Every word of Renee and Emily's Juventus presser

Tomorrow night, we host Juventus at Emirates Stadium for our latest clash in the UEFA Women's Champions League.

Interim head coach Renee Slegers was joined by Emily Fox for the pre-match press conference and here is everything they had to say:

Renée on enjoying the experience at Arsenal, especially in the Champions League:
I was enjoying myself before as well. So I just love working for the club. I love working with the girls. And obviously, like most of us, we’re very happy that we're doing well at the moment. So happy for the girls, happy for the staff, happy for the fans as well.

Renée on managing expectations:
I think we just have to stay in a moment and see what we have ahead of us. And obviously we analyzed the way game against Juventus and they will do that as well. So it's going to be a new challenge tomorrow. We're one step further into the group phase, and it's a second game against each other. So they're going to tweak things. They're going to do things differently probably, and we might want to do that as well. So I think it's a new game that we're going to play tomorrow.

Renée on the Bayern Munich game being played at Meadow Park:
I was playing for Arsenal’s academy in 2006 so I know how big Arsenal has been, over a long time, at pushing women's football. That was the reason why I came to England. So historically, I think Arsenal has been leading in pushing for women's football developing, and I think it will do that in the future as well. I think this was a bump in the road and it will always happen. It's like player development. You won't go in a straight line. There will be challenges on the way. I think this is a challenge, but I think we're all very proud of what Arsenal tries to do to push women's football forward.

Renée on playing more games at Emirates Stadium serving as motivation to reach the quarter-finals:
Motivation is really high. We have an inner drive to try and reach that, but we also know how much it means for the fans. So definitely, that's a part of it.

Emily on confidence going into Juventus:
Right now, we're all very confident in each other and ourselves. And I think with the entire team, we feel together. Each game has been very difficult and we've been learning from each and really finishing our chances and learning from the hiccups at the beginning of the season. I think with tomorrow, like Renee was saying, it's another game, another challenge, and I think we're up for it. And I think with just the variety of games and opponents that we've played, it's given us more confidence in the sense that we can deal with anything.

Renée on over-performance on xG over the past few months:
When we started this block, us as a staff, but also the players got together and we tried to pinpoint which areas we wanted to do better in for this block. Can we easily, in a short period of time, try to impact, influence and ruthlessness in both boxes - that was one of them. And then, I think I've said it before, we work on it. We try to get elements into training. And I think the girls have been doing really well. So at the moment, it's actually paid off, but not all processes will be this easy. At the moment, it's positive, but we have to keep on working at maintaining this and developing this as well.

Renée on whether short-term clarity on her role has helped:
Definitely, I think it’s helped us, knowing only about the short future because it’s forced us to be in the moment and try to impact things in the moment and on a short-term basis and I think we took it as a positive, I took it as positive so I’m happy with how things have been going so far.

Emily on players’ taking more ownership:
I think it starts with just coming in in the morning, going over clips with your sub-group, talking with people and really getting to know what they like to do and their tendencies, so that you can help them and they can help you. 

I think with the ownership, practice and really making sure we are finishing our chances and we’re training like we’re playing in the game and I think a lot of it is just accountability and with that, I think it makes you hungrier and makes you want to do more and do better and I think with the coaching staff, they’ve done a really great job of giving us everything we need in terms of what we need to do to beat opponents so with that it’s giving us structure but also some freedom and creativity to work with each other and figure it out.

Renée on taking a break during the international period:
I will take a little break, three days and then we’ll be back at the training ground, training with the players that will be at home and won’t be away with the international teams. So everything just keeps on going but obviously it’s been an intense block so it’s always nice to go up and down in intensity, I think that’s healthy and gives us time to reflect and see what we want to develop and see what we’ve done, what we want to do moving forward about what happens after the international break. I really don’t have my mind set on that.

Emily on playing against her Arsenal teammates in USA v England:
I’m really excited for it, like you said. My full focus is on tomorrow, but I think playing at Wembley, getting that opportunity to play at England’s football stadium is really special. This time I will be playing against my teammates, so it’s a little different compared to the first time I played there. But I think we’re all excited and it should be almost a sold-out crowd.

Emily on having Thanksgiving together as a national team:
Yes, we will. I think we’re probably staying where we are [for dinner], I don’t think we’re going to go anywhere but I’m sure we’ll have a typical Thanksgiving dinner.

