Every word of Renée and Leah's pre-Madrid presser

Renée Slegers has held her pre-match press conference at Sobha Realty Training Centre, as we prepare to host Real Madrid in the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final tomorrow. 

Our head coach was joined by vice-captain, Leah Williamson, to answer questions ahead of the vital tie.

Here is everything they had to say:

on team news…

RS: Everyone is available, apart from Lotte Wubben-Moy.

on whether it’s too soon for Pelova to start…

RS: She came back from a long-term injury, so we have to bring her back carefully. Of course, she got her first minutes back in the team last Saturday. She did really well and we're very happy for her. Now we have to find the right way for her to come back into the squad. 

on if we’ll start with a more attacking formation…

RS: We want to balance tomorrow, so obviously we're aware of Real Madrid's threat as well. But we know what we need to do tomorrow, so we’ll try to make the right decisions and we have a lot of quality in the squad, both from a starting and a finishing perspective. 

on the importance of this game…

LW: It's the biggest month we've had in terms of knockout competitions. This game is no different. I think the work that we've done, you can see the direction that we're going in. We need to make results matter and count for us always, as a football club, so the focus never shifts. But we can't think about those sorts of things. We just focus on the task at hand in the next game. And we're always trying to win, obviously.

on whether Real Madrid were underestimated…

LW: I don't know if anybody underestimated them. I don't think we ever did. I think we've respected what their strengths are, the players that they have. The Champions League is as competitive as ever, once you get to these stages, so I think the results don't shock me. They have quality, but we also do. Those games are highly competitive these days and you want to be the one that comes out on top.

on how important the home advantage will be…

RS: We think if you want to play at the highest level and you want to win games, then you have to be able to deal with any circumstance. So of course you need to play 50% of your games at home and 50% away from home. In a perfect world, we deal with both scenarios really well and that's what we want to get to.

But we also know that the Emirates is good for us. The pitch is good and the facilities are good. We can prepare very well to perform. Also, at Boreham Wood when we play there, we can have a lot of fans close to us, it's an intimate setting. But of course, Emirates is much bigger, and I think that when we're together with the fans, we're at our best. We can create something magical and they give us that extra edge. So we really thrive at the Emirates. So everything is set up for us to perform, but then it's still about ourselves, what we bring to the game tomorrow.

on how the pitch will help our style of play…

RS: We have a style of play where we want to be on the ball a lot, where we want to move the ball. Of course, it's going to be easier on a golf course than on rocks. But we have to deal with any circumstances and if the competition rules say that this pitch is clear to play, then we have to play on it, and we have to deal with it. But yeah, we like good pitches, of course. I think any team does.

on whether this is the biggest game at Emirates Stadium since our UWCL semi-final against Wolfsburg…

LW: I suppose in the circumstance, yes. We have a lot to do. Champions League quarter-final. We're not in the other two cups anymore, so yeah, I suppose it is in a way. But I would argue that every game that we play [is big]. It’s not just words.

Especially stepping out of the Emirates on the occasion that it is every time, when that many people turn up to watch you, then we take it seriously and every game is important to us. But yeah, I'd say in terms of the challenges ahead, it's an exciting one at the very least. 

on what Emirates Stadium brings us tomorrow…

RS: I still want to bring it back to two teams competing in the same circumstances. So that's what we did away in Madrid and that's what we're going to do tomorrow. It's still about what we bring to the game, how well we prepare, what our mindset is when we go into the game and what intensity and quality we can bring on the pitch. I don't want to go to that point, but like I said before, I think every team likes to play on a good football pitch.

on our approach to attack a two-goal deficit…

RS: I can visualise in my head how the game should look, but football is unpredictable and that's the magic about it, I think. That's why people come to the stadium. You don't know what's going to happen.

So yes, in an ideal world, I have a picture in my head of what happens across those 90-100 minutes, but we also have to plan for all possible scenarios. The one thing that I know that we are going to be and the players are going to be is that we're going to be calm and composed and we have a belief during the whole game that we can do it. 

on whether this is the biggest game of Renée’s managerial career…

RS: I never think about it that way. I think all games are important. If you're coaching Arsenal, then all games matter. So everything is important and tomorrow is as well. So for me, it's another game. But I know what it means for a lot of people. It means a lot for us as well as a team. But I think I need to prepare every game 100% as good as possible. So, same for this game.

Leah on using her experience on the world stage tomorrow…

LW: I think we're very lucky here because that stage tomorrow night isn't foreign to us. Being part of Arsenal means that you play in front of big crowds and you're competing always with every team.

