Bristol City head coach Lauren Smith says that her side have nothing to lose against Manchester City this weekend.
After losing their opening two Barclays Women’s Super League fixtures against Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur, The Robins face their toughest test yet as they travel to the Joie Stadium to take on a star-studded Manchester City outfit.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Bristol City boss Smith said that her side must go into their latest match with belief and that they have nothing to lose.
“We have to believe that we can do something and we prepare ourselves (accordingly),” Smith said. “We are on a journey and we have to make sure that we are getting better every game.
“The challenge is to be more than a 45-minute team, eradicate the errors that we can and make sure that they have the hardest route to goal.
“We are feeling good, there’s nothing to lose, so we’ve got to give it a good go.”
Smith went on to say that the fixture will provide a good marker for how her side are progressing defensively. The Bristol City boss doesn’t expect the game to be all about what happens in the defensive third though.
She said “We’ve got to be realistic from the game plan; what do we want to do and when are our opportunities? We will look at those but defending the box has been a key part of what we have been doing over the last few weeks. We have to use it as an opportunity to see how we are getting on in those moments.
“We played Manchester City in pre-season and we had chances and created things. I don’t think it’s a game where you have to sit in and get rid of it, we want to try and cause problems because if we don’t start challenging those teams right now, we are going to have a really long season. We will see what opportunities we have and take it one step at a time.”
Bristol City’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Manchester City kicks-off at 1pm on Sunday.