“We always feel pressure, for as long as I’ve been here” – Renée Slegers ahead of London City Lionesses clash | OneFootball

Renée Slegers spoke ahead of their season opener against London City Lionesses on Saturday at Emirates Stadium 13:30 GMT [14:30 CET], with everyone in the squad fit to start, apart from Leah Williamson.

On Arsenal’s new signing, Olivia Smith, Slegers said, “Of course, we’re very proud of the way we play our football and it’s very important to us. Also, it needs to be very purposeful, and it needs to lead to the wins, that’s why we play and that’s the case when you represent Arsenal. What we think is that Olivia can add to that. She can add new layers to our game. She’s very talented.”

“There’s so much potential and she’s shown a lot of that last season in the WSL, which is very impressive, coming to the WSL and performing like that because it’s one of the hardest leagues in the world, in Europe. We see all the potential and she’s going to add something new to us. We’re so very proud that she’s with us now.”

The goal, this season, is to do everything possible to win the league. “There’s zero guarantee because I think what we achieved at the end of last season, there was so much work put into it. If you look back at the season we had, there were so many challenges that we had to overcome on the way. A lot of things weren’t perfect. Then you end up at the end of the season winning the Champions League. That also brings us a lot of clarity. You will go through different phases in a season. Not everything has to go and be perfect but you have every single day ahead of you to be able to make the best out of it and things are possible. What we learned is that we have a belief in what we do. What we also learned is that we need to be very humble. We just need to understand that what we do, what we put in every single day can lead to something. Still, there are no guarantees but we’ll do everything we can.”

On Lia Wälti’s departure, the Arsenal boss only had good things to say, “When I came to Arsenal, in my role as an individual development coach, she was one of the first players I got really close with because she invests a lot in her own game and in her own development. She started to send me messages and clips and wanted to review things. We very quickly built a strong relationship. I think that says everything about Wally. How she wants to take ownership of things and how self-reflective she is. She cares for everyone and everything. That’s a big, big strength and that’s of course a loss for the team. In a lot of things she could see the small details and she wants to see every single person and that’s a big strength of Wally. If you look at leadership and players, I think everyone carries leadership. If you look at the squad, that’s what she was bringing us off the pitch and that was really strong. That will be a loss for us but there are a lot of other personalities and strengths in the team as well who will pick that up. She was an incredibly valuable member of the squad.”

Arsenal are the current Champions League title holders, but the pressure they feel because of it, isn’t all that new. “We always feel pressure, for as long as I’ve been here. When we play our games, the opposition want to go out and try and beat us. That’s always there and it will be this year as well. In that sense, nothing changes for us but we have to be very, very aware and that’s part of how we approach our games and our season, that we have to be very consistent with everything we do and that’s within our control.”

In their opening game of the season, Arsenal play new WSL side, London City Lionesses – a team that makes its debut in the league and a side that has never played together in the set up they have now. “That’s the unknown. Of course, we know what their ideas are and it’s going to have to play out tomorrow.I think we’re very prepared for what they will try to do tomorrow and we are very humble about the game. Hopefully, and I agree with their coach as well, we want it to be joyful because we want to deliver a good product for everyone. That’s what we try to achieve together, but of course, we go out there and try to play our game the Arsenal way and make that lead to wins as well.”