Rachel Yankey Exclusive Interview With OLBG

Rachel Yankey OBE is a former footballer and Arsenal Ladies Legend who also played for the English National Team 129 times surpassing the 125 Caps Peter Shilton gained during his time as England goalkeeper. She was also a part of the 2012 Great Britain squad at the 2012 London Olympics, and today she talks to OLBG and answers some pressing questions

How do you rate England’s chances at the Euros this summer?

It's a difficult one to predict and look at because we've got a very talented squad.

Whoever gets picked in that final 23 is a very talented footballer and, I think, because the team has been together for such a long time is a real positive.

The fact that Sarina Wiegman is quite new to the team, then you can look at it as sort of a building block towards the World Cup.

Perhaps we shouldn't put too much expectation on the team, but then again what the teams been able to do in previous years means there will be expectations.

The fact that it's a home Euros means there's a bit of pressure there.

Hopefully, that pressure can be used in a positive way and be used to spur everyone on.

They've got to be up there as one of the favourites for this tournament.

We saw the men’s team use home advantage last year, will that benefit the women’s team in this tournament?

I think it will because I think there will be good numbers inside the grounds for England matches.

The following will be really good and obviously now with social media some of the players might use it as a positive.

These players are more experienced to this type of exposure, when we had our home Euros in 2005 it was a little overwhelming because we had never experienced this many people coming to watch us.

This current team is used to that with the international matches they've played in, the WSL matches now and the coverage you get on women's football now.

I think they're better prepared to handle that sort of pressure, but once you go out there on the pitch in the England shirt there's always that added pressure.

I think they'll be able to cope with it which will obviously be good if you're an England fan.

Image: Arsenal.com

Should there be an expectation on the Lionesses going into this tournament?

Yeah of course, I think even all the way through my England career, we always knew that there was expectation.

Expectations and perceptions have changed around women's football, but they will know that they'll have to play their part in increasing the popularity of the game.

If they can get to a semi-final, final or even win the tournament, then they will know how much that will change the perception of women's football in this country.

How that will inspire so many young girls and boys to talk about women's football and make it the norm.

The players will understand that just like we understood it, but we didn't reach that goal so hopefully this team can. 

Who would be your favourites in the tournament? Are there any dark horses who could spring a few surprises?

It's really hard to say, I was asked this not long ago and I can't choose a favourite.

People write off Germany a lot and, in my opinion, you just can't do that, I think they're a team that will be up there.

Norway are going to be pretty strong as well as Sweden.

There's just a handful of teams that could turn it on, for example you can never rule out France either because they have so many talented players.

I don't know if I have a favourite, I think there's a group of teams which you can include Spain and the Netherlands in as well, that on their day they could absolutely smash it.

You can see them doing really well, but obviously you can put England in there with those types of teams.

What are your thoughts on Leah Williamson being appointed captain?

Obviously, I know Leah from when she was a kid at Arsenal, so I'm really proud of her.

She's just a real down to earth type of character who loves her football but understands there's more to life than football and she's very grounded in that sense.

I imagine she'll take it all in her stride, but it is hard to comment when you're not in the middle of it as an outsider looking into the squad.

Sarina Wiegman obviously see's something in Leah that she feels is a quality to lead the team.

I think the positive about this team is that whoever has got that armband on they know there's so many other players who are just as experienced if not more.

They will lead the team as well, so Leah will have the armband, but she'll know there will be others she can rely on to help her.

It seems like it's quite a close-knit group looking in which is vital in tournament football because the days where you're not playing are the days where you can lose it.

That's when you need a team that's close together.

Steph Houghton may have missed these Euros through injury, how important will she be to the squad if she is fit enough to play?

I think she's hugely important, she has a lot of quality and experience and of course she's still a very good player.

You saw it with Manchester City when she was playing, she changes the way the team plays and the levels that they play at.

For Steph I have my fingers crossed that she goes, but within every squad you need that balance of youth and experienced players.

Players that play with freedom and players who have been there and done it before, so I think she'll be really important in this squad.

Ellen White has been the main source of goals for England over the past few years, how important is she to this team?

She's hugely important, when England win these close games it's usually Ellen White scoring.

England need to get goals in these Euros, and they need to make sure that they're putting the ball in the back of the net which they'll be relying on Ellen to do that.

She probably needs help sometimes with other players pitching in, stepping up and getting more goals.

But there's something about Ellen White in an England shirt, she thrives on playing for her country and she's shown that by being fantastic for many years.

10 players out of the 28-named squad are from Manchester City, some would argue that the team underperformed last season so are you surprised to see so many included?

I wasn't surprised, I think Manchester City have had a disappointing season by their standards, but they had some horrendous injuries.

They really had to weather the storm and I think they probably need a little bit of credit for how they finished the season.

They finished in a really strong position and I'm sure there have been some harsh words said between those players.

Especially when you have so many big players, there's so many trying to fight to get into this England team that there will be some standards to maintain at club level.

I'm sure they would have been driving each other on, but when I think about the Manchester City players, there's definite quality there.

They increase and enhance what England can have, so it doesn't surprise me to see that many names in there.

Sarina Wiegman arrived in the job with a big reputation, can she deliver a major international trophy to England?

We'll have to wait and see if she can!

