Arsenal Ladies boss Pedro Martinez Losa aiming to get Gunners back to all-conquering level again

Trailblazer: Losa is looking to help the Gunners move forward

Arsenal Ladies boss Pedro Martinez Losa is proving to be a trailblazer in the women’s game - but fears it will be difficult to repeat their glorious success.
Spaniard Losa is the first foreign coach to take charge of an English team and is flying the flag in Japan next week as Arsenal play in the International Women’s Club Championship.
Arsenal enter at the semi final stage in Tokyo next Wednesday with interest in the women’s game at an all-time high after England hosted Germany at Wembley on Sunday.
But Losa, who took charge in August, accepts his job will be to help revive Arsenal’s fortunes and get them back to the all-conquering success they enjoyed for more than a decade under former boss Vic Akers.
Losa said: “Arsenal have had a great past but we need to move forward and look to the future. It will be difficult to repeat that success because there are other clubs investing money, having good players and the interest in women’s football is fantastic.
“I don’t think winning all those titles will happen again. But we will look to move forward, the sport is moving forward quickly and we need to move quickly.

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“I’m the first foreign coach into the women’s game here and when you invest in that it’s because you recognise that you need to improve in some areas. But you also want to keep up.
“I feel comfortable, I really feel I can do it and it’s an honour to come here and work at such an exciting time for the game.”
Japan are the World Cup holders and with next year’s tournament in 2015, it is a huge year for the women’s game and next week’s mini tournament - also featuring Melbourne Victory, Okayama Yunogo Belle, Urawa Red Diamonds and São José - should be a good indicator for Arsenal.
They have two World Cup winners - Shinobu Ohno and Yukari Kinga - in their squad and the interest in women’s football is incredible as Arsenal’s last tour in 2011 attracted a crowd of 15,000 for a fund-raising event.
Losa is hoping to stamp his own mark on Arsenal Ladies, get them playing the Arsene Wenger way and also bring in long term success.
Losa added: “Arsenal has their own style as a club and I need to go in that direction but I feel like I am already in that direction and if I wasn’t then I wouldn’t have come here.

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Star quality: Losa is looking to get Arsenal Ladies playing the Wenger way

“I will implement that style on the team. I want a team which will press after losing it, be very offensive but have a balance between attack and defence. You can’t be offensive or have a balance if you don’t have security and be good defensively.
“It will take time but results are very important also. I feel the project here is exciting and I won’t of course need to change all the players here but we have such talent here.
“The objective for this club should be to coming back to compete in the Champions League and to be in the position to win trophies. It’s very difficult to win ten years in a row as the club did in the past.”