Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Melissa Phillips says that the upcoming Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Everton provides another opportunity for her side to develop their identity.
The Seagulls take on The Blue Girls at Broadfield Stadium on Wednesday evening. The game comes just four days after Brighton & Hove Albion pushed Manchester United all the way in a Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final tie before going down 3-2 at the Leigh Sports Village.
Phillips was appointed Brighton & Hove Albion’s new head coach during the April international window and she has worked quickly to put her stamp on her struggling side. When speaking to the media ahead of the midweek fixture against Everton, Phillips said that The Seagulls are focusing on themselves as they look to take the opportunity to develop their identity further.
“They are a strong side,” Phillips said when discussing Everton’s potential threat. “We have obviously looked at them over the last couple of days in preparation for Wednesday.
“They’re very well organised, they’re very disciplined in their system and they maintain possession exceptionally well. There will be things that we have to combat within that but it is all going to be about us and putting our own stamp on the game and really starting to develop who we are in and out of possession.”
Phillips appeared to get a good balance from her Brighton & Hove Albion side against Manchester United at the weekend, however, she believes that there is plenty of work to be done both in and out of possession.
She said “First and foremost, we want to be an incredibly organised team that has good role clarity and that we are very difficult to break down. We spent very little time on the attacking side of it having so few days to prepare going into that match, we really just looked at transition moments.
“I think we were really good under pressure to play out in some one and two-touch combinations but then equally, when we had a bit more time on the ball, I think there’s a lot to build in terms of decision-making, quality of the ball that we played and entry passes. We also put ourselves in some precarious positions where we turned over the ball in defensive transitions.
“There’s a lot to do, a lot to work on but there was certainly a lot to take away from the match.”
Brighton & Hove Albion’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Everton kicks-off at 7pm on Wednesday evening. Tickets remain available and can be purchased by clicking here.
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