Every word of Renée's pre-Crystal Palace presser

Fresh from being appointed our permanent head coach, Renée Slegers held her pre-Crystal Palace press conference.

Speaking from Sobha Realty Training Centre, Renée fielded questions on the head coach process, her ambitions for the role and how united our squad is for the next stage.

Here is every word she had to say:

on being appointed our permanent head coach…

Thank you very much. No, I'm very happy to sit here now and that we together made the decision to move forward like this. I’ve just seen what the players have been doing and how we've been connecting with staff and club and fans as well. So that's really put into my decision to want the job, because when I got thrown into it, it was very sudden. It was very unexpected and I was here to serve the club. But then during my period as an interim, it started growing. You start to look at longer-term things and you see where we were going as a team, and also the connection with the fans. I think I've mentioned the game against Manchester United, where we didn't get three points, we got one point, but we performed really well, and the fans are backing us and supporting us. I think that was a critical moment for me as well to see: ‘Okay, this is something that we can create here. There's something positive that we can create.’ So it's been growing during those months, and I'm very happy I'm sitting here now.

on how she found her interim period…

There have been a lot of learnings in that period. Obviously, it's a role that I've never done before so it's interesting to see how do you take on a role like that when a head coach suddenly leaves and I think the next day, we had the game against Valerenga so we had to get going straightaway. So what do you do as an interim coach? Where do you put your emphasis? How do you get the team going? So it's been a lot of learning for me, but it's been full of enjoyment. I try to create a light atmosphere where enjoyment and togetherness are very important. I try to empower players and staff. It's been interesting, so I've enjoyed my time in the interim role.

on how the players reacted to the news…

Yeah, it was a nice moment. There's been a lot of support from the players. With me stepping into the interim role, I remember how players came up and said: let's do this together. We support you. We're behind you. And we would tell them back: we're supporting you. We are behind you guys. We believe in you. And there's this mutual belief that's been going back and forth, and so I'm happy that we're at where we're at, but there's a lot of hard work to do, and we want to hit our next level.

on her ambitions in the role…

Obviously, for this season, until the end of May, there are four competitions that we're active in. We want to do our very best and ultimately win trophies. But like I've said before as well, we want to do it the Arsenal way. That’s something that we want to do, that we get enjoyment from where we feel like we're developing and progressing and getting better. And a beautiful product to deliver to the outside world as well.

on a squad update…

We're in a good place. We trained 11v11 today again, so I don't think there are any changes from my last press conference ahead of Bristol.

on Crystal Palace…

We need to be humble for every task. We need to be at our best to compete and to get our win. So we're very humble for what we're going to face. So they will try to play their game and they will try to disrupt our game. And I think with their setup, let's see what they do. If they want to come out aggressively in a couple of moments or if they try and make the spaces really compact for us. So we'll see what they do. It’s going to be a challenging game, but we are full of belief. I'm very excited to start to play again.

on the potential for Celtic and Rangers to join the WSL…

It's not my decision. I guess a lot of other people are working in the background and figuring out what's the best way for the WSL to move forward. We want to grow the game. We want to grow women's football. And I think they just have to have a look at what's the best number for the WSL. How many teams do we need to be able to make every game as competitive as possible? Because I think if it's competitive, then we'll develop players and we'll develop the game.

on the progress of Victoria Pelova and Amanda Ilestedt…

So, actually talking about the 11v11 today - they both joined, so that was really positive. So they're really making good steps. But yeah, depending on the length you've been away, it will also take you longer to really get game-ready again. So they have a little bit left to go, but they're making real good progress.

on the movements of Kathrine Kuhl…

She's not in the building at the moment. She is getting close to a move.

on helping players like Leah Williamson with the mentality part of their game…

Yeah, so every player has different areas where they’re really good and other areas that they need to work on to get the best out of themselves. That means something different for every player – if you would split it into tactical, technical, physical and psychosocial or psychological, there would be different areas where players have the strength and the development areas. It’s been good and full of learning and inspiring for me as well to work with Leah, we’ve had quite some chats. For her there’s been things that we’ve been talking about that hopefully we’re trying to figure out what will help her play her best game possible.

on where Renée can grow the team now that she’s been made permanent head coach…

Yeah, I’m very excited because I think there are already very strong foundations in the team on many levels, so I’m just very excited to keep on building that. That’s previous coaches, staff members, and players that have built this and are very thankful for the heritage that you get. During this time, the last couple of months, we’ve already been building to be honest because you need to keep on building, even though you don’t know where you’re going to go because we felt like we want to hit our next level, we need to work on the team process. No, I’m very excited that it’s now official and now we can really look forward a little bit more with the team.

on the appointment process…

The Manchester United away game was probably the first time I was thinking: we’re really creating something now and it’s positive in the group, with the outside world, with the fans after the game. So, that’s probably the first time I had the thought in my head but it’s along the way that there’s been different events, mostly in the building with staff and players, that’s given me those thoughts and maybe do I want this inspiring, and do I want to carry on building this, but it’s growing like that over the last couple of months. The process has been very thorough, I think the club has been very critical and I’ve been put into challenging situations and interviews, so the process has been really good.

on how Renée’s role will change…

That was my message this morning as well, with the announcement that I’m not going to change, I’m the same person. I don’t want to change. What we want to do is go to the next level together, so we’ll drive change if you want to look at it like that. It’s been beneficial to step into this role from my assistant role, so I had a good idea of who the people were in the building, the players and staff, so that’s been very helpful.

on if there’s anything unique in being the Arsenal head coach…

I think the big brand that Arsenal is globally and how much we can impact the world with our football, but also all the responsibility we take in the community. So, you're part of something very big and I’m very aware of that so that’s probably the biggest difference from the roles I’ve had before in different countries. If you go back to the basics and back to my role and what I do day-to-day with the players and staff, it’s very similar, so whatever the context, your work will remain the same; you’re working with people and you’re trying to create a high-performance environment where you try to get the best out of people so that still stays the same.

on if Renée’s playing experience has helped her to forge a connection with the players…

I think so, I myself feel like I’m very far away from my playing career, it was eight years ago, and my last game was against England. I’ve been actively working with that, so I think I lost that probably somewhere in my coaching career, maybe in the middle of where I’m at now, so those eight years I’ve been coaching. I think in the middle there in years three, four and five, I was maybe very much into understanding the tactical part, understanding leadership, understanding methodologies to train, I was maybe floating away a little bit from the players’ perspective and I feel like that’s where I’m going back to now again. I think it’s very important to understand the player and I try to relate back to when I was playing and I try to relate back to the players as well to get that.

on the pressure of being our head coach... 

I’ve felt a lot of support during this interim period. I’m very aware that being an interim coach is very different from having the permanent role, but I’ve seen the support, how we work together and what we’re doing. We’re a team day in, day out, so that gives me a lot of belief. The support has been both ways. I don’t read media so much so I don’t experience the pressure, so I really try to be in the moment and impact the team as much as possible.   

on the moments when she wanted to go for the position...

I don’t know if I can even recall the exact moments. It could be little things, we try something new in our meeting structure for example and we want more engagement from the players and we get that. Afterwards, that was like ‘Okay this is working, they are engaging and they believe in what we’re doing.’ Small things like that are just an example. I’m not sure if I can recall all the other examples, but this would be one of them.

on her pathway to coaching and developing those skills...

I studied communication sciences, so I wanted to do something with language or writing, not maybe directly being a journalist, but a bit more writing deeper, longer text. But it wasn’t for me. Then I was studying practical philosophy, which was something very different, looking a bit more at the ethics in the sports world. That’s where I went a little bit to watch sports, then my career ended very early. I was 26, so I wanted to stay in the game. That’s basically how it happened and how it helped me. I think I’ve grown into the role. This role I had at Arsenal was new for me as well, so I’m happy I’ve been doing different things during this period after my playing career and that I’ve been doing other things while I was playing as well. I was studying, I tried to get a broader view of the world as well, so I’m happy that I got to be in different contexts in different roles.

on Mikel’s comments about the club promoting from within...

