Tottenham Hotspur’s interim head coach Vicky Jepson is backing her side to take their chances when they face Leicester City at The Breyer Group Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Jepson was appointed Spurs’ interim head coach last night after the club sacked their former boss Rehanne Skinner.
The Lilywhites have lost their last nine matches in the Barclays Women’s Super League and they desperately need a result against an improving Leicester City side.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Jepson said that a lack of quality finishing has been a problem at times throughout the nine-match losing run but she is backing her side to be clinical in their latest game against Leicester City.
“Definitely goals, getting over the line, every team wants goals,” Jepson said when asked where it has gone wrong for Spurs. “We’ve created many opportunities and even clear-cut chances at the weekend. We dominated possession, but we’ve got to have purpose with it and finish off those chances when they arise. I have no doubt that we’ll do that tomorrow.”
Wednesday’s fixture is hugely important in terms of the two sides’ positions in the Barclays Women’s Super League table, but whatever happens, Jepson knows that the battle is not over.
She said “It won’t make or break us that’s for sure because we have enough in our group, but it’s an important game. Every game is in the WSL and no game is an easy game, it will be tough tomorrow.
“Willie Kirk has done a great job, but we’re ready for the fight. We’ve regrouped today and addressed our emotions because they were raw this morning and we’re ready to fight for this Club together as a group.”
Leicester City arrive in East London having kept more clean sheets in 2023 than any other side in the Barclays Women’s Super League. Jepson said that belief and confidence will be important when trying to breach The Foxes’ backline.
“The way we move off the front and in behind to create opportunities to disjoint the backline will be key,” Jepson said. “I don’t want to sit here and tell you everything we’ve been working on in training because that would feed right into Willie Kirk’s hands.
“For us, it’s belief and confidence because when you go through turbulence and are on the back of a few losses, you start to doubt yourself a little bit. What we can’t have is us going into that game doubting ourselves and our ability because as everybody knows, we have a lot of quality within our squad. They need to regroup and be ready to perform tomorrow at their best level. That’s in and out of possession, making sure we’re relentless out of possession, getting under the ball as quick as we can and then in possession being calm, collected and confident when those goalscoring moments arise.
“I’ve been impressed with them. Sometimes, it’s just a change of manager that can change the way people apply themselves. It’s not an unbeatable team, that’s for sure, but we know they’re relentless in terms of defending the goal. They’ll be quite direct at times and their back-four will play with an aggressive front foot and try to cause us problems when we’re playing into the third line.
“We’re prepared, we’re ready. We know that they’ve picked up form, but we’re ready for the challenge and can’t wait to get to the game now just to make sure that we get the job done.”
Tottenham Hotspur’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Leicester City kicks-off at 7pm on Wednesday evening. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.