Renée on the challenges of playing the same team twice in a week:
They know us very well now, and we know them very well. I think it’s a guessing game of what they will tweak and what they will do differently, we’re also a little bit further into the group stage now, what’s their mindset, what do they want to achieve in this game and how will they try to achieve it? So we’ve been going through a couple of scenarios of what we think they might do. I think we have three or four scenarios in our heads so we have to be prepared for all of them. I think, from a coaching perspective, it’s fun because you have one performance and you play against the exact same opponent and the challenge you have in front of you is to try to do better.

Renée on whether she’s learnt much during this block:
I'm learning loads, but I haven't come to that stage yet. I'm fully focused on the game tomorrow. The block isn't finished at all. We have a very big game left to play. 

Renée on when she’d like clarity on her role:
I fully trust the club that they're trying to find the right solution to go forward.

Emily on why our squad has improved results across the past few months:
I mean, I think there's a lot of things. I definitely think with the coaching staff, we've had a smooth transition in that sense. And I think with Renee, she brings a lot of confidence and very even-keeled and just straightforward. And I think with that, it brings again, clarity and also freedom with that. And again, with accountability, as a team, we all want to do better, and so it's never just one person or one reason why we're doing well or bad. And so with that, I think just collective responsibility and accountability to kind of come together and make things work and be better.

Emily on whether she’d like Renée to stay beyond the next game:
Yes, I think, Renee has been amazing in this block, and has shown us what she can do. And again, I think we all are focused, and why we've done so well is being focused on the present. And so with that, I think after tomorrow and then the international break, we all kind of disperse and then regroup and see where we're at.

Renée on avoiding complacency going into Juventus:
It was a hard game for us to play. It was 1-0 for a long time, we scored three late goals so they got a chance early in the game. So I don't think there's any sign of complacency amongst us. We know how hard it was, and in the end, we got a big result. But it took us so much to get there, both physically and psychologically, so I don't think there's any complacency in the camp at the moment.

Renée on what makes Emily such a special player:
Foxy is always working hard. She's extremely powerful physically, but with and without the ball, she's a great defender, and she's now been here for a while, so she's built up some great partnerships with players around her and as you can see, she's a good combiner. She recognises spaces really well in the final third as well. So I think Foxy is a very versatile player and a good player to work with.

Emily on backing up her last Player of the Match performance against Juventus:
I think that's why it is fun to play a team twice after not a lot of time. So, I think it's just more of a challenge is how I see it, how will they be the same, or will they change? And if they do, how can I still impact and help my team win? So, I think it's just more so a challenge to see what I can do, to do my best,

Emily on giving her USWNT teammates any hints ahead of the England match:
I haven't. I feel that with Emma, she probably knows more than I do, just in terms of her length and stay here compared to me. So no, nothing yet.

Emily on playing under Emma Hayes:
It is kind of similar to when you're playing against your teammates. It's a newness and a familiarity at the same time. So I think it'll be, especially for her, a lot of emotions coming to Wembley and playing against England.

Renée on Leah Williamson’s recent form and importance:
Leah has been great so far; I think we’ve been building in that shape before as well – it’s just we’ve been building that shape in different ways. In the last couple of games, Leah has been the central player which I think brings out a lot of good things in Leah’s qualities – she’s on the ball a lot, she can reach both sides of the pitch but mostly credit to Leah, it’s not always easy, you’ve got to go through phases as a player and it’s not always easy to pick yourself up and look forward, and find what you need to do to develop again and move forward in the right direction. I think she’s been incredibly well from an individual perspective.

Emily on a similar build-up shape to the USWNT:
I think it’s hard to compare the US to here, just in the sense that maybe you could say it is a similar shape, there are a lot of differences. I think again with how we’ve been playing; we understand and know what roles other people’s jobs are and so the shape is very fluid. So even when I’m going forward and getting into the attack, I think Katie and I are on the same page in terms of defensive structure which gives us clarity.

Emily on what playing at Emirates Stadium gives our squad:
I can say from me playing there at night at Emirates Stadium is amazing, whether our first match was a Wednesday night, and we had 5,000 supporters, and then the other day we had double the size of that. I just think no matter how many people are there; we can hear them, and they make such a big difference for us and that stadium as well. I think, for us, playing at home, playing at Emirates Stadium, it gives us that extra push that we need. Juventus is going to be a very tough opponent to play twice [in a row] and we both have a lot of stake, so I think having that extra motivation from the supporters is going to mean a lot.