Every word of Renée's pre-London City presser

The start of the Women's Super League season is almost here and Renée Slegers has been speaking to the press ahead of our clash against London City Lionesses.

Our head coach spoke about Alessia Russo's new deal, facing the newly promoted team and her ambitions for the season ahead.

Find out what she said with our full transcript from the Sobha Realty Training Centre below!

on Alessia Russo signing her contract:

When I came to the club, Alessia was here. She's such an impressive player to work with. It's not only what you guys see on the pitch every week, but it's what she does every single day. We talk a lot about everyday matters, everything we do here in the building, on and off the pitch, and she invests so much.

You can see all the work she puts in and how it comes out in games. We’re just so proud she's part of Arsenal. I'm very happy I got the chance to work with her, and I'm also very happy that she extended the contract.

on Alessia’s potential to get even better:

All the details will stay with us, but we actually had a meeting yesterday. We tried to look at her holistically, so from all aspects of her game. There are so many things to it, but there are details that we want to stretch her on.

Obviously, she's on a very high level, but there are still some details we see from all different directions. There are a couple of percentages to win and that's what we're going after.

on the signing of Olivia Smith:

Of course, we're very proud of the way we play our football and it's very important to us. Also, it needs to be very purposeful, and it needs to lead to the wins, that's why we play and that's the case when you represent Arsenal. What we think is that Olivia can add to that. She can add new layers to our game. She's very talented.

There's so much potential and she's shown a lot of that last season in the WSL, which is very impressive, coming to the WSL and performing like that because it’s one of the hardest leagues in the world, in Europe. We see all the potential and she's going to add something new to us. We're so very proud that she's with us now.

on the pressure of spending money:

You see the record is being beaten. I think we want to push and grow the women's game, that’s everything included, that's the work the players do on a daily basis to make the game even better.

It's the work we do as coaches and as staff to make sure that the game grows and the players can perform on even higher levels. It's you guys, the media, helping us pushing the game forward, giving us the exposure. It's everything.

Investment is always going to be key and I'm really happy that you can see that on all different levels. I'm just very happy that the game is growing.

on what London City Lionesses have done this summer:

We'll see. That's the unknown. It's new. Of course, they've had their season in the WSL 2. This is also new for them and it's new for us. That's part of the challenge for us on Saturday.

There are a lot of unknowns. Of course, we've seen them play last season and we have a good idea of who they are and what they are. At the end of the day, we haven't played against this team because it's very new with a lot of new players.

Just as many unknowns for me as for you, I guess. Of course, we're very happy and it's an exciting project. The more investment, the better to grow the women's game.

on trying to win the league this season:

There's zero guarantee because I think what we achieved at the end of last season, there was so much work put into it. If you look back at the season we had, there were so many challenges that we had to overcome on the way.

A lot of things weren't perfect. Then you end up at the end of the season winning the Champions League. That also brings us a lot of clarity. You will go through different phases in a season. Not everything has to go and be perfect but you have every single day ahead of you to be able to make the best out of it and things are possible. What we learned is that we have a belief in what we do. What we also learned is that we need to be very humble. There's no guarantee.

We just need to understand that what we do, what we put in every single day can lead to something. Still, there are no guarantees but we'll do everything we can.

on Lia Walti’s departure:

When I came to Arsenal, in my role as an individual development coach, she was one of the first players I got really close with because she invests a lot in her own game and in her own development.

She started to send me messages and clips and wanted to review things. We very quickly built a strong relationship. I think that says everything about Wally.

How she wants to take ownership of things and how self-reflective she is. She cares for everyone and everything. That's a big, big strength and that's of course a loss for the team.

In a lot of things she could see the small details and she wants to see every single person and that's a big strength of Wally. If you look at leadership and players, I think everyone carries leadership. If you look at the squad, that's what she was bringing us off the pitch and that was really strong.

That will be a loss for us but there are a lot of other personalities and strengths in the team as well who will pick that up. She was an incredibly valuable member of the squad.

on our midfield structure:

I believe defensive discipline is huge for us. It's very important and it's one of our big pillars. It's very important. That's something we build our game on. That role is to play for every single player on the pitch.

It's not only one role that will do that for us. Every single player at this level, playing for Arsenal, has to be able to contribute in the attacking game and in the defending game. That's what we ask from every single player.

