Renee Slegers reacts to 2-1 defeat to Lyon

Arsenal lost the first leg of their UWCL semi-final at home to Lyon on Saturday. Diani gave Lyon a first half lead, Mariona equalised from the spot in the second half only for Dumornay to give Lyon a first leg victory. Renee Slegers spoke to the press post-match, the first two questions are from Arseblog News.

On whether Lyon’s intensity and quality was a shock in the first 30 minutes…
You’ll have to ask the players, but I don’t think it was a shock, but of course it’s a very high level opposition so the tempo is higher and you know you’ll get punished if you make mistakes. I think we had to settle into the game and create a belief while we were playing and I think that shows in the way we come out in the second half and how we we play our game even though we’re playing against a really strong opponent with so much stress that we that we have the courage and the bravery to play our game. We grow into the game from that perspective and I think in that period against an opposition like Lyon with so much threat I think when we have momentum we need to score and that’s what we do in the end. But we probably should have scored at least one more in that phase of the game while you’re at home at the Emirates against such strong opponents. We worked really hard to get that goal and then it was disappointing that they score very quickly afterwards because then we were chasing the game again. But it’s half time and it’s one goal down, so we still have the opportunities next week.

On her message at half-time and details she looked at with the players…
Some in what we wanted to look for on the pitch in possession and doing it with a little bit more tempo to create bigger spaces and then out of possession we needed to to find some solutions for how they position themselves.

On the threats that Lyon pose and whether they surprised Arsenal…
I haven’t spoken to the players yet. I don’t think so but I think playing against Lyon with specifically these three forwards on the pitch, it’s something that we haven’t faced this season yet so that was one that like Tim said, you have to experience it to be able to find the solution. I think what was strong of the team was that we we needed to settle in the game and it took us some time again we did it and we found the solutions and the courage and the belief started to grow and the solutions on how we how we stopped them and we prepared for that. It’s not that it was a surprise for us. We knew what we were going to face and the players knew exactly that this was the threat we needed to stop. I’m happy and the way we grow into the game and especially then the face and the second half where we dominate.

On whether the second half gives Arsenal hope for the second leg…
We know exactly what we’re playing against next week, but the same goes for Lyon.

On what can be done for Arsenal to be more clinical in the second leg…
I think what’s been a big strength of us as a team is that we are ruthless and that we find ways to score a lot of goals. So I don’t think just after this game that we we start to doubt ourselves in that area on how capable we are. But of course, we’re going to have a look at it so to see if there are even more specific things we can do in the final third to create bigger chances. But I think a couple of chances we create are really good. So we we find good setups on the pitch and so we’re going to we’re gonna find the details for next week, definitely. I think everything we expected the game to be, it turned out the way we expected today. We now look at the two fast attacks where they score from and where we concede from. But I think so many times we stop it early and really well as well. The learning is you need to do it consistently without any slips over 90 minutes because otherwise if a team like Lyon gets one, two, three chances, they will punish you.

On whether 2-1 wasn’t such a bad result given the first 30 minutes…
We are not happy with the result because, like I said, we did really well finally getting the the equaliser and that was the least we wanted and after that goal we felt like we could potentially score another one. I think as the game turned out, especially in the second half, a draw or a win was what we what we went for. I think Arsenal has done it before against Lyon away and has won with big numbers, so it’s gonna be a pitch, 11 be 11, good grass and we have all the opportunities to to win that game next week.

On whether Russo and Kelly might be fitter for next weekend…
It will definitely help, but if they wouldn’t have been fit, they wouldn’t be in the squad today so they were ready to play.

On what the team can take from the 5-1 win at Lyon in October 2022…
It is similar and they have similar players, but I think so much has changed in those years as well. So not too much from a from a technical point of view, but definitely from a psychological point of view and knowing that if you go there, you can do something that Arsenal has done before and won 5-1. This is going to be a different scenario, of course, Lyon are happy with the 2-1 here and they will do everything they can to protect that lead. So it’s going to be a a very difficult game but we’re going to go there and believe that we can do something.

1.Zinsberger; 2.Fox, 6.Williamson, 7.Catley, 11.McCabe; 10.Little(c), 8.Mariona; 9.Mead (18.Kelly ‘62), 12.L.Maanum (25.Blackstenius ‘62), 19.Foord (13.Walti ‘83); 23.Russo (21.Pelova ‘83)

Unused: 16.Kafaji, 22.Nighswonger, 28.Ilestedt, 32.Cooney-Cross, 40.Williams, 62.Reid

The post Renee Slegers reacts to 2-1 defeat to Lyon appeared first on Arseblog News - the Arsenal news site.