Every word from Rehanne’s pre-Everton press conference

Ahead of this weekend’s game against Everton at Brisbane Road in the Women’s Super League on Sunday (2pm KO), Head Coach Rehanne Skinner sat down at Hotspur Way for her pre-match press conference.

Here's what she had to say on the following subjects...

Team news

“The team’s looking really positive from the weekend. We had a couple of knocks within the game but nothing that created any problems, so positive going forward into this weekend.”

Confidence in the team

“It’s been evolving. The team’s been developing every single game and I think this was one aspect of our performances that we really wanted and needed. There are other parts of the game that have been developing week in, week out, to be honest. When you put it all together and you press well and you take chances and finish them, then obviously it puts you in a really positive place and confidence is high. You have all of those elements that we’ve been working towards consistently. 

“It’s been great this week in training. We’re ready to get stuck into the next game and we just want to keep building on those performances really.”

Everton

“We played them pre-season and they’ve evolved a little bit since then. Whenever you get a new manager it takes time doesn’t it to settle things down a little bit? They’ve got positive attacking threats, an experienced backline and I think across the board it’s a challenging game in terms of shape. 

“We’ve got to play really effectively and keep doing what we do but just manage the things that we know they’ll try to hurt us with. We’ve got to try to build on what we did at the weekend to keep making everybody’s life difficult really, so that’s what we’ll be trying to do.”

Ashleigh Neville’s form

“You can see what she brings to the team and we see it week in, week out. She’s a phenomenal person and it’s a testament to the type of person she is when she puts a Tweet out like she did yesterday in association to the England squad. She’s a really loyal person, really dedicated to the team and the players and staff. She’s focused on doing what she needs to do in a Club environment week in, week out, and whatever evolves from that evolves from that. 

“She’s really grateful for all of the support that fans are giving across the game, quite a lot from other clubs, and I think that’s a testament to how fantastic she’s playing and the person she is really. Everyone can see how humble she is in the way that she goes about things. She’s going to keep doing what she’s doing and at some point people have got to pay attention to that I think.

“She’s incredibly consistent in what she does and so week in, week out, when you look at her current stats, in and out of possession she’s incredibly effective. When she plays to her strengths… one of the biggest, not challenges that I had, but the thing that I had to focus on when I first came here was she had so many good attributes, we just needed to work on how to bring them to life to be honest. She’s now in a position where she knows exactly where she stands and what she offers and she’s able to focus on delivering that week in, week out. 

“I can only see here getting better and better to be honest because of the type of person she is and the way that she works and how she goes about everything within the Club setting, whether it be on the pitch or off the pitch. I think it’s inevitable that, given the character she’s got, this is what’s happened over time and she’s able to excel like this. Long may it continue to be honest.

Ash is focused on doing what she needs to do on a day-to-day basis. That’s all that any player can ever do. Ultimately, the England squad is not a huge squad for the amount of players that are trying to find opportunities to play for England, but the decision is around England managers. They make the final decision. It’s nothing to do with me, it’s nothing to do with Ash, to be honest. 

“We’re both massively grateful for all the support and the things that come around her with fans from lots of different clubs. That’s great because that acknowledges all of the things that she’s doing really well, but the decision’s not one for me or for Ash, so really we just have to focus on what we do day-to-day.”

Impact of Drew Spence

“When you’ve been in one place for a long time, there’s a certain way that you’re used to doing things and for anybody that takes a little bit of time to adjust. It has taken Drew a little bit of time to change in terms of what we’re doing, not necessarily in the way that she plays but in how she fits into the squad and how she can really utilise her strengths. It was a conversation that I had with her before we signed her as to where I felt that would be the most positive position. 

“As time’s gone on, her confidence is growing, her belief in herself and her ability to play for 90 minutes - it’s all things she’s not done a lot of in terms of the time on pitch in the past - but clearly she’s capable of doing that and she’s excelling in that role and has obviously been really effective for us. 

“She’s creating chances, she’s very competent and composed and clever on the ball and that starts to open things up that people aren’t necessarily expecting, so I think she’s been outstanding and she’s going to keep growing and growing now that she’s settled into the squad properly and I’d say that’s been really evident the last three games.”

