Manager Rehanne Skinner has stressed how much she and her West Ham United women’s team are looking forward to returning to Chigwell Construction Stadium this Sunday.
The Hammers welcome Leicester City to east London in the Barclays Women’s Super League, looking to record our first league victory of the campaign as we play at home for the first time in over a month.
Our last match in Dagenham saw us secure a 2-1 success against divisional rivals Brighton & Hove Albion in the Subway® Women's League Cup, and we will strive to make it back-to-back home victories against the Foxes.
This weekend’s opponents are now under the stewardship of our former assistant manager Rick Passmoor, who Skinner praised in her pre-match press conference for making his side hard to beat.
The Irons boss also discussed the positives from our narrow defeat to Manchester City last time out, being more clinical in the final third and how self-reflective the squad are, as she sat down in front of the media at Chadwell Heath training ground.
Here are the main talking points…
Team news
Everyone should be available this week. We've gradually started to get Seraina [Piubel] back into a position to be available. She wasn't available last weekend, so we should be in a good position for this weekend.
Manchester City reflections
Collectively, we felt like we did enough to get some goals out of the game. Obviously, those moments are the bits we've just not quite been able to get over the line. In terms of the gameplan in possession, I thought the players executed it brilliantly and it led to those opportunities and chances for us.
It's just a case of continuing to keep working down that route, because it'll come. I think if we weren't creating chances, it would feel a lot different.
On and off the ball, it's probably our best performance this season. We limited them to one shot on target, which is huge against a team that's got the attacking threat that they have.
Being clinical in front of goal
I think it's continuing to expose them (the players) to finishing. You've just got to keep putting the players back in there. It's massively a confidence thing. I think just the repetition of it, the exposure to it, is really important.
Recognising and acknowledging with them that they’re making good runs and getting into good positions, there just sometimes needs to be a little bit less thinking and more composure. It's more about backing yourself in what you're capable of doing with your technique and not trying to do too much in those moments. If you've not scored for a while, often you take the extra touch when you don't need it.
I've got no doubt those players and other players within the squad are more than capable of scoring goals. It's just us getting over the line with that first one. A first win, I think, will also help that.
Being back at home and facing Leicester
Rick [Passmoor] is trying to make them hard to beat. They're direct, they obviously play off a lot of second balls and try to get into key areas in behind teams. Obviously, it takes time to get used to your players. It takes time to get everybody into a system that you think is going to work for you, based on the personnel. You can see each game that he has, how he's trying to adjust that moving forward. It'll be a real physical battle. It'll be a tough test.
It's great that we're at home again. Being back in front of our fans after a really good performance at the weekend, the players have got a really good belief in the game and in themselves going into this weekend. I think it puts us in a positive position going into the weekend to try and make life as difficult for them as we can. We want to make sure we get some points this weekend.
Making a fast start
We've definitely had first halves where I think we've been really effective. Sometimes the goals we've conceded, in the first half in particular, have been against the run of play.
We have to start well. It gives us confidence. We need to keep creating the chances and trust the fact we’re going to convert them. If that then catches them on the back foot, then great. That's obviously what any team is trying to do.
We defended really resolutely against Man City. The fact we’ve done all that good work defensively and we're creating those chances, when two things come together, it's inevitable we'll get three points out of games.
Being reflective
I think the biggest thing is we know what we're about, and we focus on what we need to within the team. We're really reflective. I think for us, we have to be in-house and focus on the things that matter to us. That's really strong with the culture and the identity of the team. You have to be able to back yourself and be really committed to each other in those moments.
What matters is what we're talking about, what everybody's agreeing with internally, how we feel about what we're doing, where we want to improve and where we want to keep using our strengths. That's really what matters because those will be the things that get us the points.
