Neville on first week of pre-season: “We want to improve our fitness”
Sun 21 July 2024, 12:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Ashleigh Neville spoke of her excitement at being back at Hotspur Way as players returned for the first week of pre-season.
She was one of a number of our players who were back at our Enfield training base on Monday (1 July) as preparations for the 2023/24 Women's Super League campaign got underway.
The experienced defender is set to enter her eighth season with the Club, having racked up an impressive 156 appearances in Lilywhite in all competitions, and ‘Ash’ has enjoyed seeing everyone back together once again.
“It has been really nice in the sense that some of us are back in, we are obviously not all back together just yet as some of the players have just completed internationals, but we still have a good group here in the first week,” Ash told us after training.
“It has been good to see all the staff as well, they have been working hard, it has been tough, but we expected that, however it’s just nice to be back and seeing everyone once again.”
Talking us through the opening few days of pre-season, she said: “We have done quite a lot of running but we have also included some work with the ball, alongside some circuits in the sun during the week.
“We expected quite a bit of running as we want to improve our fitness from last season and we want to be one of the fittest teams in the league so, I think, the girls are all on board with that and we just have to work hard to be where we want to be.”
After a season full of progression in Robert Vilahamn’s maiden campaign, reaching the Women’s FA Cup Final for the first time and finishing inside the top six in the WSL, Ash is aiming for another season of development.
“We kind of built foundations in Robert’s first season at the Club and we want to build on that,” she added.
“The ambitions we got to improve our fitness and be better on the ball is exciting and, I know, the season is still two months away, but it will be here before we know it and I’m really excited to get going this year.”
