Renee Slegers will continue her role as interim head coach of Arsenal for their next block of games until the Women’s Super League’s winter break.
A recruitment process for a permanent successor to former head coach Jonas Eidevall is still ongoing, but not expected to be complete before the new year. The team’s performances and results under Slegers (six wins and a draw) have allowed the club to take time with their search.
The Athletic reported the 35-year-old was due for talks with the club during the recent international break, and communication between herself, Arsenal and their players continues to be running smoothly.
At that point, Arsenal were not in a rush to make a permanent appointment before returning to WSL action against Aston Villa on December 8.
During her first block of games in charge, Slegers pointed to the clarity that came from her job role helping Arsenal to “stay in the moment”.
It allowed full focus to be on matches, but the side also benefited from the interim boss making players own the situation they were in more. That saw a major upturn in their performances in front of goal, scoring 19 goals from an xG of 13.6 under Slegers’ first six games compared to just six goals from an xG of 8.6 under Eidevall.
Slegers’ next four games will come against Aston Villa, Valarenga and Liverpool before a potential top-of-the-group decider against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on December 18. Arsenal then return to action after the winter break with an FA Cup fourth round tie on the weekend of January 11-12.
Slegers was placed in interim charge following Eidevall’s resignation on October 15.
The Athletic reported in October Arsenal had made former Manchester City Women’s head coach Nick Cushing their first-choice target. He later committed his future to New York City FC, but was dismissed in November.
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