What we think is very important is that we have a structure on the pitch that will always balance us and gives us cover on the areas on the pitch. Like I said, that's every player's responsibility. Wally was really good at those things, of course, but we also see that we have a lot of players in our squad in midfield that can do that and the structure of the whole team together can make sure that that works.

on the timing of the transfer window closing:

I think it looks different in all different leagues. Certain leagues have already started while the window is still open. It's the rules that we'll have to play with. It's part of it.

I think for us it was really important to have a good idea early of how we wanted to build the squad. Across the club, with everyone involved, we did a really good job of being very proactive and early with what we wanted to achieve. Like I said, I'm really happy with the squad that we have.

on if everyone is fit for London City Lionesses:

Yes, apart from Leah Williamson

on Alessia Russo’s quality behind the scenes:

There's so much. It's small things, but if there's something that's not clear to her in a unit meeting or in a team meeting, she wouldn't walk out of the room not knowing what's expected of her.

She would always take ownership. I think in that sense, she's a role model. She role models a lot of good behaviours on the pitch as well. She always trains with intent and purpose and with concentration. That's important for us. She leads the team in that way.

on Alessia asking questions to improve her game:

I didn't work so much with Less at the time. But like I said, she would ask questions if there were some clarities for her. She's always very open to feedback. Like I just said, she wants to find those percentages in her game that will make her better and make the team better. She's very aware and open and humble about it.

on Beth Mead‘s value in the team:

It's very important that all players feel for what you're a part of and feel for the project and feel for the club and that you're proud representing the club. I think Beth is very important because we want to connect to our history as well. We want to understand where we come from and what we're a part of.

Beth understands that and she is part of that because she's been at the club for many years. So she means so much to us in that sense. Then also, of course, from a football perspective, she brings certain qualities that are very important to us.

on if Beth was close to leaving this summer:

For me, Beth was always an Arsenal player and as far as I know, she was always going to be with us.

on her own development in the last year:

There have been so many learnings for me. But I feel we're in a really good place. I think as a group of staff and players, we've tried to tackle everything that we think will impact us in the season early. We set a foundation during pre-season and we've done a lot of good work together.

It's been a great period. It wasn't easy because we started early in mid-July and we had different groups of players dropping back in after the Euros. We had to integrate everyone. From a team culture perspective, it's from a technical perspective, it's physical, so there were challenges but I think everyone on staff and the players themselves have done a really good job.

Especially the players that have been here and coaches, me included, from mid-July, we feel that we want to get going now.

on getting business done early:

Very good. The earlier you have your players in, the better. For us, it was good. You give those players the time to integrate and understand the game model and connect with the team and staff. Get used to the surroundings and the environment. I think that's been very positive for us.

on Jenna Nighswonger’s qualities:

Like I said, I'm really happy with the spot we have. I think we have incredible competition on all positions and I think we'll need that throughout the season.

Jenna is our player and an important player for us as well. Of course, she's played different positions throughout her career and we know that she can cover different positions for us as well. She's very versatile as a player. She brings certain things to us as a team and what we will always do is try to build a team as functional as possible or as effective as possible for the games that we have to play.

on if there’s added pressure as European champions:

We always feel pressure, for as long as I've been here. When we play our games, the opposition want to go out and try and beat us. That's always there and it will be this year as well.

In that sense, nothing changes for us but we have to be very, very aware and that's part of how we approach our games and our season, that we have to be very consistent with everything we do and that's within our control.

on watching the Euros:

I think all Arsenal players had good tournaments so it was really good to see them in other environments with other players as well, sometimes playing different roles. It was really good to see. What I tried to do, because it's really hard as a coach, you straight away go and try to see the tactical ideas and see what teams do, what the trends are in football. I tried to stay away from that also because I wasn't there live watching the games.

I was watching on TV. I tried to get another experience with football. I tried to stay away from the tactics and just see the game a little bit as a fan and as anyone else sees it because I think that gives me new perspectives or the perspectives that I need and want as well. In season, of course, I watch games differently but that was a good thing for me to watch it in a different way.

on London City’s attacking intent:

I think when I spoke about rock and roll football, it was more about the opposition, but of course it takes two to tango. That's the unknown. Of course, we know what their ideas are and it's going to have to play out tomorrow.I think we're very prepared for what they will try to do tomorrow and we are very humble about the game. Hopefully, and I agree with their coach as well, we want it to be joyful because we want to deliver a good product for everyone. That's what we try to achieve together, but of course, we go out there and try to play our game the Arsenal way and make that lead to wins as well.

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