Renee Slegers was pleased to see an element of continuity in our 2-0 win over West Ham United on Wednesday night, despite a plethora of changes at half-time.
Our head coach made seven substitutions at the break, but wanted those coming into the fray to make an impact while remaining true to our identity.
That’s the reaction she got, with a Frida Maanum double helping us to end pre-season in winning ways.
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“It’s pre-season, so we’re trying different things, different players in different positions, different constellations,” she explained. “A big factor is still to get the right minutes and in the right players, to make as many players as possible ready for the first competitive game.
“So from that perspective, I’m really happy with pre-season so far, to get as many players as possible ready. And of course, it’s always nice to keep a clean sheet and score goals.
“What we wanted in the second half was not too much change. So what we spoke about in half-time was, even though we made a lot of changes, we still wanted to be us and make sure we communicate and connect well on the pitch, so we just kept playing our game.
“I think they did that really well in the second half, so I’m really happy with that.”
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With around 20 minutes to go, we piled on the pressure and, in the acendancy, it felt as though it was only a matter of time before the goals came in front of a raucous North Bank at Borehamwood.
“It’s always nice, I think, for the players to play towards that end, even more special to score the goals there,” Renee said. “So it was good to see we’ve missed this, scoring goals and celebrating with the fans. I’m just happy with a lot of things and it’s just part of pre-season.
“The opposition asked us different questions and Tottenham [on Saturday] did something in the press, which was another puzzle to solve from what West Ham did tonight. And that’s good, that’s what we want. We want different challenges.
“I think across pre-season so far, we’ve played against different things and that’s a decision we’ve made to prepare as well as possible for the different things that we’re going to face in the season.
“I’m happy with the different tests that we have been facing, how the group wants to build every single day, wants to get better every day and we’re one step closer now to competitive games.”
Lastly, Renee looked ahead to Saturday, September 6, when we host London City Lionesses at the beginning of the 2025/26 Barclays Women’s Super League season.
“It’s very special and pre-season is great because you can build something and you build up a feeling towards something as well and that’s getting closer now,” she said. “So I think we’re all looking forward to it now.”
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