Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Melissa Phillips says that she is thrilled with the club’s summer signings.
The new-look Seagulls kick-off the 2023/2024 Barclays Women’s Super League season with a trip to Merseyside to face Everton on Sunday.
Brighton & Hove Albion have made 11 summer signings and while there is a real buzz of excitement around the club, head coach Phillips wants the on-field performances to drive her side’s league ranking.
“I think we’ve sort of taken the underdog mentality around here,” Phillips said. “We want to chip away, we want to focus on our performances and we want to climb the table. I think we will let our performances dictate that and make sure that we’re really accountable to the things that we’re going after.”
Going on to comment on Brighton & Hove Albion’s impressive summer business, Phillips expressed her delight at the squad that has been assembled for the new season.
She said “I think we are over the moon with this transfer window, we really kicked on and rebuilt the squad. This is just phase one but we’ve gone after high-level experience, players who are very ambitious and players that share values with the club and the project that we are building here.
“I’m really pleased with the group that we have, there is a really nice mix of experience and youth and there are good characters in the room.”
Phillips was only appointed Brighton & Hove Albion head coach in April and she narrowly saved The Seagulls from relegation last season, courtesy of an 11th-place finish. The American is hoping that her new signings can create a fresh identity for the club this season.
“It’s been really nice to be able to implement a philosophy and an identity on and off the pitch,” Phillips said. “We do have 11 new faces and I think we’ve had a few new staffing additions as well. The importance of understanding each other as people and the importance of communication has been really critical both on and off the pitch.
“We’ve really moved forward each week as we’ve gone and brought in new faces. The window closed and we just continue to move on from there.
“Obviously, we’ve got a lot of players coming back off the international window and a few days to prepare ahead of Everton. We’ve just been really intentional about how we learn information, how we help connect people and to make sure that we’re very confident for the test ahead.”
Brighton & Hove Albion’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Everton kicks-off at 1pm on Sunday afternoon.