Jordan Nobbs: ‘It’s Nice To Have The Pressure to Win’

Arsenal midfielder and England vice captain Jordan Nobbs says it feels nice to feared a little and that they’re ready for kick off now after an intense last few weeks of preparation…

SK: We’ve heard that training over the past few weeks have been pretty tough?
JN: If there is something we have missed I don’t know what it is as we have ran, we’ve worked hard, had lots of meetings, we’ve travelled, we have felt the team on good days and bad days, it has pushed us to the next level and I feel the team is in a really great place now. The belief is quite exciting and we’re really ready to kick off this tournament.
It is probably the most intense training camp I have been too. With the Euros coming up knew we had to be in the best shape possible and I don’t think we could have been run any more. But that is the type of team we want to be, we want to push ourselves to the limit, now we get that breather to just work on the technical and tactical, and really feel the vibe and go into the game very confidently.

SK: The staff have gone to great lengths and covered even the finest details in settling you in?
JN: Yeah, coming into our hotel, everything feels like it has ‘Lionesses’ on it, it feels like it is ours and we are meant to be here. It feels like they believe in us so much they are doing everything possible to try to get us across that line. We have all put in that hard work over the last few years to earn this, but we still need to perform on the pitch, you can’t have all those nice things and take it for granted, which I don’t think any of us are. We know this is here because of the expectations, I think it is a nice feeling that people are putting England as a team to fear.

SK: So far this spring and summer, England’s youth teams have been winning friendly tournaments and going far and also winning in official tournaments, are you aware of that tide of success?
JN: We watched a few of their games and it is great they are winning trophies. I won the Euros at U19s and that feeling is incredible. Hopefully we can carry on that run, it is nice to have that support as well. Watching them win has given us that extra drive.

SK: Do you feel any pressure of expectation to carry on with your team and England’s success?
JN: It’s the first time [going into a tournament] we have been one of the teams to beat, I think that is good. If you want to be elite at any sport you want to be known as a team to beat, a team to be feared, to having that pressure of winning is a nice feeling, you don’t want to be that underdog anymore, you want to be that team people go: ‘I don’t want to face England’. A lot of the girls have played in pressure games before so I don’t think that will affect us.

SK: You were at the opening game, did you enjoy it and what did you think of the match and how your Arsenal teammates did, and also your new team mate next season?
JN: The Dutch played well, they deserved to win and the crowd was incredible. What a moment for them to play at home and feel that environment. We saw a picture an hour-and-a-half before kick off and everywhere was just orange! The Netherlands will be tough to beat.
Sari [van Veenendaal] made some great saves, this is her tournament to shine and secure the No.1 shirt. She pulled off some great saves. Vivianne Miedema is a top talent, I’ve played against her with Bayern Munich twice. She is young, lively, has good feet and is a goalscorer. The more goals she gets the more we will win games, so that’s good for Arsenal.

SK: Does it finally feel real, after such a long build up?
JN: Yeah, it definitely now has that kind of tournament feeling. Plenty of people we know are coming from England to watch us play and for the women’s game to have people coming across to support us is great. The Euros is an incredible occasion and hopefully we can make everyone proud and put in a good performance.

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