Presser points | Spurs vs West Ham (WLC) | Robert Vilahamn | OneFootball

Robert Vilahamn spoke to the media at Hotspur Way on Tuesday afternoon, ahead of our Women’s League Cup quarter-final tie against West Ham at Brisbane Road on Wednesday evening (7.30pm UK).

Here’s what he had to say…

Robert on the latest team news…

Robert: “Lize Kop is not available because she's not allowed to play for us in the cup. Olivia Holt is still not ready to play but she's back in full training now which is good. But, otherwise, I think we are quite good and strong there.”

On Eveliina Summanen’s recent injury…

Robert: “She picked up a hamstring injury. The main thing is that we have quite good cover in those positions. Drew is obviously playing in the 10 and can play in the pivot, Anna [Csiki] is a winger and a pivot so she can play in that role, but you also have Olga [Ahtinen] and Maite [Oroz]. So, for me, it's not a stressful situation in that way. We have really good players that can play in that position, but obviously Eveliina played many games in that position so we're going to miss her, however it's time for other players to get the chance in there.”

On the mood heading into the game…

Robert: “We have had good cup runs since I came to this Club, we had a quarter-final and a final last year. Now we are in the quarter-final in the League Cup again, so we have got the taste of reaching finals and we want to make sure we can try to compete for the trophy. It's a great game at home against West Ham to try to get closer to the final…we really want to reach the final. So, we’re going to start tomorrow by having a really good performance.”

On Lize Kop’s debut…

Robert: “It was a very decent performance, very calm with the ball at the feet, taking the right decisions, the way of protecting the balls that came around her and going out for crosses in the second half. I think that was a really decent performance by her, and the way she's playing is very much connected to how we want to play, so we have scouted her well and I think it's a good match. We saw that she started to build quite a good relationship together with the defence line, so I'm very pleased with the first game. It’s going to be better as well because she's going to grow into this team and get to know more about how we play so it's a really good signing by the Club.”

On Maite Oroz…

Robert: “When you look at her capacity and how she can dictate the game and basically never lose the ball, that's the players we need in a team. I think the biggest issue in this game against Leicester was that we technically lost the ball too easily in some phases of the game. But, if you look at Maite and her actions, she's very consistent in the way to keep the ball and she made sure to do that pass to Amanda, for example. She's getting stronger and stronger, adapting to this league, but you can already now see that she's a brilliant football player.”

Looking ahead to our opponents…

Robert: “I have a good record (against West Ham) but they’ve been really tough games. I think all of the games have been really competitive and a good fight, so I think it's going to be a similar way. We're not really there yet, where we shine for whole game, where we find the right decisions, we're still in a way trying to get to know each other a little bit more. If we have a good spell in the game and make sure we score more than one goal, we’re probably going to look like we looked against Crystal Palace in the first game. But normally, we still have dips in the game, which make it a little bit stressed and inconsistent. We’re still on the journey where we need to be more consistent and try to win with more than one goal. On the other hand, we’re winning games and we’re now also defending much better. So, the last five games, it's four wins and a draw, with so much better defensive work, I'm happy with where we are but I also think we’re now ready to look a little bit better on the ball and how we break down the opponent.”

On what team we could expect…

Robert: “As always, you bring the starting XI that you think has the best chance to win the game in the beginning and then you have substitutes on the bench that can come and finish the game as well. We're going to go strong and we're going to make sure we pick the team that we think is the best tomorrow…we’re not really going to think about the Crystal Palace game. After we have played the game against West Ham, we're going to deal with the squad and how we can act for the Crystal Palace game on Sunday. So, we’re going for a strong starting XI, with a strong bench, and then we're going to make sure we do everything we can to win the game.”

On the preparation for the cup game…

Robert: “It's the same (as league games). I mean, we played against them a few times, we played against them in a pre-season game this year and their manager was at Tottenham, so many players and coaching staff know about her as well. So we prepare exactly the same and we just make sure that we are really, really focused on going for the win. As you know, that’s the really fun part with the cup, it’s all or nothing.”

On building consistency…

Robert: “When you go into a game, no matter cup or league, you want to win that game by actually playing the way you want to play. But when it doesn't work, then you need to find a way to just win the game instead of just playing the way you want to. Sometimes in the league you can focus on the performance and actually risk losing the game. However, in a cup game, you can't do that because if you lose then you're out. We’re going to try to play our style, to try to make sure we win in our way but, if we aren’t able to do that tomorrow, then we need to find a way to win because that's what matters.”

On the prospect of penalties…

Robert: “We have routines where we have some kind of practice for players who we want to have that (take penalties), but sometimes some players don’t really want to have it. There’s a lot of good studies about what's making them more have a bigger chance to win, how you celebrate goals, how you act when you have the ball before you put it down so, of course, we try to be clever when it comes to these. But you watch shootouts from last season, Amy James-Turner chose to go up and score that goal, when she’d never taken a penalty in her life, it's always about the occasion and who's willing to be the hero.”