Presser Points | Chelsea vs Spurs (WSL) | Martin Ho

Martin Ho spoke to the media at Hotspur Way on Friday afternoon, ahead of our Barclays Women’s Super League clash with Chelsea at Kingsmeadow on Sunday (12pm UK).

Here are some key points on what he had to say…

Martin on the strong start to the season…

“[I’m] really pleased. We’ve had some good performances where we've shown bits of both sides. We probably want more consistency with those performances, throughout a longer 90 minutes. But I couldn't have asked for a better start.”

Martin on this weekend’s opponents…

“I think we know the quality they possess. They’re champions in terms of the squad they have, what they've done in Europe and also domestically in the league. They're renowned for winning so, yeah, we know it's going to be a tough game. More importantly, we have to focus on ourselves and impose in a better way to than we have when we've played against the top clubs. We have to go into the game with confidence and belief that we belong to be there. Away from that, we have to make sure that we show the best version of ourselves.”

Martin on recent away form…

It's crucial. For any kind of competitive game, you want to make sure that whether it's home or away, you're always in contention to win the game. But I think your away form plays a part in where you’ll finish. We have to make sure that when we go away, we might have to sometimes surrender the ball a little bit more than we think, but we can still impose ourselves with the ball and I think that'll be the difference when we go away especially games like this against Chelsea and so on. We have to make sure that we impose ourselves like we did against Everton, like we did against Leicester, where we're going to have to defend resiliently but I believe we can do that. Then when we have the ball, we have to be ruthless with the opportunities we get.”

Martin on announcing his technical and leadership team…

It's important. Having the right people around you and the right leadership group around you is important, it helps me to have more freedom in my job in terms of to manage the people around me and delegate a lot of work to them. By having these people around me, it enables the players to grow also. Not just me, it enables the staff to grow as a collective, but also enables us to be efficient and effective. I believe we can be pioneers in those departments, which we have strong work colleagues in so, more importantly, it's a really big step in the right direction. It's a really good support mechanism around me and the players, and It's a really good move by the Club to make sure we have the right support around the Women's team and we can take big steps forward.”

Martin on keeping everyone’s feet on the ground…

“I won't say people are getting carried away because I always remind them, as you'll probably know me as a coach, I try to remind them there’s still a lot of work to do. We're only five games in, we're very premature in this new era, and we want to make sure that we can we can continue be effective. We want to make sure that we can better performances because we know that, we haven't had many full completed performances from back to front, so we know that's something we need to work on. So I have no doubt, the players feet are very well grounded, and we always look for ways we can be better.”

Martin on World Mental Health Day and the Club’s values in this space…

“I think from a wider Club perspective, from staff and as players, I think it's important that we provide the right support for people when they need it. We outline where that support and can come from because I think that's important. We’ve had some obviously devastating times over the past few weeks, with the likes of Matt (Beard), and we want to make sure that we give people the space if they need it. If a player needs to speak up or a player needs any support, they know they can knock on the door. The same with any of the staff that we have here. There are really good support mechanisms around this group and I'll continue to push that.”

Martin on the mindset heading into games featuring top four teams…

“It's 11-v-11 and we have to make sure that what gets you through these games is a desire and a passion but also a willingness to want to be competitive. I have no doubt that no player goes on the pitch not to be competitive, sometimes you need a little bit of luck that goes with that at the same time to get you over the line. What you also need is those moments to drop to you, with the ball, to make sure that you can capitalise when you're on top and that's something we need to look at. I don't think there's anything on our back to take a psychological effect on us, or being negative, it's more how we go into these games with a confidence and belief. We go into this game with 12 out of a possible 15 (league points) - that should be enough confidence for the players to go into the game in the right mindset.”

Martin on Bethany England’s leadership…

“It's really important. She has a track record in these big game  and she leads by example, she conducts herself professionally when she goes onto the pitch. But she also shows a willingness and desire and a passion to represent this club, and that's alongside the other players. We have a lot of different experiences within the group. I think her leadership will play a part as well as a number of experiences from the group.”