Tottenham Hotspur manager Robert Vilahman is calling for a shorter winter break in the Women's Super League (WSL) to help the players keep the “momentum”.
The 2024/25 campaign returned at the weekend after a five-week break and Spurs celebrated with a 1-0 win over Leicester City at Brisbane Road.
However, after the match, Vilahamn described his club's performance as “rusty”. Speaking to the media today, he blamed the extension of the winter break, describing it as “too long”.
“We were supposed to have a friendly against Charlton (before the season restarted) but it was called off because of the weather,” he said. “Our (FA Cup) game against Everton was also called off. We had a really tough couple of days with the temperature and the pitches were not safe to play on.
“I think five weeks off is too long. I think if you want to have some momentum in this league, with the fans and the media, then we need to have a little bit of a shorter break to make sure we stay in moment.”
Vilahamn went on to say that he thought many of the performances from the first games across the league since Christmas were “rusty”.
The first victory of 2025 ✅ pic.twitter.com/XnmlPiZSy1
— Tottenham Hotspur Women (@SpursWomen) January 19, 2025
“I think a lot of teams actually didn't have a perfect first half, and then in the second half some teams were really good,” he said. “Obviously, Chelsea were really good.
“What I mean by rusty is you have to make sure you play with pressure and each other on the court against an opponent you don't really know and that takes time.
“You need a few games before you do that. In a normal pre-season you have three, four or five games before you go into the first game. We didn't have many games and you could tell the players didn't do that. I really know how to handle pressure, emotions and relationships. The second half was not brilliant football.
“It wasn't good decision-making. We played and we tried. I'm glad we tried, but the quality wasn't there. It's not because they don't have the quality, it was just because of the rustiness.”
Tottenham are preparing to play West Ham United at Brisbane Road on Wednesday in the quarter-finals of the League Cup.