Presser Points | Aston Villa vs Spurs (WSL) | Robert Vilahamn | OneFootball

Robert Vilahamn faced the media at Hotspur Way on Thursday afternoon ahead of our Barclays Women’s Super League clash against Aston Villa at Villa Park on Sunday afternoon (4.30pm UK).

Here’s what he had to say…

On the start to the season

First up, Robert was asked about the importance of winning the opening game of the season to build to chemistry and mood in the squad.

Robert: “It’s a good environment now when we win games and people are performing well, but I mean, we are quite humble with where we are and make sure we try to keep it even if we lose. Of course, you always have a little bit extra when you win the first game, especially when we play some good football and scored nice goals, so really nice to win the first game. We had a good pre-season and you really want to have that first win after that, and we got it with a good performance.”

On attacking display against Palace

Robert was then asked about having four different goal scorers in the 4-0 win over Crystal Palace last weekend…

Robert: “Sometimes you want to have one goal scorer who scored three goals and build that self-confidence, but I think if you spread it out and you create chances like we did, I'm very happy with that. The main thing was that we created so many chances, I mean we missed a few as well, but last season we perhaps didn't create so many chances when we were playing at Brisbane Road and this time we created them in different ways as well, that's what I'm looking at, and I feel like if we can create those chances every game then we are going to score even more goals. I'm very pleased with our attacking football.”

Aston Villa

Our trip to Villa Park on Sunday is our first away game of the 2024/25 campaign and Robert was asked about competing with Aston Villa this season…

Robert: “This season, they’ve invested a lot in the new coach and everything and, I think, they had a good performance against Chelsea even if they lost. They are one of those teams we're going to compete against and make sure we try to finish higher in the table and I feel like it's going to be tricky for us. Their home stadium is a big stadium and it's going to be a tough game, but we also come with really good self-confidence, so I think we have a good chance to do a good game.

“They have some really good players on the bench, they did a few changes at half time and a few changes tactically as well, which showed that they have different players that they can use in different positions. They obviously have a coach that can handle flexibility in the tactics and they got some good chances in the end as well, so I think they competed with Chelsea for the whole game. It’s going to be a very tough game, but we also showed that we are a good team, I feel like it's going to be a very interesting game and hopefully we can find a way to win.”

On keeping the squad grounded

It was put to Robert, ‘how do you keep the players grounded ahead of the second game after such a high opening fixture?’

Robert: “It’s quite interesting to see the squad because they are happy that we won, but the feedback and when we go through the games, they're not happy in that room. They are quite critical on what we can improve and how are we going to improve it, and for some of the players who didn't start this game, they have really showed in training that they want to play more. So, even if we are happy, we're not really just sitting there laughing all the time, we’re trying to see how we can be even better because we also know that some games will be really tricky and we're going to lose games as well.

“We’re very much focusing on how to improve instead of just being happy that we won, and if we lose game, we're going to try to do the same even if the emotions kind of take over as well. The main thing is players like Drew Spence, for example, they are just winners, they want to improve small details in the game, so when you ask her questions, she’s not happy. She just wants to show details on how we can improve in the press and how we're going to build up and so on. We try to make sure we have that culture because that's the way to bridge the gap and actually go for that for the win in the future.”

Maite Oroz

The Spain international started in her first game in our colours last weekend against Crystal Palace and Robert was asked about the midfielder’s immediate impact…

Robert: “The funny part with Maite, in her first training session, she just connected with everybody. From her first minute on the pitch, she has just been brilliant, and you can tell that all the players love to play with her because she gets them, she can get the ball to them and she never loses the ball and so good at reading the game. For me, I just love those players and especially how she can be so consistently good on the ball and play the ball forward. Then you see in the last game, the magic with her and Drew [Spence] was also very intelligent, it gives us so many different types of attacks. I'm extremely impressed by Maite, she’s on another level.”