Slegers explains decisions after 4-3 defeat to Tottenham | OneFootball

A 3-4 defeat in the North London Derby pre-season friendly was a reminder that the season opener is in two weeks time and there is still work to be done

A caveat for any pre-season friendly is that results in isolation do not mean much. They need to be analysed with all preparation elements and objectives for that game in mind. This was the first pre-season match open to the public, following three closed-door games, with West Ham to come in midweek and possibly another fixture in a week’s time.

So what did Renée Slegers and Victoria Pelova tell us about preparation?

The forward, who played in the No 10 role yesterday but can also operate in the double pivot or on either wing, said: “I think we’re trying a bit new things. It’s the first time we have a long pre-season, mostly we have just one week because of the tournaments. So now we can try things a bit. Pre-season is just to get minutes and for everything to be good for the season.”

The manager explained: “There is such a wider context to pre-season games because there’s so many other things that we need to build and for that reason, players playing out of position, there’s new relationships, players have just come back from the Euros and started building, people that played their first minutes today. We have academy players that we want to see and they had minutes.”

Slegers was also asked about Stina Blackstenius, Frida Maanum and Daphne van Domselaar not being in the squad: “So there’s different reasons for all individual cases. Pre-season is about building all players in the right way and it doesn’t mean they’re not available or injured. It’s just different players we want to see and we manage the players in different ways, but they’ve all looked great since they come back.”

It is likely they will feature on Wednesday in a different starting XI and in different combinations. Several other players were also absent, including the injured Leah Williamson, Lia Wälti, Naomi Williams, Jessie Gale, Leila Harbert, Cecily Wellesley-Smith and Maddy Earl.

The starting XI was Borbe; Fox, Wubben-Moy, Catley, McCabe; Little, Caldentey, Pelova; Kelly, Russo, Mead.

Codina replaced Wubben-Moy at right centre-back, Smith came on for Kelly, and Hinds replaced McCabe at left-back at half-time. It was notable to see Hinds at full-back with Nighswonger coming in later on the left wing. At right-back, academy player Sophie Harwood impressed in her minutes. Reid was introduced in central midfield, and Foord came on up front. It was typical friendly load management, with players filling unfamiliar roles.

There were also issues on the refereeing side, such as the referee failing to apply the new eight-second rule. One incident was timed at 11 seconds, with another apparently longer, and a clear corner was not awarded. Law 12 was also ignored, with at least six yellow cards not shown. By failing to act, the referee allowed overly physical play to continue, putting player safety at risk. PGMOL should take responsibility and protect the players. It also allows teams to play anti-football and not being punished stops fluid football and play developing.