition in games\u00a0where the pressure is on and there’s exposure\u00a0and there’s real opposition.\u00a0Both teams competing at the fullest. That’s, of course, really good development,\u00a0but you can do a lot of things on the training pitch.\u00a0Otherwise, we wouldn’t be on the training pitch.\u00a0There’s so much we can do,\u00a0both big and small,\u00a0working on partnerships. Individually, partnerships, units, full teamwork.\u00a0That’s what we try to use to the max.\u00a0I think we have a really good balance at the moment\u00a0in our training programme to do all those things\u00a0with different coaches involved,\u00a0with different players involved, partnerships. That’s been really good.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n