Charlton 1-2 Spurs | Robert’s verdict: “When you find a way to win, you should celebrate that”
Thu 03 October 2024, 00:30|
Tottenham Hotspur
Robert Vilahamn was pleased to get our Women’s League Cup campaign off to a perfect start on Wednesday evening as a much-changed side recorded a victory at Charlton Athletic.
We opened our Group E account with three points following another late showing at The Valley as Jess Naz, who was a second half substitute, fired home a left-footed strike into the roof of the net with four minutes left on the clock after Katie Bradley had cancelled out Luana Buhler’s early opener – her first goal for the Club.
Only three players retained their place from Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Aston Villa in the Barclays Women’s Super League as Robert made eight changes to his starting XI and, although the Head Coach acknowledges that relations on the pitch still need to be built, he highlighted the strength in quality off the bench to secure the win in east London.
“We had a lot of new players in the starting XI, I felt it was a good time to see them all play together and it’s always a bit tricky when you are building new relations but, I think, the first half was actually quite good,” he told SPURSPLAY.
“We had good possession, scored a nice goal from a set piece and we dominated the game but then they had a counter-attack, Ellie Brazil was really quick there and, I mean, goals change games.
“The second half was a bit more back and forth as we were little bit a stressed about their counter-attacks, but when you have those great players on the bench that can come on, bring their experience, quality and it was a beautiful goal to win it. Charlton are a good team, they came into this with a lot of self-confidence and some good wins, they have good tactics, quick, strong players, so I’m very happy to have won.”
Goalkeeper Katelin Talbert and youngster Araya Dennis made their debuts for the Club, while Lenna Gunning-Williams and Anna Csiki completed their first starts, and Robert felt it was a good opportunity for players to get much-needed minutes on the pitch.
“If you look at Lenna, she got 90 minutes and, for me, she’s like the future of this club, a talented player, and you need to give her the minutes to learn. There was some stuff she did really good and then some parts where she needs to develop, but it was important for her to get those minutes.
“Araya came on and used her power, she looked really strong, interesting, and it’s very good for us to see that in a competition like the League Cup. Then, of course, you have all the new players who haven’t played together, so it was always going to be tricky before you get to know each other but when you find a way to win a game, you should celebrate that.”
