Robert Vilahamn makes case for defence after Tottenham Women dish out friendly drubbing
Robert Vilahamn will focus on defensive stability leading up to Tottenham Women’s WSL opener against defending champions Chelsea after seeing his side dish out a friendly drubbing on Wednesday (31 August).
Spurs hammered London Bees 9-0 in a 60-minute behind-closed-doors match, racing into a 6-0 half-time lead before Manchester United loanee Grace Clinton bagged a brace in the second half to help complete the rout.
A significantly harder challenge awaits on 1 October when they visit Emma Hayes’ Chelsea, a match that will be played at Stamford Bridge, and Swedish head coach Vilahamn said defensive stability will be key against a side who scored a league-high 66 goals last season.
“I mean it’s a lot of stuff we need to work on but, of course, we need to have a good defence because we’re going to play against a really good team in the first game but we always want to try and develop the way we want to play,” he said speaking to Tottenham Women’s official Twitter account.
“We want to play our style of game in every game so that means we need to take steps every week.”
Vilahamn was particularly pleased to see the camaraderie building among his squad during the run-out, something he feels will be especially important for the coming campaign.
“I think everything is about relations. If you’re going to play a certain style of course, but if you’re going to have those relations where you get to know each other and how you want to play to each other then that’s the main thing and if you like each other it’s even easier right?” Vilahamn added.
“So trying to figure out how we can make this team have good teamwork but also how they play on the field is really important and these kind of games is really good for the teamwork as well.”
Keep things solid
It may seem a little unusual to focus on the defence following a friendly outing in which a team has scored an impressive nine goals, even more so considering this was only a 60-minute match as opposed to the regulation 90.
But you have to agree with what Vilahamn is saying here, and you also have to admire him for acknowledging where the danger is going to be against an all-conquering Chelsea side masterminded by one of the best coachs in world football in Hayes.
Chelsea scored 66 goals last season. For context, the second highest scorers in the league were Manchester United with 56, while Tottenham’s 31 was boosted significantly by the 12 netted by January signing Bethany England.
So, they are likely to face a barrage when Chelsea attempt to get their title defence up and running in front of what should be a huge crowd for an exciting league opener. The message will be to take your chance to play when it arrives, but make sure things are kept tight at the back.
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