We're back in WSL action at Emirates Stadium on Saturday when Liverpool head to north London, and as usual Renee Slegers was in front of the media beforehand to give her take on the game.
She spoke about bouncing back from the Real Madrid loss in midweek, injuries and whether revenge will be on our minds after the Reds knocked us out of the FA Cup a few weeks ago.
Here is everything she had to say:
on playing Saturday’s game on a good surface:
Of course we like to play on a good surface, I think every team does. It makes football a little bit easier. Then it's always going to be that both teams compete on the same surface.
We competed with Real Madrid and both teams have to deal with it. Going back to that game, they were very clinical, we didn't come up with our best performance, but we don't blame the pitch because we both had to deal with it. So we definitely want to do better next week, but now it's Liverpool tomorrow.
on how much has been made about Real’s pitch:
I think it's good, I think women's football deserves to play on good surfaces, not the least because of player injury risk as well.
on whether the injury Real suffered was due to the pitch:
That's not for me to assess and I think that would be a hard call for anyone to say why that happened. But there happened to be an injury on the pitch and we want good pitches for player health.
on the games coming thick and fast:
We want to play. For the time that I've been here, we have been playing all the time. So this is weekly business for us and we love to be here. That's why we play, we love to train, but we love to play games even more.
on whether she is favouring one of our next two games:
No. At the moment I just look at tomorrow, Liverpool in the WSL and a great opportunity. Then later in the week we have another game to look forward to, so I'm not going to pick one over the other or make decisions because of one or the other. It's tomorrow against Liverpool.
on if our best chance of silverware coming in the Champions League:
Yes, and we're always going to try and do our best to prepare for all games and all competitions. I think that's fair to the club and what we are a part of, to always prepare 100% and try to win every football game we play.
on if we’ve you learnt anything from our FA Cup loss to Liverpool:
Of course I'm impressed with what Liverpool are doing, I think Amber seems to have done a really good job. They're a hard team to beat, very disciplined and they work very hard in the way they play. I think against all opposition you see opportunities and all teams have threats, so we try to learn from the game and nullify as much as possible what they can bring to the game, and we see opportunities for ourselves.
on whether revenge is an incentive for tomorrow:
There's a lot of incentives for the players. We're a part of the history of the club. It's the team, it's them individually, what they want to achieve in their careers, and then it's where you come from - the loss against Liverpool. A big part of our incentive and motivation tomorrow is also the fans that we're going to have at the Emirates.
on playing in front of another big Emirates Stadium crowd:
It's good. I'm happy the women's game is growing and I think it needs to level up. What we are delivering as a product and how all people inside are working really hard to grow the women's game, but then also getting the support from outside and it being broadcast and the fanbase being so big. It needs to grow together and I think that's what's happening at the moment.
on the role our supporters can play tomorrow:
It's our duty whatever. If we play without fans, we still need to represent the badge and we're playing in the league. We need to do what we need to do and that's the most important thing, but we also know that with these fans that are following us everywhere, the interaction with them and the energy that they bring, they can bring us something extra.
on how she manages to shut the exterior noise out:
By just not knowing about it! I talk to you guys at the press conference and I have some interviews and maybe you get challenged or questioned, but my most important thing is what we do on the inside. I do assess myself and my own performances as well, but I always try to do my best with all the information I can gather in the moment to make the right decisions. So no, I don't know what's happening on the outside, but thanks for letting me know!
on what she does to relax away from work:
There’s nothing specific. I had quite a few hobbies and things that made me relax back Malmo, we had an outside garden, I loved gardening, board games, being with friends, going to restaurants, anything. But here it's a lot of work and it's a new environment for me. But I definitely find ways. I go for walks, listen to podcasts, meet up with people, call my friends at home, so there's plenty of opportunities for me to switch off. But we are in a very busy period so my mind, so my brain is going 100 miles an hour, and it doesn't always stop when I come home.
on the players suggesting they are keen for revenge following the cup loss:
All human beings find different triggers and work differently, some get motivated by it and others need something else. I think we probably have a couple of players in the squad who find that extra motivation because of the last result, but other players find their motivation and energy somewhere else. That's always going to be the challenge to try and trigger everyone the right way.
