By OkayGoal
Aston Villa head coach Natalia Arroyo is confident that her team are ready to take their first three points of the season, despite another tough test awaiting them in the form of Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Villans face The Seagulls at the American Express Stadium in their third league outing of the season.
When speaking to the media ahead of the match, Aston Villa boss Arroyo commented on how she believes her side can turn last weekend’s 4-1 defeat against Manchester City into a positive outing against Brighton & Hove Albion.
“It was a strong performance,” Arroyo reflected. “We were close to them at some points, but we made a couple of mistakes. We didn’t have the right timing and created ourselves some problems, but that’s the type of negative thing that becomes a positive.
“Yes. they were better and they deserved the win, there’s no doubt about that. On the other hand, we were the ones saying how they were beating us. They are the type of details we can control and if we do so, we will be in a better place. I’m quite pleased with some of the bravery we’ve had.”
Coincidentally, Brighton & Hove Albion have had an identical start to the season with one loss and one draw. Arroyo acknowledged these are the games where her team are expected to start climbing the table.
She said “We are aware we’re not in the same group of goals and intentions of Chelsea and Manchester City, but coming up against Brighton, it’s the type of three points that we’re closer to getting.
“It’s a good week to start collecting them [points] because we are facing a really busy period ahead and we will try our best. We know they [Brighton] are dangerous and they come from a good 50 minutes chasing the game against Birmingham. I guess they will be high in energy, but we know what we are facing and we will get there with the best of intentions.”
Sunday also marks the start of three consecutive away games for Aston Villa across all competitions. Arroyo continued to speak openly about the difficulties of managing expectations on top of extra travel and recovery.
She said “We will try and get the three points, but nothing has to be dramatised at any point. We have a hard start with Brighton and Tottenham away, that’s hard, but it’s about consistency. It’s our journey, we will try to bring the three points and I’m confident that we can do that.”
“When we play away, we need to take our responsibility on that and be as competitive as we were in the first two games. They have big threats and they can hurt you if you’re not in the right shape, but out of possession, I think we can hurt them as well. We will fight for our first three points of the season.
“I want to win, I assume that Brighton will also want to win. We just need to understand what’s the best strategy to do that and we know that going to Brighton, playing away is always hard.”
Arroyo also took time to speak highly of her new signings, highlighting the positive impact that having a unique mix of youth and experience in her squad this season will have.
She said “We are finding a good mix and in the mix is the magic. Young players are important but without the experience and the leadership of others, they can be really exposed.”
Ultimately, Arroyo’s mission on and off the pitch remains focused on clarity and consistency within her squad.
She said “We have clarity of how we want to play and we meet with the players as much as possible to give them that exposure in training with specific drills, so they have the clarity that they need to play in the way we want. Hopefully, then the brain of one player connects with the brain of another and we’re all on the same page, that’s when everything clicks.
“I want to be here, I want to challenge, but the only thing I know is that there’s only one winning the league, there’s only one second and one third and we all can’t fit there. It’s a long journey, but we’ll see where we are at the end.”
Aston Villa’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Brighton & Hove Albion kicks-off at 2pm.
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