Despite the turbulent nature of Arsenal’s season, a sense of calm has underpinned much of their progress under head coach Renee Slegers.
When the former Netherlands international took charge on an interim basis after Jonas Eidevall’s departure in October, she cited three attributes: “Being calm, being clear and ruthlessness.”
She went on to say the word “calm” four times in her pre-Real Madrid press conference and that approach proved vital on Wednesday, with Arsenal 45 minutes away from Champions League elimination. Two goals down on aggregate and having not taken advantage of their first-half dominance in the second leg, it would have been easy to panic.
Instead, Arsenal remained clear-headed and scored three goals in 14 second-half minutes to book their place in the Champions League semi-finals, beating Real Madrid 3-2 on aggregate.
“We spoke about it before with the staff and players that we need to be calm whatever the scenario,” Slegers said post-match. “If we don’t stay calm we’re not going to find the solutions, so everybody stayed calm. It was 0-0 but we felt like we were dominant. It was just about the details and finding the right things. I could see in the players’ eyes that they believed, were very calm and determined.
“You have to train your…
