The rapid transformation of Tottenham’s playing style under Ange Postecoglou is set to be embraced by their women’s team, after the Women’s Super League team’s new head coach Robert Vilahamn was hand-picked to replicate the same philosophies by Daniel Levy and his board.
The Swede, whose first game in charge is at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, says he is in regular contact with Postecoglou and sums up his approach by insisting: “It’s going to be that identity where you see ‘now it’s Tottenham playing football’, whether it’s the women or the men.”
After parting ways with former manager Rehanne Skinner in March and then assistant manager Vicky Jepson overseeing survival from relegation, Tottenham underwent a long search to find Skinner’s replacement before appointing Vilahamn on a two-year contract in July.
“When they recruited me there were the same recruitment staff recruiting Ange,” he said. “They talked about how Tottenham want to play, they looked for those coaches – me and Ange are probably playing in quite a similar way.
“Tottenham want to play a style with the men’s team and the women’s team and academy, and me and Ange try to do the same stuff – not the same formation all the time, but trying to be brave enough to play good, offensive football and in the long run, win games.
“I’m going to play how I want to play football and that’s the Tottenham style. That’s the biggest part this season, to show the supporters that we’re doing that. In the long run we want to make sure we’re a team developing young players to make sure we can compete in the Champions League and for titles.”
With that in mind, the former Sweden Under-19 international insists his new team’s playing style will be more important than where they finish in the league standings this season. “We shouldn’t expect Tottenham to win the league this year, we need to make sure we show the supporters, the board members and everyone that we play better football,” he said.
“My last interview was with Daniel Levy and it was mainly about making sure the women’s team is something we are proud of, a team that everybody can come and watch [and say], ‘That’s Tottenham standard’. It’s one club now, I can really feel that, I have meetings with the academy coach, meetings with Scott [chief football officer Scott Munn] and Ange, and everybody wants the same stuff.”
Back in 2021-22, Tottenham were the WSL’s ‘surprise package’ as they finished fifth under Skinner, but last term they found themselves in a relegation battle before eventually finishing ninth. Now the new manager wants consistency.
“You look two years ago, [Tottenham] I think perhaps they didn’t play the best football but they finished fifth. But I think that was a little bit tricked, that they were better than they were, or players had a really good season and other teams had a bad season,” Vilahamn said. “I think we need to do that for a few years before you show that you are a top team.
“Last year they started to lose and they started to change formations and players and they got injuries. When you do that, you lose your identity, I think. We’re starting from the ground and it’s going to take perhaps two years but I’m going to take the time because I know in the long run you win games.”
Before swapping Gothenburg for north London, Vilahamn took BK Hacken to consecutive Swedish Women’s Cup finals. Asked why he wanted the Tottenham job, the 40-year-old said: “I was doing fine in Sweden, we were getting good results and I was in a happy place there, but when I become happy, I want to take the next step. For me, the Women’s Super League is the best league in the world and Tottenham is one of those clubs who could be one of the best clubs in the world, right? It’s a good match of how I want to play and how they want to play.
“You need to believe in yourself in this world and I think when you look at what Jonas [Eidevall] did at Arsenal and Brian [Sorensen] at Everton, those two I know quite well [both also Scandinavian] and I know OK, ‘They can do it here, I can do it here’.
“I have a high belief that my philosophy, connected to the Tottenham philosophy, will be what the players need and want and they can perform the best way. And hopefully, we can do magic together.”
Tottenham’s Morocco forward Rosella Ayane, speaking at the WSL’s new-season media launch in mid-September, said of her new manager: “He’s a really nice guy, super invested, really passionate and very relaxed, but then he’s also very direct.
“I’m just loving working under him. I think when it comes to our style of play, he’s very intense. You’ll probably see a lot of high pressure, a lot of pressing, a lot of us trying to win the ball back, and I’ve only got positive things to say from the past few weeks.”
Despite their new-season optimism, Tottenham face the trickiest-looking of tasks to start their campaign, as they travel to the defending champions Chelsea on Sunday evening. They will go there without Lionesses striker Bethany England, their top scorer from last season, who underwent minor hip surgery.
With that in mind, will Tottenham’s new-look style be on show right away? “Hopefully we can have a good start, but I also need to have respect against the top teams in the league so in the beginning it might be a mixture of the game model, and how to actually try to win against Chelsea,” Vilahamn said.
“But in the long run you’re going to see Tottenham dictating games, pressing high, wanting to lean forward and try to score a lot of goals.
“If you end up in ninth, seventh, sixth, it doesn’t matter really. You shouldn’t be relegated, you should be playing better football, but I think a good step for the first year would be to try to reach the top six of the table.
“Year two for the Champions League spots is what I’m thinking of, year one to make sure we play good football, that’s starting to win games. The position in the table this year is not the most important thing for me or for the board, actually.”
In a results-driven business, how true that proves to be will be defining for Tottenham, as they try to catch up with the WSL’s established frontrunners.
