Ellie Brazil and Jess Naz preview 2022/23 Women’s Super League
Ellie Brazil and Jess Naz sat down with us at Hotspur Way on Thursday afternoon to discuss pre-season preparations, the WSL campaign ahead, initiation songs, FIFA 23 and more!
Jess, how are you feeling about the Women’s Super League being back this weekend?
JN: “Yeah, excited. It’s been a long pre-season. It’s been good to get the team together and build the relationships. I’m looking forward to going to the stadium with a lot of fans to be able to play our first game of the season there.”
How has the last week been for you with the England Under-23s?
JN: “Yeah it’s been good. We went away to Norway for a couple of days and played out there. We ended up winning 2-1, and it was a good experience for me personally, playing in a different position. We’ve had everyone back in today so we’ll be one hundred percent ready for the game on Saturday.”
What was pre-season like in the US?
JN: “It was such a good experience. We’ve been on one before to Spain but it wasn’t the same.”
EB: “It doesn’t compare to the business class does it?”
JN: “No, it was a long flight but, especially out of our comfort zone, for me personally to see how we pulled through tough times together and tried our best, we gave one hundred percent. If we stick to our principles and play the football we know we can play, we’ll hurt a lot of teams and do well this season.”
Was it surreal to see so many Spurs fans out there?
EB: “That was probably one of the loveliest parts of it. We saw the fanbase the Club has not just in the UK but all around the world, as far as America. It was good and we had a little crowd whenever we came out, they were always cheering.
“In pre-season, you’re really susceptible to losing that element of the crowd and you just play behind closed doors, but in America we had a little bit of a crowd back and then when we played Chelsea the other week at their ground, I actually felt the pressure. It felt like a proper game again. You walked out and felt like pre-season was over.
“Playing out in America, for me coming in, I’ve always been told that Tottenham are resilient and will give everything. We played against two teams that are in mid-season and we’re pre-season and we fought until the end.
“We didn’t get the results we wanted and that probably doesn’t look good on paper, but internally it was probably better that we lost them, because you don’t want to go into a season winning everything, you want to know that there’s a lot more to build on what you can do and I think we’ve addressed that and we’re ready for the season to start.
“We had a good time and got spoiled rotten. We got business class, new suitcases and backpacks - we got absolutely spoiled! It’s now our turn to pay the staff back for how much they put into this.”
When you’re a new player coming into the club in pre-season, you mentioned you’ve settled in quite easily, did you have to do initiation songs?
EB: “Oh god, did we! We hid for a while. Us new players knew it was a thing but we kept it silent, it was like that secret word you wouldn’t mention around other players that have been here for a while. I’d go to Amy [Turner] and ask if she’d heard anything about initiation and she said no and we’d stay quiet, until we got to America.
“Then they couldn’t get rid of us and we were stuck there so we had to do it! I was preparing to go all out with Amy Winehouse’s Valerie, but then people started going in pairs and I bottled it and went with Amy Turner. We did Wonderwall but it was worth it because I don’t think I’d have been able to do it on my own.”
We finished fifth last season. How much desire is there among the team to go further than that this time?
JN: “Last season we set our values and ticked off a lot of boxes. We kept the values but looked at how to improve it and take it further. Our mission is always to do better than we did before. We’re going to take the steps we need to to see what we missed out on last season and try to implement it this season.”
We drew 1-1 at The Hive against Manchester United last season, which showed why you keep fighting until the last minute of games.
EB: “It’s something you were always known for last year - the fact that you can’t give up until the final whistle with this lot. You don’t know what’s going to happen, which was always a struggle to play against, so it’s lovely to be a part of now!”
How much do you think the appetite is growing for women’s football following the Euro 2022 success in England?
EB: “I think in the short amount of time since the Euros finished, it’s grown immensely. The fact that it’s grown that much in that time, give it a whole season and by the end of it we hope we’ll have grown it even more. We’d like to think that the more people that come, the more they’ll enjoy it and then we’ll get more at every single game.
“The thing that we’ve all stated is that the first game of the season is brilliant and the Emirates is amazing - you get big crowds at big stadiums, and that’s awesome for us because that’s what we want to do every single week, but we also want the crowds at Leyton Orient to support us down there. I know Tottenham have a great set of fans and hopefully we can fill out home stadiums and get as many people down as possible.”
JN: “And we want to play attractive football through the thirds with creation up top to encourage fans to come and watch good football. That’s the main thing for us.”
The game deserves to get that level of recognition, and you’re going to be in FIFA 23! Are you looking forward to seeing that?
EB: “Oooh, yes!"
JN: “Literally, I’ve grown up playing FIFA so it’s going to be good!”
EB: “Yeah, I think my brother and my partner will absolutely thrive off of it! I can’t say I’m a prolific gamer. If you made me play, I would get absolutely whooped, but it is very cool to be a part of. I just apologise to anyone who has me in their team!”
Jess, you’ve been here for a long time. You must have seen a lot of development in the sport and at Tottenham since then.
JN: “When I first joined Tottenham I was eight and it was literally grassroots. The size of the kit, I had to tuck it in because it was so long. We didn’t have a lot of things and I think the growth is crazy. We were training at 7 o’clock at night, finishing at nine, playing on a bumpy pitch, it’s come such a long way. The club is taking the right steps.”
Ellie, now you’ve been here for a few weeks, how impressed are you by the facilities at Hotspur Way?
EB: “I’m very fortunate to have been at clubs that have immense facilities for women. Brighton were excellent with that to be fair to them, but this is another level. The ground is absolutely insane and the fact that we utilise this and it’s now partly ours is lovely. Our little block segmented away from the rest is quite nice to have our own little area and our own pitch.
“The finer details of how amazing the groundsmen are - we actually have the pitch marked out for the same size as the Tottenham Hotspur men’s pitch for this weekend, so we’ve trained on the same size pitch, and that will be the same for Leyton Orient. They do the fine details here and it’s mad to think that not every pitch is exactly the same. They actually look into the finer details, it’s marginal gains and they’re little things but they minimise all excuses. We’ve got to go and do it now.”
Fiorentina must have been a nice area as well?
EB: “As a place to live, my goodness! I was blown away and I took my dad there and he was like ‘wow.’”
Lastly for you Jess, last season you made 21 appearances in all competitions and won the Women’s Young Player of the Year at the London Football Awards. From a personal point of view, as someone who grew up in Enfield cooking up goals, how happy are you with how things are going at Spurs?
JN: “Things are progressing well and it goes back to Rehanne believing in me. She helped with my rehab and individual development programme when she came in. I’m trying to grow as a player and progress off the pitch as well.”
Ellie, you mentioned to the media recently that your granddad is a diehard Spurs fan who will be at the stadium on Saturday. He must be taking a lot of pride in seeing his granddaughter running out onto the pitch!
EB: “Yeah, when my dad used to play football he used to be a number ten. When I got asked what number I wanted to be, for me it was just a number and it didn't matter at all, but I asked my granddad and my dad. My dad just said ‘whatever you want’. My granddad replied ‘ten’. His son was Brazil 10 and now I’m Brazil 10 in a Tottenham shirt.
“It will be a family moment and it will be lovely. He’s a proper diehard Spurs fan so don’t contact him if they ever lose. He’s not a happy bunny the next day! He’s very excited and it will be lovely to have him there.”