But I think there's a lot more experience than me in the team with these sorts of situations. So I'll play my role, play my part. I think the experience of overturning the last quarter-final against Bayern Munich, I think that comes in handy for anybody that played in that game.

That was a great memory. Good things happen in football, bad things happen in football. When the good things happen, you keep them in your pocket just as much as the bad, but you call on them when you need them. So I think anybody that was involved in that game will take confidence from that knowing that we know how to do it. Almost an identical situation.

on why it’s so hard for English teams to win the Champions League…

LW: I wish I knew the answer to that because we could have maybe done something about it! I think we have a competitive league. I think football in England is potentially played slightly differently from how it is played across the world. So what you face every day is different to potentially what you face in the Champions League. 

But that's a big one. You've stumped me. I don't know the answer to that. I'll be plucking something out. I think it comes down to this: we were out of this competition for a long time before we came back into it many years ago. So I think the inexperience of English clubs in these competitions probably doesn't play in our favour as much as what the other teams have. But I think the goal is for another English club to win this. I know from an FA perspective and a WSL perspective. So it's up to one of us to make it happen. 

I know the people that came before me that won that Champions League for Arsenal want us to be the only club to have done it. So we take that on as well.

on being the only English club to win the UWCL…

LW: It would be incredible [to win it again]. I'm an Arsenal fan. I grew up at this club, so that's the dream. I think it's a dream for everybody. We keep working until that becomes possible and we can make that happen. Tomorrow night is another step in that journey. 

on missed opportunities last time against Madrid…

LW: I think there was a general feeling that we wasted a potential opportunity. As Renée said, two teams playing on the same pitch.

The pitch wasn't at the standard that it needed to be, but we both played on it. I think the anger is more frustration at ourselves because we know what we can do and we didn't. We know that we have more and that's frightening for other teams also because I think the game, we were still competitive.

We need to score goals. That's what it comes down to and we need to stop that. We were frustrated, but more so at ourselves than anything else because the pitch, weather, whatever it is, the standards of Arsenal are higher than they were last Wednesday.

on what has been said to build belief in the dressing room…

LW: I think, firstly, the focus is on us. If we played a perfect game last week and we got beaten by a perfect game from the other team, that can sometimes be football but that wasn't the case. It's about us taking individual responsibility first and foremost and making sure that everybody stays present in that.

I think everyone has a role to play in it but if the leaders of the team step up in that way, which I think we have a lot of those and I think a lot of people have stepped up in different ways over the last couple of weeks and I think the results in recent times that we have scored goals in quick succession, turned games around, that does give us a lot of confidence. It's about keeping everybody calm, staying on the job, so to speak, and just doing what we know we can do. It's important that we do it tomorrow. 

on learnings between the two legs in the UWCL quarter-final against Bayern Munich…

LW: It was the same situation; football doesn't stop so you have a different task. We had a different task to focus on leading up to Saturday and then we had a new one again going to tomorrow. It was very similar circumstances, so a lot of what we've spoken about today was the same back then. We had a great second half finish where we put them under a lot of pressure and we wanted to pick up exactly where we left off and that's the aim for tomorrow as well.

on balancing being a fan and a player…

RS: I think where Leah comes from - and you're better at saying this than me probably - she comes from a history of being an Arsenal fan, of course. Arsenal means a lot for Leah and I think there's a lot of things that mean a lot to you in your life. 

Anyway, so focusing on the task at hand, I think that's my learning in life and I believe that makes teams perform if players are aware of what they need to do in the moment, here and now because thinking about history and thinking about what lies in the future is not going to help you in the moment and that's especially in sports where you have 90 minutes to play and you have to be in the here and now and I think that's important. Leah and me had conversations about it and that's basically it. 

on football heritage and the UWCL…

RS: I think there's also globalisation going on so I think football starts to look the same more and more across countries and you see players from different countries, you see coaches from different countries. I think the product is looking more and more similar but there's still a spectrum of how football is played and what it means culturally and I think the more you do that. But I think we get those challenges in the WSL as well because we play against teams that have different playing styles and have different backgrounds or ideas about football and I don't want to go about it. We get those challenges.

on what Renee has learned about her own adaptability as a coach…

RS: I’m always trying to learn, I'm learning every day, so discussing with colleagues, discussing with players taking input from other places but I always try to reflect on myself as well, so I always try to learn. I think it's something we do together as well as a staff, so I'm not sitting here and with players so I'm really happy with what we did against Liverpool and tomorrow is going to be a different challenge. Like I've been saying, we’ll try to plan for all scenarios, and we'll see what the game gives us tomorrow, we will try and take as much control of the game and I think that's when we're at our best as well, but at moments you have to suffer, and we'll have to go through that as well.

