“In Germany, sometimes I had one or two easy games in between.”
Robert de Pauw has learnt the hard way about the competitiveness of the Women’s Super League.
His Aston Villa side are winless from their first six league games since he took over from Carla Ward in the summer but he is confident that will change soon.
“We’re working really hard to get the win over the line. I think it’s in there. I think we can do it,” he told Sky Sports ahead of Villa’s trip to unbeaten Manchester United on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
“But it says so much about the WSL that it’s hard to do. And every week is a battle. You see the other teams are also very, very strong.”
De Pauw came to the WSL from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen Women having also worked in the Netherlands at FC Twente Women. He is well-positioned to compare the quality of the WSL.
“The Bundesliga is also very strong, but here all 12 are strong teams. If I compare them to the Dutch league, every team here in this league would fight for the national title in Holland. I can say that without a doubt.
“In Germany, you have one, two, maybe three weaker teams that you can more easily find the points. But also that league is getting stronger, I know from my experience in the last two seasons. But now I experience that it’s more competitive here.”
Villa have only two points, their lowest total after six WSL games. Their frustration over a poor start has stemmed from dropping a league-high eight points from winning positions.
De Pauw is overseeing a transition in style that has seen them deliver more crosses and passes into the box. It has resulted in more shots and touches in the opposition area compared to last season yet their extra efforts in the final third are not yet resulting in more goals and defensively they are conceding just as many.
“We also concede almost half as less corner kicks in comparison to last year. That also says something about the way we defend that we concede less corner kicks so that’s positive,” added De Pauw. “But you know in football how it works. In the end, it’s about one score.
“You can have all the best statistics. I remember Barcelona in the past when they played Inter. I think all the statistics were in their favour, but (Jose) Mourinho won with Inter.”
Before the season there were hopes Villa could improve on their seventh-placed finish. De Pauw is still aiming for that.
“Everything is still very close. I still want to improve compared to last season,” he said.
“I think it’s still possible, so we have to keep an aim on that. That was our goal before the season. Some people were mentioning the Champions League and all this blah, blah.
“We said perform better than last year, so top six was the goal. But we need wins to do that, so that’s the aim in the short term.”
How will Villa earn those wins?
“Be more relentless and ruthless in our defending,” said De Pauw. “If you see the game against Man City, I think we had it quite under control in the first half. In the second half, we lost focus in one or two moments and then we conceded the goals.
“Leading up to the goals, I think it’s the same against Liverpool. We have to improve on that and be more relentless in winning our duels.
“It’s not only about playing good football and nice football. It’s also about winning your battles on the pitch.
“We’ve shown that we can score goals, if you can keep a zero at the same time, then we will get the win. It’s a matter of time.”
Watch Manchester United vs Aston Villa in the WSL on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Football from 6.30pm; kick-off 6.45pm