Every word of Renée’s pre-Manchester United press conference

Renée Slegers was back in front of the media for her pre-Manchester United press conference at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Thursday.

Our head coach shared the latest team news, looked ahead to our Emirates Stadium return and discussed the weekend’s opposition.

Here’s everything she had to say on the following subjects…

on how we’ve tried to become more clinical in training this week: The best thing is always to get back onto the grass and execute. I think psychologically that's good as well for everyone to be able to action things. So we've looked at some things. Of course, we were happy with our dominance in the game and our entries in the final third, entries in the box, amount of shots, but we've also been looking at how we can create even bigger opportunities for ourselves when the spaces are really tight and there's a lot of bodies in the box. So what are the moments in the game and how do we create spaces? We've applied some ideas, we've reviewed together with the players, we've been on the training page and the players' reaction has been really, really good. They've been working hard in training.

on if having to leave senior players out of the squad is a good problem to have: We have everyone in a great position. We have good fitness and we have a lot of quality and we think over time it's going to benefit us. We're also now going into short turnarounds with midweek Champions League games so we're going to need everyone as ready and as fresh as possible. We definitely think that on the long run, long term, this is really good for us.

on if Cerci or Reuteler could feature this weekend: They could. We have one more session left and then we're going to go through player readiness, different scenarios in the game, different qualities that we anticipate we need. Of course there's always a medical handover as well. They've come in and they're great players, both of them. They both have had disrupted pre-seasons, have been away from the team a couple of weeks and we just felt like it needed a little bit more time to get settled. But it's looking really good so far this week, they've been training really well.

on Reid, Van Domselaar and Agyemang and if there are any more injuries: We have one more injury picked up this week and that's Elisa de Almeida, so she won't be available.

on if United will come into this match with even more determination after their big defeat to Chelsea: Of course, I can imagine they're not happy with the start of their season. They're going to come to the Emirates. Let's see what their plan is, how they're going to attack this game. I think what's important for us is that we have the focus on ourselves because we come away from Brighton, which was a good win in an away game at Crawley, but then of course we weren't satisfied and we were frustrated with the game against Palace at Emirates. So we are looking to do things better for ourselves. So there's a big focus on ourselves, but of course always respecting the opposition.

on if this game will be more open than last season’s 0-0 draws with United: I think they have a robust defending organisation. Normally that's what we've been facing when we've played against them. With the changes they've made, they've shown some different things. At the same time, I'm not sure how they're going to approach this game against us, what their focus will be in the game. But we'll know it will be a very competitive game against United on Saturday.

on how difficult it is for a new manager to come in and implement their ideas quickly: She [Eva Olid]'s obviously coming late in pre-season. If I look at the pre-season that we've had, we've had a lot of change in the squad. But how long it takes to make everyone aware of the game model, and how you connect with your teammates and how you really deeply understand each other almost without looking, that takes time. I understand the challenge that she has. As a coach, it's a decision to make. Are you going to go and change things straight away or are you going to have another approach where you progressively, over time, look to change things? That's probably the balance for her. I don't know what her philosophy is. I can imagine it's a challenge. Let's see what they do on Saturday against us.

on the opportunity to go 20 matches unbeaten in the WSL: It’s of course mixed emotions when I hear that stance, it’s very positive that we’re hard to beat and that’s what we feel about ourselves, but also with some recency bias as well of the last game against Crystal Palace where we weren’t able to score that goal, and didn’t get the win. It’s double, of course we’re proud, but at the same time there are some draws in there like the last one against Palace. When I put that with some of the draws we had last year, it’s different for me, if I look at the dominance in the game and expected chances and goals, amount of shots, it’s much higher than what we had last year and we’re on top of things. So it is different, but it’s a draw again.

on having to focus on finding the back of the net rather than creating more chances: I think there’s always a preparation and psychological challenge, because if you’re in a good place, or you’ve won your last game and been successful, you then have to get everyone ready psychologically for the next challenge. You have to get everyone grounded, and in the moment, and that’s no different now. But what’s really important for us is we know we can finish, score goals, we know we have a lot of goalscorers in the squad with a lot of quality, so it’s really important the players know that and they feel our trust with that of course. It’s also about the tactical plan, tweaking small things, and hopefully that makes it easier to create more clear-cut chances.

