Tottenham Hotspur forward Alex Morgan will not start their Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture at Manchester City this weekend.
Spurs fans will be desperate to see the United States international in a lilywhite shirt but it seems that her involvement at Manchester City will be limited with joint-head coaches Karen Hills and Juan Amoros having a decision to make on whether to bring her on from the bench.
Speaking in an official Tottenham Hotspur press conference in which FA Women’s Super League Full-Time were present, Morgan confirmed that she will not be in the starting XI for Spurs on Sunday.
“If I play, I won’t be starting because 90 minutes is too much for my first match” said Morgan. “I am taking things day-by-day so we still have one more day to look at me in training to see if I feel ready to go.
“We are looking more at the long-term and how I can continue to build up on fitness and feel 100%.
“It has only been two weeks of training and each day brings on something new.”
Whether it be Manchester City or any of the other 10 clubs who Morgan makes her first Spurs appearance against, she is expecting a tough assignment. When speaking about the growth of the women’s game, the player admitted that the overall development of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League has really impressed her.
She went on to say “I think something that I have really noticed with the WSL is the growth of every individual club across the board.
“You are not just seeing the growth of Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal you’ve got Manchester United, we’ve seen Spurs come up to the top division, Reading doing really well, there are a lot of different clubs doing really well.
“There are a lot of different clubs putting in a lot of resources to make their club as competitive as possible.
“That is what I respect about this club, there is not one match that you can put in your second team, every match you need to put your best team forward.”
Morgan was named on the Spurs bench for the first time last weekend as Hills and Amoros’ side took on Arsenal in a North London derby in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup. The player was unused as Spurs eventually lost the tie 4-0.