Leicester City head coach Willie Kirk hailed the impact of his two German players after The Foxes defeated Everton 1-0 at The King Power Stadium this afternoon.
There was little to separate the two sides in the East Midlands but in the end, Leicester City won the match courtesy of Lena Petermann’s second half goal. Goalkeeper Janina Leitzig starred for The Foxes once again, saving a first half penalty and pulling off some superb stops in open play.
When speaking in the post-match media huddle, Leicester City boss Kirk said that the headlines were shared by the club’s German contingent.
“It was a tale of two Germans; Jani (Leitzig) at one end and Lena (Petermann) at the other end,” Kirk said. “We needed Jani at times without a doubt. She had a fantastic game and that’s her second clean sheet against Everton, it’s an opponent that she obviously enjoys.”
After both sides created chances in a goalless opening 45 minutes, Everton came out much the stronger side immediately after the break. Leitzig kept Leicester City in the contest with two big one-on-one saves before the introduction of Hannah Cain turned the momentum of the game back into the hosts’ favour. Kirk said that his side really needed the break in play to hit the reset button.
He said “We were getting frustrated that the players were dropping off too much and the gap between the lines was too big. That was the problem that we were trying to solve.
“Just having the stoppage for the sub has allowed the players to reset. It wasn’t anything that I had done, we were trying to get the message across for about 15 minutes.
“We started getting back on the front foot, we were more aggressive and we were defending in their half.”
After two rounds of matches, Leicester City are top of the Barclays Women’s Super League table, much to Kirk’s delight.
“It’s the WSL, it’s the toughest league in the world, so I’m sure any team would take that,” the Leicester City boss said. “The fact that we’ve done it off the back of last season shows the progress that we are making and long may it continue.”
Leicester City return to action on Wednesday evening when they face Liverpool in the group stage of the FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup.