Every word of Renée's pre-West Ham presser

Renée Slegers was back in front of the media following the February international break for her pre-West Ham United press conference on Friday.

Our head coach spoke to the press at Sobha Realty Training Centre to look ahead to Sunday's return to Barclays Women's Super League football.

Here's everything she had to say on the following subjects...

on team news after international break:
Everyone’s back, everyone’s healthy, so they’re all in contention for Sunday with the players coming back. Obviously we had Lotte Wubben-Moy out and she’s still not available, but the rest are in contention.

on Lotte Wubben-Moy’s injury timeline:
I can’t be too detailed with that, so we’ll see how she progresses. I can’t give any more answers.

on Beth Mead’s progress:
She’s okay and also in contention.

on potential WSL restructure:
I understand it came out yesterday. There are meetings going on and I don’t know if they’re still ongoing. I think the club is involved so I’m going to wait for that meeting to be finished and get all the details before answering the question.

on the proposal to remove relegation from the league:
I always think for the competitive element of the league that it’s good to be put under pressure, but I think the people that are working with growing the women’s game in England are trying to make the right decisions here, so again, until that meeting is done and there are more details, I can’t answer the question.

on whether removing relegation would change the dynamic of the league:
I don’t think it’s unique, I think most competitions work like that, so I think there’s a reason why most competitions work like that in different countries, because you want to have that competitive element but, at the same time, the decision makers on this have more detail and knowledge. I understand that there needs to be a foundation and levels of professionalism to be able to provide the quality that we need in women’s football.

on Matt Beard leaving Liverpool:
It’s always sad to see managers leave. I know how hard work it is, how much pressure there is on you, so it’s sad to see him leave and I wish him all the best for the future.

on West Ham’s threat:
Well I think they’re going to make it very hard for us, which they did in the away game as well. I think they have their identity as a team, they’re looking to find their identity and they’re coming closer and closer. What they will do is close down spaces and try to threaten us in different ways and I think it’s going to be a hard game, so we have to be on top.

on whether Renee watches a lot of games during the international break:
I definitely try to watch the games. Unfortunately most games are being played on a Sunday at the same time so I can’t see everything live, so I pick my games and try to see the rest afterwards. It’s always good I think to see other teams play and see how national teams set up and the trends in international football and how they use our players. I think there are learnings for us in that sometimes and of course I want to have a really good understanding of what our players are doing when they’re away for when they come back and we can connect on that. It’s important for me to know where they’re at, so you think about it as a decompression period but it’s not really. It’s just a different period in your work because we choose to do other things, work on our processes in the background. Obviously also a big part of those days is following the players and what they’re doing.

on whether our Australian and American players will be in contention at the weekend:
We had five players away in the SheBelieves Cup. They’re very professional and the Americans and Australians do it almost every international break. They have to go to another continent and they know how to deal with themselves. We do everything we can to can to get them back to the rhythm here again so everything we do, these hours that we get is to get them ready and then there’s still decision making, but they’ve done it before. They know how to deal with it.

on what it means to win another WSL Manager of the Month award:
That award is going from coach to coach, so it doesn't stay. But there were two games in the WSL in February, so it wasn't a big month. It’s the shortest month of the year. But yeah, of course, happy with the wins that we got in that month and there's a lot of hard work. I always want to share. Anything we win is shared between people that are working here, so both players and staff, because I think you can't do anything by yourself.

on what Mariona Caldentey has brought to the team:
She's given us so much. I think there are so many things to say about Mariona, because she does so many things so well. Technically and tactically - her intelligence is really high level. Her work ethic is unbelievable. You can see it in games, but you can see it on the training pitch as well. So she really brings this to us, all the qualities and last but not least, she's a winner, so she wants to win things. I think she spreads that really nicely in the team and so she's given us that next level. We want to find the next level moving forward. But then again, we're talking about individuals here. This is what Mariona is bringing. Other players are bringing a lot of good things as well.