I see that we have a lot of confident people working here. We don’t work daily close to the men’s and boys' teams. Well, we do with the boys during international windows, together with their coaching staff and some of our girls will train with the boys, so there’s been real good cohesion I think, but just if I look at what we have, the quality that we have in our staff, it’s a very high level. Melissa Phillips comes from a head coach role as well, Kelly Smith is in the building, Seb [Barton] does really well with the goalkeepers, and we have Chris [Bradley] full-time on set pieces, so we have such great qualities. Maybe I would agree with Mikel!

on if working in different roles has served her well...

I think so yes. As I mentioned before, I believe in generalists. You have specialists as well but I think it’s very important to be a generalist so you understand the holistic things and understand the wider perspective. To be able to do that, it’s very good to get insight into the specialist roles as well, special contexts, so I think it definitely helped me.

on taking over from Jonas Eidevall...

Well, I’ve worked really well with Jonas. I think I’ve said many times I’ve spoken to him quite a lot after he left. I respect his way of seeing the game and it’s been great learning from him. I think there’s learning everywhere and I’ve learnt a lot of things from him. It’s always going to be like that. We’re never going to be exactly the same, so I think every person will bring something different, whether it’s the tactical ideas or the way you want to lead or just who you are as a person. Obviously, that’s natural.

on Leah Williamson talking about being strict with the newly signed Academy players to help their development…

The level of our academy is developing. I think I said it a year ago, looking at where they're at now, I think the players developed so much, so it's great to see. To add to what Leah said, I think she's also very good at helping the players. So yes, she puts demands on them, but she's also very good at helping them, especially the backline players or the sixes who play close to her. She's really trying to help them and support them as well. 

on defining Renee’s leadership style…

It’s a big question. I think I have some very clear values of what I think is important. I spoke to the players this morning and showed them. I've never made it specific for the players before because I was in this interim role, and we just had to crack on and win our games. But this morning, I showed them what values are very important to me, and I think empowerment is very important. So, all the strengths that we have in the building and in the room, let's get the best out of those people with their strengths. Enjoyment is very important for me as well, because if you enjoy things in life, you're going to get the best out of yourself and the best out of others, so that's a big one. We want to be respectful so towards anyone, people, but also equipment, we're very privileged with a lot of things. So, we want to have respect for who we are, who our coaches are, who the other people at the club are, and who our teammates are. So, for example, those things are very important. I want to try and create togetherness with a lot of autonomy and freedom while still giving a clear direction to the group. 

on a message for the supporters…

Thank you for all your support. Like I said, the Manchester United moment was probably a very big moment for me, and I know what it means for the players. So, over a bigger stretch of time, how they can help us and support us when things go well and when things are getting a little bit harder, that's when we really need them even more, and also during a 90-minute game, so that we always want to go for the goal and we always want to score it. But if then that takes a little bit of time, and we need to figure it out that they keep on believing and keep on supporting, keep on cheering, and also on our defensive actions, because we put a high value on defensive solidity, and I love it when the crowd supports us on those on tackles or good team organisation and good defending. So, they've been a big part of us and we're very lucky to have them.

on why Renee didn’t become a journalist… 

It was out of my control. I got injured, I was 26 and I was studying practical philosophy at that moment, and then I didn't know what to do in my life. I had to rehab my knee, and they offered me to do the A-License course at the Swedish FA and I just did it, and that's how the ball just went rolling. So, to be honest, to give all the control away that that's what happened.

on why our game against Manchester United sparked Renee’s interest in the permanent position…

It was especially because of the result and seeing how the fans reacted, that’s why that thought came into my head and like in your words, what sparked me.