‘I’m very excited about this trip’

Renee Slegers was full of praise for her team as Arsenal saw off Crystal Palace in the Barclays Women’s Super League (WSL) with a 5-0 win at Meadow Park.

The Gunners overcame a turbulent first half with four goals after the break. Slegers made early substitutions to help Arsenal’s faltering momentum, something fans hardly saw during Jonas Eidevall’s reign.

“We talked a lot about problem solving and communication and how the momentum changes in the game,” Slegers told the media after the match.

“That was a challenge for us today, so to see the players apply the things that we’ve really worked on in these two weeks and that we’ve worked on in training. It’s really good to see and it means a lot to us because we’re going into a series of games that are very challenging .”

The five-goal haul not only showcases Arsenal’s threat in front of goal, but also marked the side’s fifth straight clean sheet in the WSL.

“From a tactical point of view, we haven’t changed much in our organization,” Slegers said. “But we worked on things from a psychological perspective, our mentality and where we put emphasis in our games. Hopefully that had an impact on our defensive performances.”

Fans were treated to the first permanent showing of ‘Slegers-ball’, and it was certainly a sight to behold. The Gunners continued the momentum they quickly built up before the Christmas break, but Slegers is determined to take the team to the “next level”.

“I think we have a great team with great players and different qualities in the team,” she said. “We want to go to the next level, we really want to go to the next level. There’s something very exciting going on right now with the staff and the players and we’re doing things very well, but I see the potential to take us to the next level at the team level, so I’m very excited about this journey .”

Alessia Russo was back on the scoresheet again, scoring her seventh goal in six consecutive league games. The England forward now trails only Khadija Shaw – by just two goals – in the race for the Golden Boot, despite not scoring in the opening five matchweeks.

“I’m very happy that she scored again today and that’s important for her,” the head coach said of Russo. “She does a lot of things in possession without the ball which obligates the opponent. I don’t think we got out of her what we really want to get out of her, it’s not even her best game.

“But if you can say she’s this good and she’s scoring this goal but we still think she can do more, that sums up Alessia. She’s still young, she’s working really hard and she’s at a really high level, but she can go even further.”

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