Renée on versatility, Kyra screamer and Brighton

Renée Slegers shared her main takeaways from our 5-1 pre-season win over Charlton Athletic, and discussed the importance of our players being able to play in multiple positions, with Smilla Holmberg being deployed at centre-back and Mariona Caldentey on the left wing.

“Of course, if you look at the amount of players that are playing for us on the pitch today, first half, second half, there's a lot of different partnerships, different connections,” she said. “Players playing in other positions, Smilla was playing in the centre-back position in the second half. I think super, really, really happy with the performance and what we did today. And of course also happy with the result.

“And I think happy with the result because it's hard to break things down. And you could see it was hard for us to find the openings in the first half. We made some small adjustments, could have scored more in the first half as well. But then we do it in the second half and it's five different players, it's different types of attacks. But a lot of shots from the edge, which we've been talking about when that opens up. And then you see the quality that we have in the squad.

“I'm really happy with the balance in the squad. We have two players in every position, plus we have versatility as well, so players can play in other positions as well when needed. Chloe Kelly was away with illness today, so we had three wide forwards in the squad for today. And we spoke about what are the options if this happens in season. And of course Mariona has done this for us before, so it was good for her to get 45 minutes in that position today.”

The jury is out on if we can include pre-season goals among our Goal of the Season nominees, but it would be a shame not to give Kyra Cooney-Cross her flowers for a stunning strike on Wednesday!

“Yes, it was a special moment,” Renée agreed. “That was magic. It was an unbelievable strike, and she's such a good technical football player. But yes, of course also a very special moment for her, so I'm really happy for Kyra.”

Finally, we asked the head coach what the next week and a half looks like, with the start of the WSL away to Brighton on the horizon.

“So, first recover now, and then we're going to train two days, and then the last pre-season game, and then we have a full week to prepare for Brighton,” she explained. “So, last details to work on, and get ourselves in the best position possible for Sunday the 6th.”