Leicester City head coach Willie Kirk insists that his side will continue their progression, although they will learn some tough lessons along the way.
The Foxes took seven points from their first three matches in the Barclays Women’s Super League this season but they have since suffered three consecutive defeats. Leicester City’s latest defeat came against Arsenal on Sunday when Kirk’s side led 2-0 at the break only to concede six second half goals.
Leicester City’s players were hurting after that 6-2 defeat but head coach Kirk saw the positives from the performance and he has full belief that his side will learn lessons from it as they move forward.
“There were a number of individual things where we thought we could have done better,” Kirk said when speaking in a Leicester City press conference. “It wasn’t necessarily with the last kick before a goal was scored, it was higher up the pitch when we could’ve stopped a counter, we could have caused a foul or we could have locked someone out of the pitch.
“We’re working on lots of small details but I also wanted us to focus on how good the first half performance was because the feeling amongst the players was embarrassment at the end of the game but my feeling was ‘I hope we still get credit for the first half’. I hope the players understand how good they were in the first half.
“We can do everything that Arsenal do but we make more mistakes than Arsenal do. The team will get where we want them to get to, it’s about going through these tough moments. The real positive for me is that we are putting ourselves in positions where we can make mistakes and we are putting ourselves in a vulnerable position where we are trying to match these teams toe-to-toe and we are really finding out about ourselves.”
Tottenham Hotspur are Leicester City’s next opponents at The King Power Stadium on Sunday. Kirk has been impressed with what he has seen from the North Londoners but has full belief that his side can get a result.
He said “They’ve been fantastic. They’ve got 11 points from their opening fixtures and I think that they’ll be happy with that. Robert (Vilahamn) is a new manager to the league but he has started really positively and has got the best out of some players, he is maximising what they give. I’ve worked with Grace Clinton before and I know how good she is when she is on her game.
“We understand what their threats are, we think we are fairly well clued up on what they do with and without the ball. We will look to nullify their threats when they’re in possession and exploit them when we have the ball and they’re trying to defend.
“We think we have a robust game plan with the flexibilities to put on a good performance and take three points.”
Leicester City’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur is scheduled to kick-off at 3pm on Sunday afternoon. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.
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