At the moment we have plans and that's probably my learning that we make sure we plan for everything, because then when the moment comes you can be calmer with your decision-making but also, whatever the results and whatever the emotions around you, to try and stay and go in your direction just calm and composed so that's a big challenge and that's probably the biggest learning for me the last couple of weeks.

on what’s special about this squad to regroup after adversity…

LW: Firstly, you don't ever want to end up in that situation and I think genuinely it comes from the frustration of when you know what you can do, then when you end up in a situation like that or there's a deficit or you're trading in a game it feels... we look at ourselves first. I do think that that is the case, like I say it's very different if you play all out, I go to Wolfsburg second leg, we have however many players on the bench etc, those different experiences you give everything and it's just not enough that's different. 

But when you're underperforming, then you look inwards first and the team is very good at doing that at problem solving, at talking to each other, staying together and then the product of that recently has been great, which is good but it's something that you have to constantly work on, it's something that on the pitch you can't take it for granted and they're themes that we always have running through the group. Like there's no days off, you can't work at full intensity every day because you have to manage training sessions etc, but being present and being impactful with what you say, when you say it and your actions in that way towards your teammates, I don't think we have days off when it comes to those things or at least we try not to, which I think then feeds into the strength of the group.

on how important players with pace will be tomorrow…

RS: We have so much different qualities in the in the squad and they are just two examples. I think when we're at our best, we have a lot of different threats in different places on the pitch and that's when we create dilemmas for opposition and all players play their role in it, both the players that start and the players that finish the game. So, they are important players, but everyone on the pitch is very important to create those dilemmas for the opposition.

on the confidence the Liverpool win provides…

LW: Like I say, we have proven to ourselves that we can turn things around and that gives us confidence. But we are very much task in hand like Renee says, so Saturday Liverpool was a completely different task but when you're in the moment, preparing and trying to get the most out of yourself then it subsequently makes the next game easier. So, I think the confidence comes from the fact that when we talk about our direction, Liverpool and Real Madrid are two very different opponents but compared to how we played against them in the FA Cup to the league, it's a big difference. We've proven that we can, and we have a big task ahead of us tomorrow but one that I don't know anyone that's shying away from it, we just need to try and get over the line tomorrow and I have every faith that we have what we need to do that, we just need to get out of ourselves.

on what Renee made of Madrid’s win over Barcelona…

RS: I did watch the game between Madrid and Barcelona. I definitely watched it, I think the whole staff watched it live and then we reviewed the game the next morning, but we always do very detailed work on opposition. So, you see those two teams in La Liga fighting and it was a good game. I think they both tried to play their game as much as possible, so it was good to see a lot of learnings and of course we saw that Madrid came away with a 3-1 win for the first time in history. But that's that and that's them, so it's about us tomorrow. With the second question about penalty kicks – we want to plan and prepare for all possible scenarios that can happen, so that's what we did today on the training pitch.

on whether Leah will take a penalty tomorrow…

LW: I think everybody would be ready to step up and do what they needed for the team, but I'm not in charge of who takes penalty kicks or the total list. I know we have some strong takers in our team, but I wouldn't shy away from it.

on what Leah expects from Caroline Weir…

LW: I’ve known Caz a long time, she's a player with great qualities on the ball and she's a clever footballer, so she's difficult to defend. She's somebody that you can't ignore on the pitch, and I love Caz, so it's difficult to play against her when you like somebody. But I think she's somebody that we have to be aware of, and she does a lot for their team, as she did on Wednesday, but I hope we have enough experience in our squad as well; players that played with her and against her to nullify that.

on Renee’s assessment of Real Madrid…

RS: They are a very disciplined team. I think they've been developing their play, I think they do things on a high level together and they seem to have a belief in what they're doing and then they have a couple of individual threats, as well, going forward.

on Leah’s approach to shutting out Madrid tomorrow…

LW: I think we also have to be very disciplined. A lot of their threat comes with fast attacks, I think we have what we need to match it, but we have to be disciplined and well positioned ready to do that. Being on the ball is our greatest strength, we just need to make sure that we do that well tomorrow