Rehanne previews United: “We’re itching to get going”

Previewing the match on SPURSPLAY, Rehanne said: “The opportunity for the players to kick off with all of our home fans in the stadium - they’re really looking forward to it and we all are. When you’ve done a lot of hard work in pre-season, you’re kind of itching to get going and start the league. 

“It’s such a positive way to start the season and we want to give it everything we can for the home fans and give a performance that reflects the way we feel about the new season and the way we want to progress. We want to try to do that more frequently and, between Leyton Orient and Hotspur Stadium, we want to make it really feel like home wherever we are. That’s something we’re certainly striving towards this year.”

The Lionesses’ success at Euro 2022 captured the minds of a brand new audience of women’s football fans, and Rehanne is keen for the legacy of the tournament to continue throughout the course of the season.

“We’ll probably look back in a few years and think it had an impact in 30 more ways than we actually anticipated it would,” she said. “I even think that will happen in the next 12 months to be honest. 

“I certainly hope it’s a game that the fans have really now got on board with and the family feel to the atmosphere and vibe that was there was so good that I really hope every club, and certainly we’re going to be trying to do this, keeps attracting those fans to come into the stadium and watch the game on a more regular basis.”

In her pre-match press conference at Hotspur Way on Wednesday, Rehanne went into detail on the club’s ambitions for the season ahead, having achieved a fifth-place finish in the WSL last time out.

“If you're not trying to get to the top of the table, what are you doing? We want to be pushing. This year or next year, I don’t know when we'll be in a position to do that, but we want to keep improving on last year and be better in the second half of the season, finishing games off and getting maximum points. Fingers crossed we’ll work towards it.

“I think the big thing for us is the same as what I’ve said since I’ve been here - we constantly want to get better. Last year we finished fifth but I think the goal difference needed to be better. The second half of the season, we dropped off a little bit more, so we want to definitely improve on that this year.

“Ultimately, we want to try to make sure that we finish in a better place than we did before, whether that be through the quality of performances or seeing out games that we probably could’ve done a little bit better with in some instances.

“I think that shows the growth. The process is so important to us bridging the gap to the teams that have been at this for longer than we have. We have to make sure we stick to that and keep believing and trusting in the process. 

“We’ll keep improving with that and hopefully that puts us in a position at the end of the year where we can look back and see we’ve crept forward a little bit again. That’s ultimately the goal.”

In her interview with SPURSPLAY, Rehanne also discussed squad availability, explaining that long-term injuries to Kit Graham, Ria Percival and Esther Morgan are progressing well. Kerrys Harrop picked up an injury in the off season and won’t be available for a little while, Rehanne confirmed, while Chioma Ubogagu will be back with us in October.

“We’re hoping players return from international duty fit,” she added. “Everybody who's been training here is in good shape. We’re a little bit lighter than we’d like to be for the start of the season, but we’ll be getting those players back on track soon and they’ll have an impact throughout the course of the season for us.”