Rehanne Skinner has revealed her delight at the relationships her West Ham United women’s team attackers are forming on the pitch, waxing lyrical over their link-up play and how clinical they have been in the final third, ahead of her side’s trip to Chelsea on Sunday.
The Hammers will look to take their recent run of positive form into the Barclays Women’s Super League clash at Kingsmeadow, hoping to build on the momentum gained from last weekend’s derby-day success over Tottenham Hotspur.
The Irons bagged two goals that afternoon at Chigwell Construction Stadium, which followed a last-minute equaliser against Manchester City and three goals against both Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion.
Top-scorer Viviane Asseyi netted her tenth goal in all competitions against Spurs, and the women’s team manager, who will take charge of her 50th West Ham game on Sunday, has once again hailed the France international’s contributions this term.
Skinner’s attack is certainly clicking into gear and will be champing at the bit to test themselves against the Blues this weekend. Sonia Bompastor’s side are in UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final action on Thursday as they look to turn around a two-goal deficit against Manchester City, and Skinner was asked whether that will affect her team’s preparations for Sunday in her pre-match press conference.
The Hammers boss also spoke on the never-say-die mentality her side obtains and how she feels they are becoming a force to be reckoned with in the WSL.
Here are the main talking points from her presser…
It's important to make sure we focus on ourselves
I think the team [Chelsea] plays the way the team plays, regardless of which players are on the pitch.
We've played them twice already, we've played them fairly recently, so I think that stands us in good stead to just know what we're up against. We know that they're going to be a threat, we know it's going to be a challenge, we know they're at the top of the table for a reason, we just prepare in our way to make sure we do the things that we do well.
I think it's important to just make sure that the biggest amount of focus is on us. They’ve had a lot of games, but we've had games that we've been playing and preparing for. It's important we focus on the things that we want to do well, because that's all we can really control.
The depth in our forward line is fantastic
Obviously, it's really important that we take the chances when they present themselves. I think one of our biggest challenges has been to create more and now that we're doing that, you're now seeing the conversion.
We've had to change the mindset a little bit from the first half of the season to now, but that also comes with the players that have settled in. We're capable of scoring against anybody. It's just [taken] time to really bed that in and make sure people are really positive in those areas.
You're always trying to chip away and get all of those pieces of the jigsaw right. I think our attacking players are so positive and forward-thinking, our possession is not being managed as well as we'd like. But when we get the two things right, we're going to be a force to be reckoned with in both aspects.
As a collective, the depth in our forward line is fantastic, and it's tough to get a shirt. We're in a position where all of them are playing well, and so we now know that we can start and we can finish with a group of players that are being really effective. The relationships have been fantastic, how they've evolved.
Vivi [Asseyi]'s in fantastic form and she's equalled her [best] scoring [season] in the WSL again already. Her assists are higher this year, so it's already her best season when you add the assists and goals together - and we've got five games left.
The players want to run through a brick wall for each other
If you're going to play, you've got to play for 100 minutes. You've got to be prepared to leave everything out there for as long as you possibly can. It's got to be a prerequisite of what you do here. The physicality, the desire, the attitude and effort should be non-negotiable, for me, and players that have come into the team have consistently shown that.
We need to make sure that we're in a position where we've got players that will essentially run through a brick wall for each other. You need that. This league's hard and everybody's got to be prepared to go the extra mile. When you know that you've got that next to you on the pitch, it elevates the confidence of the next person, and the next person.
Some of the pitches have not painted a good picture of the women's game
I think the bottom line is, it’s [the quality of the pitches] down to the volume of games on the pitch. That definitely needs to be something that's addressed. Or the maintenance goes up on them, but there's always challenges associated with that, I appreciate that. The groundsman's job is really, really difficult.
The Women's Champions League games and League Cup final, the pitches that were there have not painted a very good picture about the women's game, to be honest, with some of the facilities that are available. I think it's got to be about the investment into the quality of the pitch or how you manage stadiums independently to then reduce the volume of games on them.
