Rehanne previews Leicester City: “It will be a bittersweet situation”

Tottenham Hotspur Women Head Coach Rehanne Skinner described Sunday’s first game of the Women’s Super League against Leicester City Women as a “bittersweet” situation to kick off the new campaign, while paying tribute to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

Asked how the postponement of last weekend’s fixtures affected our preparations for the beginning of the season, Rehanne said in her pre-match press conference on Thursday: “The circumstances last weekend were terribly sad for everybody. Games being off was the right thing to do and the level of respect has to be adhered to across everybody within the game. 

“Going into this weekend, it will be a mixture of wanting to get the league season underway with it being our first game and people looking forward to that, but then obviously at the same time the tributes that we’re going to be paying are quite emotional with the week we’ve had as a nation. It will be a little bit of a bittersweet situation I think. 

“Hopefully, we’re able to focus on the football and get ourselves underway with a game that fits how we want to start our season.

“The extra training days supported some of the preparation we do, but ultimately we were ready to play last weekend - you have to be in that situation going into game one. We’ve not gained extra days in terms of preparing for Leicester given the time that we found out, we were just preparing for United still at that point.”

Our seven summer signings are all in contention to make their competitive debut for Spurs Women on Sunday, but Rehanne pointed out that some might need more time than others to settle in.

“I think it depends on the individual and based on the circumstances they faced coming into the team in the first place,” she said. “Some players haven’t played for a period of time for various reasons so naturally pre-season was really needed for those players. 

“A couple of players are only just coming into our league as well, so we’ve got to be prepared to give them time and space for what our league creates and the different challenges that you get every single weekend. It is different with every team that you play but in terms of gelling and fitting into the squad, they’ve done that really well. 

“They need to get into that competitive state now in games to allow them to get over the last little bit of how they bed into everything.”

Rehanne will be reunited with a familiar face in the dugout on Sunday, as she previously worked with Leicester manager Lydia Bedford at the FA.

“She’s galvanised a squad that plays with a lot of grit and determination,” Rehanne said. “They all know their jobs really well and she’s going to make them as hard to beat as possible. 

“For us this weekend, it’s the first league game and both teams will be itching to get on the pitch. Them being at home, they’ll want to make sure that they can put on a good show for the fans that they have in the King Power, so it will be a tough game this weekend for sure.”