Spurs ready to bounce back says Vilahamn ahead of West Ham United clash

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Robert Vilahamn is confident that his team are on the right track and says that they are ready to bounce back against West Ham United.

The Lilywhites play host to The Hammers in their latest Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at The Gaughan Group Stadium this afternoon.

Prior to the international break, Spurs suffered defeats to Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea, but head coach Vilahamn remains confident in his side’s ability and backs them to bounce back.

“We are coming from a tough loss [against Chelsea] where we had a good performance but conceded easy goals,” Vilahamn said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “We want to bounce back and get a result against West Ham. It’s an important game to start winning again and make sure we get some points on the table.

“All of the games are a battle that you need to win. You might think that West Ham haven’t won yet and it’s going to be an easy win, but it’s not like that. We played against them last season and they were really tough games. We know them well and Rehanne [Skinner] knows the league really well. They have some quality players, so we need to be sharp and fix a few things from the last game.

“We have a good chance to win but they’re going to compete every week and if we’re not doing everything right, they can win. We have an enormous respect for them.”

Vilahamn also spoke about the resilience of his team and how they want to learn from each result, both good and bad.

He said “[The team] are in a really good head space. Even when we win games, they’re focusing on how we can get better. Now we’ve lost a few, they’re very self-aware and know what they need to do to improve, everybody is on the same page. Even when you go through a tough game, you get some good things from it. You can use this bad habit of losing games by becoming a better coach and a better player.

“Even if we lose a few more games, in the long run, we’re going to be so strong as players, as staff, as leaders. We can handle every setback and be able to find ways we can win again. We need to be more ruthless.”

Having conceded 13 goals, Spurs go into this afternoon’s fixture with the joint-worst defensive record in the Barclays Women’s Super League. Vilahamn says that he is not worried about the number of goals that his side are conceding.

He said “I’m not concerned, I see what we need to fix and where we need to be better. We score a lot of goals which is good but we need to fix conceding goals. If you look at Chelsea, we were brave, we had a few chances but gave away easy goals. It’s not an easy fix but it’s a fix we want to do and also, the players are aware of what we should do and will do. I think it’s a part of collaboration and communication to make sure we don’t end up in those situations and also make sure to manage the game better. We definitely want to go for more clean sheets.

“I’m not really worried about how we score the goals, as long as we score them, I’m fine with own goals. We need to make sure players are up there to create more chances, perhaps a little more goals from the nine position for example. For me as a coach, I see some good potential, but I want to get better results to please the fans. I don’t want to talk about next year, we want to win and that’s the aim. This is football, you need to go through the tough parts or you shouldn’t be at this level.”

Tottenham Hotspur’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against West Ham United kicks-off at 2pm. Tickets will be available to purchase at The Gaughan Group Stadium.