Robert Vilahamn has made it clear that Tottenham Hotspur must be able to beat Manchester United if they want to fight for a spot in the Women’s Champions League.
Spurs have had a mixed start to the 2024/25 Barclays Women’s Super League campaign, beating Crystal Palace on the opening weekend, but drawing against Aston Villa and being stung late by Liverpool last time out. They also narrowly beat Charlton Athletic in the Women’s League Cup.
Fresh from suffering the painfully late 3-2 defeat to Liverpool, Vilahamn’s side now prepare to take on the Red Devils at Leigh Sports Village.
Discussing the match, Vilahamn said the squad’s ability to counter attack when they win back possession will be vital to their chances of walking away with a win.
“We have scored eight goals in our first three wins,” he said.
“We have some really good attacking patterns and have some really good players. In one way, we want to make sure we play really good football and create chances. The other thing will be to try and use the moment when we in the ball against them and try to counter attack as well.
“We have some really quick players that can be useful in this game, but we know they are going to play a really strong team. We need to be very sharp in all the goal chances we get.”
Despite a heavy defeat in the FA Cup final in May, Vilahamn revealed that Tottenham’s “good pre-season game” against United has helped build confidence in their ability ahead of this one.
“If we want to be a top team, then we need to compete with the top teams,” he said.
“It’s going to be a fun game against United. We had a good pre-season game against them, so we know we can hurt them, but we also need to be very good otherwise we are not going to have a good chance of winning.”
Manchester United will be going into the game having had a longer rest period than Spurs after their WSL clash with Chelsea was postponed, after a controversial scheduling conflict that was a knock-on from the latter’s involvement in the Women’s Champions League.
When asked whether this puts them at an advantage, Vilahamn explained: “If they got an extra weekend off then they are going to have used that to train really well and have good self confidence, but we’ve come from a really tough fight. We obviously lost the game, but we want to try and win this game and we will use our energy from that.
“Both teams will be ready for the game. We cannot blame the schedule and it’ll be the best teams who wins.”
The match is also set to mark the first time Tottenham have come up against midfielder Grace Clinton, who returned to United after a season-long loan. Celin Bizet soon followed her as well.
Vilahamn commended her performance so far in this season which has seen her score in two of their three fixtures. “This game is going to be tough for us because we are playing against her,” he said. “But on the other hand, we play against good players every week, so we are going to have a strategy. We also know her well and also know how perhaps to stop her, but she is a very good player.”
The clash between both teams is set to fuel the new-found rivalry between both teams that was created when they met in the FA Cup final last year which saw United reign supreme.
Vilahamn revealed that he “likes the atmosphere” that’s created when the two come up against each other. “I feel like they are one of those teams last season that we competed with and were one spot higher than us,” he said. “I feel like if we want to break into the Champions League, United is one of those teams we need to beat and be better than.
“They also have a big support of fans who are loud and I just love that. They brought them to Brisbane Road before and for me, as a coach, to be a part of thise league and that fan base is great. I like the atmosphere that’s created when we have our fans and we actually compete.”