I think when you have that reputation then everyone will be talking about it and for her she'd love to come in and do exactly what she did for the Netherlands.

That was within her first year, but we've got to be realistic and say that it might not happen.

It's building blocks for the future for England, so I wouldn't want anybody to be disappointed and blame the manager if England don't win the tournament.

We've got to be patient, stick with her philosophy and vision on how she see's things.

You look at that Netherlands team, in a way they were pretty similar to this England team in the way that they play football.

It was really fun to watch and if England can perform at those levels, then it'll be a good Euros and a good spectacle for fans to watch. 

What have you made of the Wiegman era since she came into the job?

It's hard to judge it because of the qualifiers and the standard of teams we were playing against who were, quite frankly, not as good as England.

That's why this Euros is really interesting to see what this England team has got and how they're playing.

I'm reserving judgement until we get started and take a real look to see if this team is capable.

There are a lot of players that can be used in different ways and it'll be really interesting to see how Sarina gets the best of them.

Is it about seeing how the team perform in the Euros to implement this style?

It's the hardest bit with Sarina Wiegman and England at the minute because they haven't had the high-quality games beforehand to give them a chance.

I know they won the Arnold Clark Cup, but we also had a defeat against Canada.

When it was tougher opposition, England didn't win the game, so now we've got to look at this tournament as a marker of where this team is at.

It isn't like qualifying or friendlies, you've got to go out there and make sure that you do what it takes to win, even if you're not at your best.

It's unknown with England right now because Sarina hasn't been in the job for that long, so let's see what they can produce going into the Euros.

Image: joshjdss, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vivianne Miedema signed a new contract at Arsenal a few weeks ago, how important is she to that Arsenal team?

I suppose the stats, facts and the numbers she produces speak for themselves.

Any team that has a player that can produce the amount of goals and assists that she does, then you're going to want to keep that player.

For Arsenal to be showing the rest of the league and Europe that they're ready to compete, then they had to keep her.

If you lose a player of that magnitude, then there would have been questions asked, so it's a huge positive for Arsenal having Vivianne Miedema sign a new deal.

For her when she's playing in a deeper role, from the games I've seen it looks like she's enjoying it a little bit more.

That's always a positive when you see someone enjoying their football, I don't know her too well and she's difficult to read, but in that deeper role she looked like she was playing with that freedom and having a lot of fun.

Now she's signed a new contract, it shows she's happy at the club and it could be dangerous for other teams if she's enjoying her football and obviously playing so well. 

She’s spoke about the club needing to up their ambitions, can Arsenal become that force in the WSL again?

I think they have to, especially coming from me as a former player.

When I played, we knew the history of the club, the standards set and what it means to play for Arsenal.

In terms of women's football, for me in this country Arsenal are the biggest club, but they're being overtaken.

They now need to make sure that they get back above the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City.

The standards and the history of the club need to be back at the frontline for people to see.

Keeping Vivianne Miedama is a positive and shows signs, but they have to win trophies otherwise there's no point.

Do they need to bring in more quality or is it just about making sure those trophies come back to Arsenal?

I think it's a very good squad that they've got, but maybe they need to add one or two more additions into it.

More quality and a bigger squad for when you're playing in the Champions League and going deep into cup competitions.

It'll be important because if you get those injuries then you have players who can come in and do the job.

But I think Arsenal have a good squad and there just has to be that standard there which was there when I was playing.

It wasn't good enough to just turn up and perform, you had to make sure you won and had to do what it takes to win.

It wasn't acceptable to get to a cup final or finish second which stands with us from that generation.

You win because you're Arsenal, you just have to make it happen and these players need to bring back those goals.

I'm sure they know the history of the club and I'm sure they want to be winning trophies, but they need to produce that. 

Quick look at Mikel Arteta’s side – after missing out on the top four where do they need to strengthen to go one better in 22/23?

It was a disappointing end, but if you think about where they were at the beginning it's turned out alright for Arsenal.

They obviously need to strengthen up front, I think that's been an issue, but I think the core of the team could be strengthened.

They've got a settled number one goalkeeper, but sometimes with the centre-backs you're not sure who's going to play if one of them gets injured.

It's the same with central midfield and obviously the striker position.

Mikel Arteta is building a squad for the future, he likes the younger players and developing them which we can see he's done with some of them.

It's looking positive, but it's probably a similar thing with both the men and women's team, they need to have a stronger mentality of knowing they have to win.

I know a lot was said about Arsene Wenger but look at how many years he got the club into the Champions League.

He made those players know the importance of that year after year, I'm sure they're aware of that as players, but they need to get back into those ways of winning trophies and playing in the Champions League consistently.

Would you like to see Eddie Nketiah extend his contract after his form towards the end of the season?

I'd like him to stay because he had a good finish to the season, but as a former footballer I can look at it in a different way.

I think he probably wants to be Arsenal's number one striker and I'm not quite sure if he's the player to be that.

Arsenal will go out and buy someone with a bigger name and probably better pedigree, so I'm not sure Nketiah would get those guarantees as the number one striker.

If that is what he wants and he moves on to get that, then you couldn't blame him because he has done well when called upon.

He's a natural finisher so would be a great asset to any club, but I personally I'd like him to stay and be a part of the squad.

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