on if Baum is ready to play 90 minutes in the WSL: Of course, she’ll be able to play 90 minutes, if we look at the wide forward position in the way we play, it’s one of the most demanding positions where there’s a lot of sprinting and high-speed running involved. We have a squad with different qualities, so we can make changes based on different tactical, technical or physical reasons. But she started against Brighton and played around 60 minutes, 75 against Crystal Palace, she’s in a great place, can still improve her repeatability, but she was a really good player for us on the pitch against Crystal Palace.

on if we talk about statistics much with the squad: No, I get the stats now ahead of the press conference - I wasn’t aware of [the unbeaten run] and I don’t think the squad was aware of it. For us, what’s most important is the next game against United and we want to win that game. That’s what we’re focusing on. It’s nice to see in the background, but for us it has no meaning in the moment.

on how to decide between players who make the squad and those who don’t: There’s a lot of different things going into those decisions. One of them is purely physical readiness, it’s readiness from a game model perspective, different scenarios we go through ahead of the game, how we want to start the game and see it play it, how it leads to different scenarios and how we want to finish. So there’s a lot that goes into it, what player qualities we think we need - there are such fine margins going into it at the moment as we have such a great squad and everyone performing at a high level, so those decisions are really difficult. Hindsight is always a beautiful thing, but we try to make high-quality decisions based on as much information as we can, both objectively and subjectively. But it’s difficult, it’s really hard, the hardest part of my job at the moment, and like I said, the squad is capped at 20 - there are bigger squads in the Champions League and a short turnaround, so we’ll need everyone.

on how Reuteler and Cerci have responded to being left out of the squad: They understand the context. Of course they want to represent Arsenal, pull on the shirt and connect with supporters in competitive games, and they will. What we’ve been talking about is the patience and importance of everyone in the squad. It’s a marathon, a long season, and we’re going to need everyone. They’ve been amazing in their response, they are team players, focused on the team, and they’ve been there for the team in the dressing room, around us. So they’ve been real team players, putting themselves aside and being there for the team, which I have so much respect for.

on if there’s a timeline for Van Domselaar’s return: At the moment, it's hard to tell. October is in our minds somewhere, but we still have to look at how the new response is. Day by day, there is a plan in place, but that plan has been changed several times now. October will be great, but let's see where it goes. Daphne is working really hard in the background with the medical team.

on why the WSL is now the most competitive it’s ever been: Because I think the top teams are of course getting better and better, but everyone else underneath as well, and it's going so explosively. If you look at what clubs are investing, quality of spots, players that are coming to the league, it's really high quality. It's only round two, we're going into round three, so I think it's way too early to draw conclusions yet, but it's highly competitive. We've seen that, we felt that last weekend as well.

on not being able to predict what’s going to happen: If it's not fun, but it's easy, there’s no challenge when things are easy. I love it, of course it's challenging, because every single game, everything needs to be top. But like I said, we have a great squad, great staff, everything in a really good place to be able to do that. So no, with the challenge, it comes with some stress, I must admit, but I take joy out of challenges, mostly.

on if criticism of United has been unfair: I'm always in favour of kindness in the world, so that would be the starting point. But I also understand the passion of the game and the passion of the supporters. So with that mixture in mind, I do understand that fans want the absolute best for their team. But I think if I look at that situation, the coach has had so little time with the team. So I understand, of course, from a fan perspective, disappointment of results, but I think there's been so little time for them together.

on what’s slightly different about United now: You can see on the ball that they do some things differently, which poses different questions to us from a defending perspective. And then the same thing on the other side of the ball, that we think that maybe spaces are a little bit different and behaviours of players on the pitch are a little bit different than what they were before. We see the differences, but I still also see the squad that they have and the players that they have and the foundation that they have. So there will be some sort of hybrid Man United as we knew it and what they are becoming that we expect to face on Saturday.

on how much these tough games against United, Chelsea and Man City will shape the course of our season: More games and you're going to play every team twice, once at home and once away. And we have now this first block of the season. We're playing those three opponents all in a row, which, like I just said, I love the challenge. And I think it's good for us that we play those teams early on. We want to take the challenge. We're excited about the challenge. So, no, I look forward to it. Of course, there's a busy schedule coming up for us with the Champions League games in between as well. But I look forward to it. But at the same time, Saturday, United.