Brighton & Hove Albion manager Hope Powell has called on her side to do the basics well against Reading this weekend.
The Seagulls lost 4-0 at Tottenham Hotspur last weekend and they must now pick themselves up and prepare to face an opponent in Reading who they have traditionally struggled against.
Manager Powell has often taken her side back to basics when things haven’t gone to plan and she has again urged her side to get those basics right when Reading at the visitors to The People’s Pension Stadium this weekend.
“We have just gone back to basics to be hard to beat again,” Powell said when speaking in her pre-match press conference. “We’ve got to get the defending right whereas previously, we got the defending right and tried to expand a little bit more on the attacking elements of our game. In trying to do that, we have forgotten the basics of defending.
“We have just got to go back and reset again and really try and focus on a good performance around being hard to beat rather than focus so much on the result. Even though we want to win, let’s get those basic principles right.”
Commenting on what her side need to do better against this weekend’s opponents Reading, Powell said that being able to perform ugly could be an important factor.
She said “I absolutely think it is about that (doing the ugly side of the game well). They are very physical – they are physically strong and they’re big physically and they really use that. They’ve got real pace upfront, their movement is really good and they are relentless in what they do because they believe in it and it has brought them success.
“They use that physicality to their advantage and I would argue that we do not compete to that level as we perhaps should. I honestly think that we get beaten up a bit. If we were to go toe-to-toe with them in a boxing match, we would probably get beaten up. We have to try and play a bit smarter.”
The Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture between Brighton & Hove Albion and Reading is scheduled to kick-off at 2pm on Sunday. Tickets remain on sale and can be purchased by clicking here.
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