Tottenham Coach Robert Vilahamn One on One

The Swedish coach took charge of Tottenham last summer and has led a revolution in the women’s
team in partnership with men’s team boss Ange Postecoglou as both sides set about restoring attacking
football to the club. He also has an interesting history as a player having been christened the “mini
Nicolas Anelka”.
 
How did you end up taking on Spurs?
You want to find the fight timing for a new job, the timing was right and Tottenham was a big club. You
could see they were struggling with the women’s and the means teams last year. I was doing good in
Sweden but also looking to work abroad and when I saw they sacked their coach, I thought ‘that’s one of
the clubs I can see myself in’. I sent in my CV and the club said they were looking to do something
different here. Ange is a very attacking coach with a good leadership style so that was also good for me.
 
Had you always wanted to work in England?
Yeah, I think so. I was a good talent as a young player and had a trial with Wimbledon when they were in
the Premier League. England is the home of football and that was where I wanted to play and then
coach in. It’s the most competitive women’s league and a good place to be. I still want to develop, it’s a
very good match.
 
Were you given a brief to transform Tottenham’s fortunes?
I looked at last season and how they played and it wasn’t connected to the Tottenham style of attacking
football so we had to look at what we needed to do. We needed to build an identity of how we wanted
to play. Did we need to win something in the first year? Because that could have been a problem to
make the change and also do that. But the board told us they wanted us to focus on how we played in
the first year. I still feel pressure but I feel the belief and trust.

Did you feel you had to make change as soon as you arrived?
I didn’t make too many changes in the first six months and we played good football with the players we
already had and I was impressed by that. But the majority of the players were over 30 and we want to
build and create something for the future so we had to look at younger players alongside older ones. We
had to have a good balance in the squad and needed fresh blood to bring in new energy.
 
Has there been pressure on you to challenge the big guns yet?
The main aim was not to be relegated but also build an identity. Top six would be very good, top four,
wow. But it’s not all about the table, it is about playing a certain style. While you’re doing that and the
players are liking that, then it’s so much stronger. I won’t fall into the trap of making it all about the
table but hopefully next year we can compete and the year after that.
 
Did you know how much of a gap there was from the top four to the rest in WSL?
I knew there was a gap but I have realised it was huge. We’ve taken steps, we beat Arsenal, we drew
with Manchester City so we’re getting closer but you still have that gap. It’s the same in the men’s game,
where you see the same clubs competing at the top year after year and once in a while a Leicester win
or whatever but we want to make sure we are one of those top teams. My focus is the longer-term and
we want to make Spurs fans all over the world happy.
 
Will the summer bring a lot of change?

I think we know now what to do, that these players can be amazing and what we need to add to this
squad, not too many players but a few that can bring something. What can we add to the staff to
become even stronger? A sports psychologist, for example.
 
What did you think of Postecoglou’s style when he took over?
Most of it was quite similar – how we build up, how we have two pivots, how we dare to do stuff, have a
high-pressing team. I meet him and speak to him sometimes and we have conversations about
leadership or style and to work with him and to have him as kind of a role model who has done so much
good means I can use him as a support. I feel like we’re doing this together and when we beat Arsenal,
he was there watching and texted me afterwards. It feels like one unit and there’s something beautiful
with that.