on having clarity that we know what we need against Madrid next week:
Whatever the result would have been in Madrid, you know the task. We know what the task is, of course it's 2-0 to Madrid and we need to turn that around, and we need to find ways to do that. But I'm not there in my head yet, I'm thinking about tomorrow and Liverpool. That's all we've been talking about today and that's all the footage I've seen. That's on my mind and the players' minds at the moment, so we look forward to tomorrow and play against Liverpool.
on Madrid and Liverpool playing the same way:
There are similarities. But I think it wouldn't do justice to Liverpool at all and the WSL if we looked at the game in that way. We don't see it as anything else than just Liverpool and what we need to do tomorrow, but there are definitely similarities between the two teams.
on the benefits of playing similar opponents:
There are always two things, you need to think short term, that's the next game and tomorrow, but of course I'm not going into a block of games without knowing what's ahead of us. There's always those two things, but everything we do today is about tomorrow.
on whether Liverpool having an interim coach can give them an edge:
I do understand what Liverpool is going through as a team, and I do understand that can bring them something extra. I think it just creates an awareness inside me and inside our squad that this is what Liverpool is going through at the moment, and that's where we were six months ago. Without elaborating on exactly what that is, it just helps me being aware of what the opposition might be doing and what's happening in their camp.
on the importance of Kim Little’s leadership:
All players are important, and Kim is our captain. She's a very important player for us. She's played so many big games. She's a role model for the rest of the squad, so I'm happy she's with us, she's fit and she's contributing and people can lean on her. That's a big strength of ours to have Kim, but I think everyone as a person brings something to the team, whatever that is. You can lead and guide the team forward, and all other players can do that as well. We have a great squad, great players and in different ways, different leadership on the pitch.
on Rosa Kafaji:
She can play in all attacking positions for us. We know that she was playing as a 10 for Hacken when she came to us, and I think she's very strong in that position. I'm not saying that she can't play in the other three attacking roles. Rosa is a great player - a young player, a talented player with huge potential. At the moment, with the availability in our squad, we have so many good players so there are a lot of decisions for us to make around selection and making the right decision of players on the pitch starting and finishing games. We believe in Rosa for now and for the future, and sometimes young players have to have a little bit of patience, work really hard and then the chance will come.
on dealing with selection headaches:
It's one of the big challenges of being a manager and then especially with the squad. I don't know that there are not many squads in the world that look like this. So, it's a big challenge - try to be proactive at times. You need to manage expectations. I need to be very sharp with my decisions. I need to see what's happening in the group and how players react, and I think I need to be fair and honest with everyone with how I'm thinking. Then I have to commit to my ideas, and hopefully everyone commits to what we're doing.
Then not always everyone will agree because everyone wants to play and that's just reality. Sometimes it's about agreeing to disagree as well, so the big thing is I have to commit to my ideas, and I have to think short and long-term. The players are training really well, working really hard. Everyone wants it and I think everyone should have that drive to wanting to play as many minutes of course, because if you don't have that drive, then you're not getting the best out of yourself. It's beautiful, it's good to be part of this team and it's challenging at moments, but it's part of my job and I have to take that as well. I'm trying to do my best to get the team in as good a position as possible to perform.
on team news:
Lotte is not available, Daphne is available, and Laia Codina still has some issues that she's dealing with, so she's a question mark.
on managing transitional threats:
I think credit to Real Madrid for being so clinical, because I don't think they have a lot of them, but the ones they get they are clinical on. Of course, against top opposition you can't give away anything. You need to stop everything because there's too much quality in the opposition teams to be able to capitalise on it. There are different things – if you look at the open play goals we've conceded this block, they're not all exactly the same. They come from different restarts or different ball starts. We are on the ball a lot and the opposition knows that, so we have to be really good when we lose the ball with how we react and how we position ourselves.
on if Liverpool are more dangerous now than last time out:
I think they've always been a very good team, a tough team to get through, but I think you can see there's a couple of players on their team now, and I think in general a confident team. They believe in what they're doing, and I also think they've gotten maximum rewards for the good things they've done in the last two games. We're definitely very aware of where they're at as a team and the threats they can pose on us.
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