Every word of Renée’s pre-Brighton press conference

Renée Slegers was back in front of the media at the Sobha Realty Training Centre for her first pre-match press conference of the season.

Our head coach looked ahead to Sunday's trip to Crawley, where we'll face Brighton & Hove Albion to kick off the Women's Super League campaign.

Here's everything she had to say on the following subjects...

on if she’s excited about the new season: Yes, I’m very excited.

on what excites her most about it: The quality of players in the league, the quality of coaches, it’s all very exciting. But I mainly look at what we have, what we’re doing and what we’ve done in the last six weeks - and the desire, quality and alignment we’ve created within our squad. That’s what I’m really excited to see, that’s all good, all nice and that’s a great foundation, but now let’s go and play competitive games.

on if the WSL is the one thing we desperately want to win: Yes, I think we’ve been open with it, it’s something we’re going after - and of course we are, because we’re Arsenal. That’s something we should definitely have as a goal - definitely the WSL, as I think 2018/19 was the last time for Arsenal. There’s a real hunger - of course, there are other competitions - the draw for the Champions League was today as well, and there’s the FA Cup. Those competitions are very important for us as well, but the WSL is something because of the two teams coming in, and there are more games, and it’s symbolic for endurance and consistency. It’s something we really have our mind set on.

on if it’s a problem to ask players to play more games: I think everything has to happen at a good tempo and everything has to grow at the same time, simultaneously. If we look at it, making big steps is never good - that’s always a risk. If you spike and load upwards or downwards, both are risks, so I think those steps need to be taken with a good rhythm. But also, we have such a big squad now, so we have opportunities to share minutes across the squad.

on the Champions League draw: I look forward to it - a draw is a draw, it’s not in our control. I’ve just seen it because we trained today and had a couple of meetings. I’ve seen the six teams we’re going to play against - let’s get it in the schedule and see where it all lands. We’re looking forward to playing these teams.

on the latest team news: So our rehab players at the moment are Daphne van Domselaar, Katie Reid and Michelle Agyemang. And everyone else is fit to play.

on what qualities Élisa de Almeida will bring to the squad: I think she's competed at the highest level. She's been at PSG for five years now. She brings experience. She's good on the ball, which you have to be at Arsenal. She has a good athletic profile as well. So if you look at how our games usually play out, it's fast attacks and counterattacks that you have to manage really, really well. And she has the speed and the mobility to do that. So there's a couple of things within her profile that fit really well with the way we play.

on recruiting players within the 26-28 age category: Yeah, I think the work that's been going on in the background for a long time between Claire, Jodie, Kevin and the recruitment department, it's been so strong. So we've been planning for this window for a long time. And of course, age is part of what we look at as one of the factors. So really happy that we get players in their prime ages where we see they're at their prime, but there's more to come from these players. But also the younger ones that we were so happy we got them on board. They chose us. They want to be part of Arsenal as well. If you look at Isabella and Lisa, they're young, but they're so mature for their age. And I'm really, really impressed with where they are and the courage that they've shown, the humility that they've shown as well. So yeah, age plays a role in the decisions we make. And I think with all these coming in, I'm so happy with the strategy behind it.

on the quality of players from the Bundesliga: Yes, I think there's good players in the Bundesliga. So of course, we keep an eye on all leagues across the world. I think it is transitional. So automatically, I think there's forward intent with these players. There's an athletic profile that we like with these players too. And it's always hard to generalise, but when we look at players coming in, are they the right characters for the group and what we need? I definitely think with those players, they have what we want and need. Resilience, winning mindset, and just getting to work. Give me a task and I'm going to do it and I'm going to do it the best I can. So that's definitely things that they've brought. So yeah, again, I'm really happy with those players that they came to Arsenal.

on if it’s too early for De Almeida to be in Sunday’s squad: Yeah, it will probably be too early. She played 120 minutes against Frankfurt. She was here yesterday, first day yesterday. Her visa had to come through still. So still recovery day, no training day for her today. So there will be one session to then go in. So it's probably a little bit too early. We really want to get it right with her and next week will be a full training week for her.