on the Arsenal representation in the England v Spain match at Wembley:
So I watched that game from home. It was a competitive game. I spoke to a couple of the players - they’re together in the building today from being opposition teams on Wednesday. Yeah, it was a high-level game, so I'm happy that we have the Nations League as well, so we have competitive games instead of training games for the national teams. 

on whether she believes the title is still in reach:
We need to believe that, and I do. All we can do is: we're in the position we're in at the moment. We have a very exciting block, full of opportunities ahead of us, and we're going to try and take those opportunities, and that's within our control. Everything that the others do, we can't control. But we're going to try what we can do in these four games. 

on the potential for squad rotation:
I think across the last couple of blocks, we've used a lot of players and player qualities, and the minutes were spread between players. I can't tell you anything right now. I won't share it here how the plans are for the upcoming block. And I also know that football is very unpredictable. Anything can happen. So yeah, you want to plan things, and you have your ideas, but then reality comes and hits you. So I won't share that with you at the moment. All I say is: we have a great squad with a lot of different qualities, and we're going to try and use the squad to the max this block.

on pushing for the Champions League, FA Cup and the WSL:
It’s very exciting. This is where we want to be. We have the FA Cup and the Champions League, where we can make a great step this block with the Real Madrid games and Liverpool game, and then we're going to try and push everything in the league as well across those four games.

on dealing with varying turnaround periods:
We’ve come from many games as well in the last block. I was referring to the two WSL games, but we obviously came from a block with a lot of games. The only thing that was different was the last week of the block was a seven-day turnaround, which we hadn't had in a very long time. So now we're going to play seven games in four and a half weeks, which will be intense as well. But we're used to this schedule now, and that's why we have the squad we have. So yeah, we're going to do everything to prepare them, physically, mentally and technically, technically, to be able to perform as well as possible in these games.

on the demands and pressure on WSL managers:
Yeah, I think it’s all connected to expectations and I think it’s brutal sometimes to be in a role because we’re human beings and as much as you want to control things and give direction and lead things in the right way, you’re not going to be able to control everything. So I think all coaches in the league know how intense the WSL is and the challenges that you’re facing week in week out and how big the game is growing. I think the job is very demanding and of course, you want high quality and people that can manage that role really well, so there’s a balance in my opinion. You need to come with competencies and with quality and you need to be backed as well and understand that you’re all aligned on what the expectations are and where you’re going as a club and as a team.

on what makes Kim Little such a great leader:
Kim is a natural role model for many people, not only players but also staff because what she does is she sees all the small details and she understands that all the little things you do as a professional athlete are going to contribute to your performance at the weekend. So everything she does is 100 per cent. It’s not only the way she prepares for games, it’s not only the 100 per cent in training, it’s every little detail she wants to get right. It’s also before and after training, everything from a medical and performance point of view. She’s a high performer and she demands the very best of herself and naturally, because of the way she is as a person, she demands that from everyone around her in a very good and natural way. In fact she doesn’t demand it, you want to do it when you’re around Kim.

on whether Victoria Pelova is in contention for the weekend:
Yeah, so all players are in contention apart from Lotte, which is very positive.

on what Steph Catley does so well:
Her positional detail is of a very, very high level which means she can make good decisions because she’s always in the right place to make those decisions. That’s both in and out of possession. She becomes very reliable for players around her because of that.

on whether clubs should be looking inwards when it comes to coaches:
I think any environment in any context is different, so it’s hard to just throw in advice, ‘do this, don’t do that’. Be yourself and try to find those small little things that you can impact in your period. I think also, be brave and if there’s things you see that you want to change or emphasize, then do it. I think that was one of the biggest pieces of advice that I got as an interim coach. Don’t think that because you’re interim you’re not in the position to change things and make decisions. You actually are, so do it, because that’s going to probably lead to what you want to do with the team, so that would be my little piece of advice. The game is growing so fast, and the quality is increasing almost every month and year. We want the best and I think it’s important that for all people that are working around football, so coaches, and also people in other roles, there should be opportunities given and we need them to be of a high level. We need to give opportunities, but we also need to make sure that there’s a framework and a setup where we can get really high quality people.