Spurs' Robert Vilahamn: 'WSL winter break is too long' | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Robert Vilahamn calls for a shorter winter break in the Women's Super League (WSL) to help players keep "momentum".

The 2024/25 campaign returned at the weekend after a five-week break and Spurs celebrated with a 1-0 victory over Leicester City at Brisbane Road.

However, after the game Vilahamn described his club's performance as "rusty". Speaking to media today he blamed the length of the winter break, branding it "too long".

"We should have had a friendly game against Charlton [before the season resumed] but that was cancelled because of the weather," he said. "Our [FA Cup] fixture against Everton was also cancelled. We had some really tough days with the temperature and the pitches were not safe to play on.

"I think the break for five weeks is too long. I think if you want to have a momentum in this league, with the fans and media then we need to have a little bit of a shorter break to make sure we stay in the momentum."

Vilahamn went on to express that he thought a lot of the performances from the first fixtures across the league since Christmas were "rusty".

"I think a lot of teams actually didn't have the perfect first half, and then in the second half a few teams were really good," he said. "Obviously, Chelsea were really good.

"What I mean by rusty is that you need to make sure you play with pressure and each other on the pitch against an opponent that you don't really know about and that takes time.

"You need a few goes before you do that. In a normal pre-season you have three, four or five games before you go into the first game. We didn't have many games and you can tell that the players didn't really know how to deal with the pressure, the emotions and the relationships. The second half was not brilliant football.

"It was not good decision making. We played and we tried. I'm pleased that we tried, but the quality was not there. That's not because they don't have the quality, it was just because of the rustiness."

Tottenham are getting ready to play West Ham United at Brisbane Road on Wednesday, in the quarter-final of the League Cup.