“We want to be unpredictable” – Ruiz on London City | OneFootball

Anne Butzelaar, Women's Football Editor

Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Arturo Ruiz has stressed the importance of adaptability and squad depth as his side prepare for Saturday’s Women’s Super League meeting with London City Lionesses.

Brighton head into the fixture following a 4-0 midweek cup win over Charlton Athletic, which gave Ruiz another opportunity to assess his squad during what he has described as an “internal pre-season”.

Olaug Tvedten was among those to take her opportunity, scoring twice and earning praise from her head coach.

“I’m really happy,” Ruiz said. “She was one of the main characters yesterday. It was her first official goal here at the club, and I think that is really positive for her because she is working very well. We all know how competitive we are in midfield because we have a strong team there, and performances like yesterday make us grow.”

The fixture also allowed Brighton to distribute minutes across the squad, something Ruiz believes will become increasingly important as the schedule intensifies.

“Games are the key,” he explained. “Yesterday’s performance was really useful for giving us confidence, for making our game plan and game style more solid, and I think it’s going to help us a lot in the future.”

Having only recently taken charge, Ruiz has welcomed Brighton’s busy schedule rather than viewing it as an obstacle to implementing his ideas.

“The more games that we play at the beginning, the better for us,” he said. “Some days ago, I said, ‘We are in our internal pre-season.’ We are not in an official pre-season, but it’s our pre-season as well. These first weeks, these first months, are going to be the base of our future, and we just need to keep building and enjoying.”

The increased number of fixtures represents a challenge, but Ruiz believes Brighton’s squad depth will help them manage it.

“It’s a big challenge, absolutely, but I always see challenges from a positive perspective because it gives a lot of minutes to the players,” he said. “We have a big squad, so it’s going to be really good for giving minutes to everyone. We manage the physical load, the tactical load and the game plans. Our day-to-day needs to be more professional and more demanding, and currently it’s going very well.”

Saturday presents another sizeable challenge.

London City have invested heavily and added several internationally established players, including former Barcelona pair Alexia Putellas and Mapi León.

Ruiz has previous experience of facing both.

His Real Sociedad side were the only team to defeat Barcelona in the league last season, producing a disciplined performance against a side containing Putellas, León and several of the world’s leading players.

Reflecting on that result, Ruiz said: “It was a really good experience. The game plan went really well.

“I always say that to beat Barcelona, it’s very important that they don’t have their day. But everything that we had under our control, we did really well. We’ve played really solid games with these kinds of ideas, and playing against these kinds of individual players is always challenging.”

That experience may provide useful knowledge ahead of facing Putellas and León again, although Ruiz stressed that Saturday presents a very different tactical problem.

“They are in another team, I’m in another team with other characteristics, and we need to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of both teams,” he explained. “While it’s true that we have a past facing each other, this league, the teammates and the ideas are completely different. There are new challenges, new ideas, new people, a new country and a new league. So it’s going to be very different.”

Ruiz is under no illusions about the difficulty of the fixture.

“For me, all the games are big,” he said. “We all know that London City have invested a lot, they have great players and they are starting very well with a good coach, Eder Maestre. Hopefully we can get the three points with our ideas, with our identity, and make our team grow and become more solid every single game.”

Ruiz also knows Maestre personally and praised the work his compatriot has done since arriving in England.

“I have a really good relationship with him,” Ruiz said. “He’s doing an incredible job. I’m happy that Spanish coaches are here and we have the challenge in the best league in the world.

“On Saturday evening, you have a Spanish derby in the English league, so it’s going to be really fun.”

Ruiz is one of four Spanish coaches currently working in the WSL and believes Spain’s coaching education system has contributed to their growing presence abroad.

“I think that the Spanish Royal Federation and the whole education system of football has been very good in our country,” he said. “It’s pretty obvious that we are very well valued abroad. I’m really happy that the four of us are here and can show a little bit of our country and our knowledge.”

However, he rejected the idea that Spanish coaches should automatically be associated with one particular style.

“In the academies in Spain, pretty much all of them are very combinative, like tiki-taka, keeping the ball and progressing through combinations,” Ruiz explained. “But you can also face teams that play very directly, or defend as a block ready to transition.

“Not all English, Danish, German or Spanish coaches play in one way.

“It’s about the context you are living in, because the players and the idiosyncrasies of the club are really important for developing your ideas.”

That adaptability could prove particularly relevant against London City.

Asked whether Brighton could exploit the high defensive line exposed during London City’s game against West Ham, Ruiz was reluctant to reveal his tactical approach.

“We need to adapt to all the moments of the game,” he said. “We want to be unpredictable. After the game, I won’t have a problem sharing information, but now I prefer not to because it would be an advantage for our rival. We will try to do our best according to our game plan while respecting 100 percent our identity.”

Competition also remains strong at centre-forward, where Madison Haley and Emily Murphy are both options.

“They are two very good strikers, so they need to compete with each other for the position,” Ruiz said. “Both of them are very different, and we just need to keep working with them. All of the players are going to give us a lot.”

Brighton will, however, be without Charli Rule and Moeka Minami, with Ruiz confirming both remain injured and unavailable for Saturday.

The Brighton boss has nevertheless been encouraged by his opening weeks in England and described the WSL as physically demanding, tactically varied and unpredictable.

“Physically, the league is huge, technically as well,” he said. “There are a lot of tactical resources during the game and before the game. I think it’s a league that is quite unpredictable, and that makes it very rich. The level of professionalism, the media, marketing and the amount of people that go to the games is key. It’s a pleasure being here in this country, enjoying our sport.”

Brighton now turn their attention to London City, with Saturday providing another test of how quickly Ruiz’s developing side are absorbing his ideas.