Slegers on her belief in Arsenal and ‘special’ Kim Little after Champions League win | OneFootball

Renee Slegers insists that she has full belief in her Arsenal squad after they have come back into form after a tough start to the season.

At the start of the campaign Arsenal only won two of their first matches in all competitions and lost two of their opening three Champions League matches.

However, more recently Slegers’ side have recorded big wins over Chelsea and Manchester City in the Women’s Super League and won the first-leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie against OH Leuven 4-0 away from home.

Slegers was full of praise and belief for her squad after the match.

“I believe in this squad,” she explained. “I believe in the players and I think what we’re doing at the moment is that high buy-in, there’s a shared purpose that we have.

“We’re going after the same thing. Everyone has their individual purpose. You’re playing your role for the team and that’s really strong at the moment. I think we have a lot of clarity on how we want to play our football.

“So even if we make changes, for me, if you look at tonight, I don’t think you notice it as much. Of course, you have different players with different qualities, but the structure and the foundation is always there. So we’re in a really good place from a technical perspective as well as a team.”

Kim Little made her 400th Arsenal appearance during the win and Slegers was quick to praise the midfielder.

“It’s a pleasure working with her and it’s a pleasure for me to work with the whole group. We’re working together in a really good way between staff and players. But yeah, Kim is special.

“She’s the type of leader that role models all the right behaviour and sets the standards, takes care of herself so well, prepares so well. I think I’ve said it many times before everything she does is 100% and she’s so humble and that’s a big part of who we are right now.

“And I think that humility you could see in our performance today and how we defended and how we stop transitions. And Kim’s a big part of it because that’s a big part of her personality. I had the opportunity to get to know the players in a different role and actually, I don’t think I worked so much with Kim back then.”