Tottenham Hotspur Women are swiftly becoming masters of the comeback.
And according to manager Robert Vilahamn, the reason why is simple: Yoga.
Spurs’ road to Wembley Stadium for the Women’s FA Cup final against Manchester United has been defined by tenacity and resolve. Thrice the team have come back from deficits to emerge victorious, first against tricky lower-league opposition in Sheffield United; then against title contenders Manchester City in a dramatic quarter-final penalty shoot-out; and finally against Leicester City, as Martha Thomas headed Spurs to Wembley in the minutes of extra-time.
“I think you can see a strength in the character of the players, but also part of the environment that we want to create,” Vilahamn said ahead of Sunday’s showpiece. “One of the four key words in our environment is to be present and handle set-backs, so when you look at those games where we go down to Sheffield United, down to Manchester City, down to Leicester, it shows the character of being present and being able to remain focussed and turn the game around. Not by luck but by playing good football and keeping to the plan.
“That’s why we do yoga, so we can work on ensuring our minds and bodies can handle it. So it’s proof that it works in one way but you also have good footballers and good people on the bench who can use their energy.
"We have good strength in the squad.”
Vilahamn, who arrived in north London at the start of last season, added that the practice also keeps him calm in those moments of potential panic. “I’m the first one participating in yoga. I’m loving it the most. When I was introduced to it years ago, it helped me to stay calm, to make sure that I can help the team stay calm.
"I was very aggressive in the way I was coaching before: in substitutions, with feelings. We can never make too many decisions on feelings, we should stay calm and use our brains. Yoga helps me to be a good coach and a good leader.”
The calm energy exuded by the Swedish coach has been staple in a season of striking transformation for Spurs, who went from clawing their way out of the relegation throng to achieving a first-ever major final berth.
Evolution has not been without its challenges. The Lily Whites were on the receiving end of a 7-0 drubbing by title contenders Manchester City and have failed to win all but one of their nine matches against the top-half sides.
A propensity for conceding goals early has also threatened to become a hallmark of the team. Indeed, in their last four matches, Spurs have conceded five goals inside the first 20 minutes, four of which have arrived before the quarter-hour mark.
In every match, Tottenham responded, as is their wont, without alarm, managing one win and three draws. Vilahamn insisted that while the team are addressing the habit, the recurrence is not a cause for concern but rather a growing pain in his playing philosophy.
“We look at why we concede goals and early goals and if it was a big problem of we weren’t playing good or working well in the beginning, we would fix that but we actually play quite good football,” he said. “It’s more about seeing how we can make better choices in the beginning of the game. But at the same time, we’re an attacking team, we want to get forward and we’re not going to change that. It’s a lot harder to play football when you’re one-goal down as opposed to one-goal up. We work every week on that, so I’m not afraid of that.”
Sunday’s opponents United were one such team who relished an early goal against Spurs in their last four matches. Two first-half goals bent the game back into Spurs’ direction, only for Maya Le Tissier to pop up with an injury-time equaliser, serving a timely reminder that Spurs are not the only team in the WSL to hone a habit for last-gasp heroics.
For United, the draw was another disappointing result in an underwhelming season. And while Marc Skinner’s side are favourites as they return to Wembley for a second successive season, Vilahamn is confident that his side can more than hold their own.
“They are the favourites because they have been top of the table for a while. On the other hand, you can also tell that they are not top three anymore. We played a good game against them and saw that we could actually compete against them, almost win. So yes, they are favourites, they were there last year. But we are taking steps all of the time and we have beaten good teams this year. So we feel that we have everything to win this game and we believe we can.”
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