on what we learned from last season’s games against Brighton: Yeah, they're a stubborn team. I think they're a good team. They know when to press and press aggressively and make spaces small quickly. But they also know how to be patient and make it really compact in front of their goal. So it's been hard games for us. We acknowledge that. We won the game at the Emirates, but the other two weren't the results we wanted. So yeah, we look forward to the challenge and we know that there's things that they will make hard for us. And of course, there's a big belief in what we're doing at the moment, the quality that we possess and the different tools that we have to use on Sunday. So I really look forward to the game.

on if they’re unpredictable after changing managers: Well, I think Dario has done a fantastic job with the team. So I wish him all the best. From what I understand, there's a couple of days that the new coach has spent with the team. I think what's been a trait of Brighton anyway is that they are unpredictable. Dario always had ideas against us, so we tried to prepare for things, but he would do something different anyway. So that's something we have to be really good at on Sunday as well, that we have to plan for certain scenarios, but also know that there might be things happening on the pitch that we haven't prepared for. And then we have principles that we can lean back on and we can problem-solve in the moment. But, yes, that's something that's been typical for our games against Brighton anyway.

on seeing Lia Walti again this weekend: Oh, yes. I look forward to it. She... I had the time with her here at Arsenal and it was great working with her. I was mostly in the individual development role and I think we had some great collaboration. She's bright when it comes to football, when it comes to life, and I think it's really good that she's back in England and people can see her play in England again. So I look forward to seeing her, yeah.

on if teams have to be less nice to win the WSL: Let's have a cup of coffee! No, it's interesting, because we are proud of the way we want to do things and that's our way. But finding ways and getting things over the line, for example, Crawley on Sunday, how are we going to get that over the line? And it doesn't always have to be perfect and exactly the way we thought it was going to be. But I think we've been in that with the group for a while now. This is the third year, I think, since we've been talking about that and I see growth from that perspective. And there's big buy-in towards that as well and understanding and a lot of learnings that we've gone through as a group together as well. So we do want to find ways and I think we will find ways this season as well in different scenarios.

on if we’ve got the players to turn draws into wins: Yeah, absolutely. The quality of players that we have here now and the variety. There's so many things that we can bring to a game now. It's so good. I'm so happy with it. So when I talk about Brighton and unpredictability, we want to be unpredictable as well with what we do, what the game plan is and what personnel we have on the pitch. So I do think we have the tools this year.

on if we’ve spoken about our previous slow starts in the WSL: Yeah, we've spoken about it with the staff, the captains, the player group and everyone is aware of it. And then from there on, it's important that we are in the moment, that we do everything we can in the moment towards our season ambition. But also think, start with the undermined. So what do we want to achieve? And that's what we're working towards and we know the hurdles we had last year. So there's strong awareness and I think that the schedule that we have is good. It's good for us, yeah.

on the value of getting lots of transfer business done early in the window: Really good. I think, like I said, we were very strategic about it. That's why we could do things early. And I think how it all fell together and what the squad looks like, it's really, really good. So it's really positive. I'm happy about it. And I think we've made late decisions, we've made early decisions and we knew how that was going to all come together. To have the full player group, that's why it was important for us this window, there was no tournament, so we had a full pre-season with the group. To then have those things ready early so we can start with the full group, apart from Elisa who came in yesterday, it's given us a really good foundation because there was a couple of things we were going after and to do that all together and the investment that everyone has shown in that process, it's been really good for us.

on if this is the strongest squad she’s had at Arsenal: Yeah, I would say so.

on how to prioritise competitions during a difficult schedule: Of course we look at the schedule and we see how is this, how we're going to prepare everyone and everything for what's coming ahead of us. Part of it is of course what we've done in the window, that we have so many good players that can play for us when the short turnarounds come and when we see necessary. Of course we prepare for the opposition that we're going to face. There's a lot of preparation, we have our ideas, but then it's still when the moments are there, we have to see how everything is playing out in the moment. So there's still a lot of, of course, late decision making in those short turnarounds as well.

on if she’s ever played against the new Brighton manager: No, I don't know him yet. I look forward to meeting him and it's interesting to get new ideas to the league as well. Everything I heard is really positive. I spoke to a couple of the Spanish players, so I welcome him to the English league.