Presser Points | Liverpool vs Spurs (WSL) | Martin Ho

Martin Ho spoke to the media at Hotspur Way on Friday afternoon, ahead of our Barclays Women’s Super League trip to Liverpool on Sunday (11.55am UK).

Here are some key points on what he had to say…

On the potential return of Cathinka Tandberg this weekend after it was revealed she was back in contention…

“I think she gives you a different profile in that front line. [Being] Aggressive, good back-to-goal, a goalscorer, which we have in her and Beth. It gives you an energy and a personality up the pitch that obviously has made a big impact for us when she first came in. It'll feel like, maybe for her and maybe a little bit of the group, that it's like a new player coming back into the group after having a spell on the sidelines.”

On the challenges Liverpool will pose this weekend…

“We know it's going to be a tough game. It was last time we played them at Brisbane Road. They've just come off the back of a positive result against London City Lionesses, where they performed really well. I don't think their performances have been where the table shows, if I'm honest. They're in good control of games, they're possessing the ball well, they're very offensive-minded, and maybe just lack that cutting edge around the attacking third. But they're still a really good team and we need to be at our best if we're going to take anything from the game.”

On looking ahead to our fixtures at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the added pressure playing there…

"Any game we play at the stadium, we know there's going to be a lot of publicity around it and probably a little bit of added pressure. It's a big spectacle to play in, a London rival at the stadium, and we're excited for that game. We want to encourage as many people as possible to come and watch us. That's usually done by performance. If you want a big crowd, you have to entertain. We need to make sure the Liverpool game and anything after that, we're performing at a high level if we want people coming to the ground and support us at the stadium.”

On the opportunity to capitalise on the top teams playing each other in recent weeks…

“Every game we come into, we want to win. We need to make sure we're consistent with the level of performance we've shown. If other teams play each other and it goes in your favour, you take that. But, first and foremost, we focus on our own performance. As soon as you start looking elsewhere, you come off the rails a little bit. We've made sure this group is focused on Liverpool, and if we perform and get the result we want, everything else becomes a bonus.”

On the players Liverpool have brought in so far this winter transfer window…

“They've signed some really quality players with good experience. Denise O'Sullivan is a wonderful player with vast experience internationally and in the US. She'll add a different dimension on and off the pitch. The Scandinavian players – Alice Bergstrom and Beata Olsson - are wonderful players, and they've signed the Swiss girl ( (Aurélie Csillag) also. They're going to be a different attacking threat and more competitive. They haven't been far away; maybe they just haven't had the rub of the green at times.”

On the importance of the fans support at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for our game against Chelsea…

“You want as many fans as possible, whether that’s Brisbane Road or the Stadium, we want to make it hostile and entertaining. Entertainment keeps people coming back. The fans have supported us really well, and we want to build that fanbase further. By entertainment, you obviously keep people coming back to watch you. This first part of the season, I want to make sure we can build that fanbase even further. What an opportunity to do that at the stadium against Chelsea, where it's a game against a London rival, it's a big one for the city in general. I want to make sure that the players get a really loud and energetic fanbase behind them to help them pull through the game.”

On Spurs not being a surprise package in the WSL anymore…

“I think maybe if we're looking in terms of where we were, which is a fact, where we finished last year, you can't change that. I don't understand why there's some kind of apprehension around the team, the performance and so on. We've now moved in a totally different direction and we've hopefully brought a new energy and a kind of passion and desire for this team, on and off the pitch, and now I hope that we've spoken about it in that breadth. That's credit to the staff and players who I work with every day, that they're able to put this team in that position where people want you to slip up, you now have more of a target on your back, if you want to say, that people are expecting you to perform, people are expecting you to win, and that's where Spurs should be spoken about. We shouldn't be a team that's spoken about in relegation and I'll make sure that we're not while I'm here. We need to be competing on all fronts for competitions and for honours, and moving forward now we have to, as I always say, build on performance and find the consistency, but we have to also take that added pressure that comes with wearing a Spurs shirt, and the players definitely know that.”

On managing expectations for the second half of the season…

“As a club and as Tottenham Hotspur, we should be wanting to win and we should have a target on our back, we should be spoken about in the right way about what we should expect from a Tottenham team. I want to make sure that we are speaking about that. I think maybe for previous [seasons] we've been spoken about slightly differently, but I don't want to always look at the past, it's in the past for a reason. we need to focus on what we're doing now. We're in a good spell, we need to make sure we stay in that, we embrace the added pressure, we embrace that we're being spoken about in that way, that teams want to come and beat us, and we should embrace those moments when we go into these games to hopefully come out on top with good performance. Moving forward, we have to make sure, because if you want to go and compete for honours, you want to be in European football, you have to take this added pressure that comes with it.”

Reflecting on the Leicester City win last weekend...

“It was exciting in numerous ways; players making their debuts, able to sustain performance for longer periods of the game over the course of 90 minutes, playing some really good football, players connecting better, relationships being built more, and obviously can score more than the one goal we scored the week before. We implemented the learnings we took from that first game and applied them, then giving the fans something to cheer about. But also keeping a clean sheet, which is something we really pride ourselves on.”

On how all the new signings have settled after making their debuts…

“They've made their debuts and they've deserved those debuts, they haven't just been given. I've made that very clear, that those positions where those players, those playing, those forward, those wider forward positions or those full-back positions, it's where a lot of our pressing intent comes from and you need to make sure that they're refreshed. Matilda [Nilden], Hanna [Wijk], Julie [Blakstad] made their debuts and then Maika [Hamano] made her first start, but they've been impactful on the group and how we play, how we can evolve, how we become more unpredictable with how we want to approach games tactically. So, yeah, I'm very happy for them, I'm delighted for them and maybe it takes a little bit of that pressure off the shoulders making their debut.”