Vilahamn on Villa friendly: “I’m really satisfied with how the players acted”

Our new Head Coach presided over a high-intensity clash with our fellow WSL side behind closed doors at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in what was a useful step towards the start of the new season.

Although the game ended goalless, Robert was delighted with the way the squad approached the contest.

“I saw a lot of good stuff, things we’ve trained on these first weeks in the offensive game, how we can have a have a build-up, dictate the ball and try to be more offensive in the build-up and I think the players really want to be active and try to find the spaces and go for the attacks in the last third,” he said.

“Of course, we still haven’t found the right pattern to break down Villa and score a goal but I’m really satisfied with how the players acted when the opponents pressed us and the deepest work is that we were high block, trying to press them when we can and I think we did it well according to the tactics and it felt like we were looking fit. We’ve trained quite hard for the last three weeks but the players looked strong – it was a friendly game but it was still a high-intensity game and I felt like the players wanted to bring what they’ve done to the next level and I feel like they did it, which was nice to see.

“Last week, we trained really hard but I saw something that’s really made me happy and that’s the attitude – they wanted to defend, they want to protect the clean sheet, they wanted to score goals, we had a few chances but we played against one of the top teams in this league as well, so it was a good friendly overall.”

Although the game was played behind closed doors, Robert relished his first experience of competing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium: “I’ve never seen anything like it!” he smiled. “I’ve played in a few good arenas but this stadium is massive and I think it’s good to see that we can dictate a game in this stadium. I loved the arena and I’m looking forward to people coming to watch us as well. From this step where we can dictate a game, we’ve got to find ways to score goals – we’re aiming to score many goals, of course, but that takes time and relations and that’s the next aim, to make sure we build these relations and how we’re going to score, then the deepest work is how we’re going to be even more fit to actually press them even higher and win the ball from those situations. But it was great stuff here and I think we just need to have time with each other to take those steps.”