Read Renée’s FC Twente programme notes | Quotes | News

Before each home match, Renée Slegers gives her opinion on the team and our next match in her coach’s notes published in the day’s program.

Ahead of our return to Champions League action against FC Twente, our head coach reflects on Saturday’s late win against Liverpool, the impact of our substitutes and his respect for our opponents from his homeland:

Good evening and welcome to Meadow Park for our match against FC Twente in the UEFA Champions League – and our last home match of 2025.

I’m very happy that we were able to start this block with three points at home on Saturday. It was our first match back after the international break, we had to regroup and find our rhythm very quickly. Coupled with Saturday’s early kick-off and a tough opponent, who held Chelsea to a draw in their last game, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

I think we made it unnecessarily difficult to get the victory at the finish line. We all agreed that our intensity wasn’t as high as we wanted it to be, in terms of positioning and the pace of our passes. We played a good match, but we could have been more clinical. Looking at our five gamechangers on Saturday, they gave us a real injection of quality and energy.

With plenty of space behind his backline, Stina knows how to exploit it very well and disrupt defenses. She finally gave us the winner with an incredible goal, but she also did a lot of great things beforehand. Olivia scored our other goal this weekend, and it was another brilliant strike. I’m so happy with how it settled. She had to adapt to our environment and deal with some small injuries, but now she is in great shape and moves very freely on the pitch. Liv brings so much to our game with her speed, her running in behind and her ability to beat her players one on one – or even one on three as was the case against Liverpool!

It was also fantastic to see Kim Little back on the pitch on Saturday and to have Leah Williamson in the team for the first time this season. These two players are very important for us, not only because of their quality but also because of their leadership. This could already be seen on the weekend in the way Kim roamed the space, read the game early, picked up every second ball and passed it around.

What Kim does exceptionally well from a leadership perspective is providing consistency during dynamic changes. She sticks to her role and gives us momentum. Leah does this with great intelligence and communication, setting standards and finding solutions on the ground. I hope we see Leah in future matches. We all know what she can do and it will be really good to have them both back together.

While they were away, they contributed off the field by attending many meetings and taking part in all the cultural work we do. Kim and Leah are really important to us off the field, but we have a lot of leadership on the team. We have national team captains and a lot of players who can do it for us. We are well covered, but of course the more leaders there are and the more presence you can be on the ground, the better.

Thinking about Twente, I played in the Dutch league at the beginning and it has been a pioneer of women’s football in the Netherlands for a long time. The Eredivisie started in 2007 and they were part of it. They won the championship several times and played an important role in the development of women’s football in the Netherlands. Twente are now at the top of the table and have also had good results against the top teams in the UEFA Champions League.

They held Chelsea to a draw and had close results against Benfica and Leuven. In the league, they dominate, but in Europe, they had to be different. They have been very disciplined in defense to prevent teams from scoring, and they have some top young talents in their team who have just made their national team debut.

I think the Dutch always play with a lot of aggression and rarely avoid big moments, so it will be interesting to play against them. We are very respectful of our opponents and think it will be a good match. It will also be special for me to play against a Dutch team.

As the year comes to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support. We know you move so much in your life to be able to come and support us, whether it’s at the Emirates, at Meadow Park or at matches across Europe. We can’t describe how much this means to us. When we take the field, you are always in our thoughts.

It is very important to us to truly represent the club you are so connected to. Of course, winning is vital for a football club, but it’s also about representing something that our fans can resonate with. You get us through the tough times, helping us achieve those goals and providing that spark when we need it. It’s always special to share these moments together and we can’t wait to see what next year has in store for us.