Momentum and transition from last year

“Honestly, I think it’s taken a little bit of time, just with the turnover of players in the summer and quite a lot of disruptions in pre-season with varying factors associated to tournaments and things like that, but we do know what we stand for and we’ve got everybody that’s come into the environment on board with that now and understanding where they sit and fit with that and I think once you’ve got that and everybody’s buying into it, things start to evolve and progress. 

“You saw that really coming to life with the performance against Man City, regardless of the result, was one of our better 90 minute performances, if you take out the mistakes. We’re now starting to build on all of the different aspects that enable us to be more consistent and more successful with what we’re trying to achieve this year. 

“At the same time, what we did last week, not that it’s eight every week, but we have to carry that over into this week. I talk about consistency a lot. We can’t just throw an 8-0 out and then take our foot off the gas again, so we have to keep pushing the things that we want to be successful and good at and showing performances in. We have to keep doing that week in, week out, and that’s ultimately the goal and will be the thing that helps us to be more successful than last year.

"It’s my job to keep our feet on the ground and as a collective we always look at the things we’re doing well and the things that we need to do better. I think the biggest thing is that we take the confidence and belief from that scoreline and the fact that we had so many different people assisting and scoring was massive for the team and around the squad as a whole that we’re all contributing in different ways. Those are the things that are important to us and what we take into this coming weekend.”

Hope Powell

“Hope’s a fantastic person and a fantastic coach. She mentored me through the early stages of my career when I was involved with England’s youth age groups. She’s got so much to offer the game and has already contributed so much, that I’m certain she’ll be back in the game in some way, shape or form. It’s unfortunate, the circumstances in and around where she ended up with Brighton. Ultimately it’s not about one result, but I think she’ll bring so much to the game in whatever avenue she chooses to go into next, so whenever that is everybody will welcome her back into the game with open arms and still trying to pick her brain on things and get her knowledge and experience. She’s somebody hugely important to the women’s game in England, so I hope she’s back in the game sooner rather than later.

“One of the biggest things for me, because I was very young when I went into that environment and quite new to coaching because, playing wise my injury had started me going the other way a little bit earlier, was how to work in an elite environment and how to manage certain situations that help to evolve the game in the right way in order to get people on board with what you’re trying to do and break down barriers in a way that’s going to get people to support it rather than go against you. I think I’ve seen, she may not even know that, but that’s something that’s been really obvious to me in how she’s operated over the years. 

“The standards that she set are incredibly high in order to maximise the time when you’re in that setting in particular, when you don’t have a lot of time, so efficiency as a coach, the level of detail that’s required, the standards that you need to set, the way that you pull players up towards being at the highest level that they can be and support them through that. She would constantly challenge why you were thinking what you were thinking, which as a coach is exactly what you need. You need to be challenged constantly to expand your own knowledge base. 

“For me, at that age, that was priceless and sometimes really challenging, but you need to be checked on what your thinking is. There are loads of things and that’s definitely something that sticks in my mind constantly.”

November international break

“This year, I’ve said before that it’s been really challenging with all the international breaks, more specifically the September one when you’re just trying to get going. Following on from the summer, there needs to be a much wider discussion about player wellbeing and welfare after major tournaments, with three-week gaps in between each one of these camps. It’s really difficult. It’s hard to quantify externally but when you’re working with players on a day-to-day basis, the emotional rollercoaster that that creates, whether you’ve been winning the Euros in the summer or you’ve been knocked out of the group stages when you’re not expecting to be, from one end of the spectrum to the other, it does play a huge emotional part on those individuals. 

“So, without much of a break, to come back into a pre-season, even though all clubs have tried to give players a break, it’s very hard to manage how long each individual really needs to be able to move on from those things because every person’s totally different. To then have to go into another camp and then another camp and another camp, it creates more of a challenge this year for sure for those individuals. It’s something that we speak about as multi-disciplinary team constantly. 

“In terms of our games, clearly we want to try to get a bit of momentum and get into the things that we’ve needed to and it’s definitely created a disruption for us, getting into our flow I’d say this year, but that’s not to say that other people haven’t experience the same thing. 

“Going into this weekend, we just want to finish this little block in a real positive place, get the international camp done and sorted, and then we’ve got the run up to Christmas really to focus on. We just have to chunk it up into manageable sections to help the players get their heads around the process as well really.”

Get your tickets to watch Spurs in action at Brisbane Road on Sunday at 2pm!