Arsenal Women’s head coach Renée Slegers reacts to the Gunners 2-1 defeat at home to Lyon in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Lyon repeated their 2-1 victory over Arsenal from last season’s first-leg semi-final tie in north London, which the Gunners would respond to with a 4-1 success in France on the way to lifting the UWCL trophy itself.
It was a fourth match in a row without a win for Slegers’ side, although that spell has included tough trips to Manchester City and Manchester United.
Slegers told www.arsenal.com: “I think we had a good start and Lyon are a very, very strong team. They have so much physicality and individual strength, but of course there are also weaknesses. But we had a good start.
“I think in the first half, spaces are big and they do that really well with how they threaten in front and in behind the back line. I think we get a little bit more compact in the second half. So I think the good thing is that we have control over the things that we want to work on, but I think too many minutes out of the 90 minutes, Lyon can dictate how the game looks instead of us dictating how the game looks.
“We had to match them in a way, with the physicality and the tempo they play, but we also wanted to bring our own game and be really good with the ball and be intense in our pressing and I think we did that at times but we weren’t successful during 90 minutes.”
Arsenal’s second of six League Phase games in the UWCL is away to Benfica on Thursday 16 October, following Sunday’s WSL match with Brighton at the Emirates Stadium.
