Rehanne's five-point preview - Reading
Spurs Women Head Coach Rehanne Skinner previews Sunday’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture against Reading at the Madejski Stadium (12.30 UK).
1- Results will come
Taking the positives from Brighton, we created plenty of chances without finding the goal that we deserved. What did our Head Coach take from the performance?
"I thought it was a positive performance. For the second week in a row, we’ve created chances and we’ve caused problems and we’ve hit the crossbar three times in the game. It was one of those days where we couldn’t get the ball over the line which is really unfortunate.
"That’s football and sometimes you have to take that. The biggest thing is we have the belief in the team and everything that we are doing and we have to keep believing that we will get the result from the performance. Ultimately, we know we need points."
2 - Mood in the camp
What could Rehanne tell us about the feelings of the players in training?
"The players are driving the standards in terms of what is expected from each individual and as a unit. The conversations we’ve had about the game and how that’s linking together and the communication they are having with each other is going from strength to strength.
"At the start that process was quite quiet and now each individual is contributing more which increases the buy-in with the group, that’s the area I’m trying to encourage and push forward."
3 - Team news
We have a number of players sidelined with injuries at the moment, when are we likely to see the likes of Hannah Godfrey, Rachel Williams, Becky Spencer and Ashleigh Neville back involved?
"The biggest thing for us is we have unfortunately been picking up injuries. We are exploring that and how the injuries evolve but we are in a positive place in terms of those players coming back. The players have taken really positive steps forward and it’s sooner rather than later for those players. We are really looking forward to having them back involved with the squad."
4 - Reading test
Our next opponents, Reading, suffered a setback on Monday evening against Bristol City. What type of test did Rehanne expect from them?
"Every game, everybody is prepared to fight for it. We all need points, and we all want to create some distance from the bottom of the table. For us, we are looking upwards and getting as close as we can to the top half of the table. That’s been our intent since the start and we are going to keep doing that."
5 - North London derby
We announced on International Women’s Day that our north London derby against Arsenal will be played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. How are Rehanne and the players feeling about that - and also the chance to play at Reading's Madejski Stadium this weekend?
“The players are really looking forward to the Arsenal game and it’s a great opportunity to play in our home stadium. It’s a shame that we don’t have our fans in, but they are coming back soon and that’s a real positive.
“For all the players, that’s the type of game that they really want to play in and we want to make sure that we do our best in those games. There is a real excitement around the opportunity for sure. Thinking about the younger players going into that sort of situation, it’s such an experience and as soon as we get fans back in it’s even more of a learning curve for them.
“The bigger those stadiums are, it’s different. The atmosphere is different because of the size and without fans will be a different, but being in those types of stadiums is something that you don’t get to do very often, so it’s a great chance for the younger players to relish that opportunity.”