Morgan Targeting A Potential Cup Upset

- LCFC Women's Vitality Women's FA Cup journey continues in the fifth round on Sunday
- The Foxes face Manchester United at Leigh Sports Village (12pm kick-off) after defeating Liverpool in the previous round
- Manager Jonathan Morgan speaks to the media in Thursday's virtual pre-match press conference
- He says that the players will be giving their all to try and conjure up a cup upset and reach the quarter-finals

It promises to be one of the toughest tests of the season for the Foxes, who have already faced Barclays FA Women's Super League sides twice during the campaign.

Leicester lost by a single goal on both occasions, against Manchester City in last season's competition, and Bristol City in the League Cup, and Morgan is eager to show once more that they can compete with the best teams in the country.

"We've trained hard, the girls have been fantastic and ultra-professional during this period, they've worked really hard," Morgan told the media during his virtual pre-match press conference from Belvoir Drive on Thursday afternoon.

"We're a close-knit group of girls and staff. We've been very fortunate that we've had some strong personal relationships built over this year, shared some fantastic memories together and because of that strong foundation, we've been able to focus on the Man United game.

"The girls have worked for each other and all want to go out together with one last positive performance. We've assessed what we think we should do against United, we've got a game plan and hopefully we can execute it on Sunday.

"We want to go and win the game, we want to go for a full strength team, the best starting XI that we have available. We want to show what we can do for next season and this is a great opportunity to show that we got promoted to the WSL for a reason, we're not here just to make up the numbers.

"We've analysed and looked at United all week and we've worked on things that we think we can exploit them with and let's just hope the girls can put it together on the pitch, which I'm 100 per cent sure they can and hopefully cause a cup upset."

United ended their league campaign a week later than the Foxes, with the WSL season concluding last Sunday after a 2-0 home win over Everton, to finish fourth in the top flight table.

Morgan is looking forward to the prospect of coming into the game as clear underdogs, against a team that narrowly missed out on UEFA Women's Champions League qualification.

It's a challenge that we relish," he continued. "It's nice to get a taste of what the WSL is going to be like next season. It gives all the girls the opportunity to see what we need to do to step up and compete with teams like Man United next year.

"I think it's a different feeling because we are underdogs, but there's no pressure on us as well, which is a nice feeling that we've not had for a while. We've tried to give the girls freedom and creativity this week and hopefully we can execute it.

"Every game, whether it's the Championship or the WSL, we learn something and pick up something new. We've tweaked our training week this week to show what we're going to be looking like next season and give the girls the opportunity to see our difference in mindset for next year.

"The whole day will be a learning curve for us to pick up all the little pointers that we may need to give us the best possible chance to start the WSL with."

With their male counterparts taking part in the Emirates FA Cup Final a day before the fifth round tie, Morgan feels able to take inspiration from Brendan Rodgers' side and believes both teams are doing the club proud in their respective leagues and competitions.

"It's a magical competition, it's a fantastic cup," the LCFC Women's manager added. "To get to the next round and for us to beat United would be fantastic. We can take inspiration from the lads. They've got to the FA Cup Final and they've shown it's possible.

"I'm not saying that we're going to get to the final in this year's competition, but it's definitely an inspiration to know as a Club, that we're going in the right direction. Hopefully the girls can take a little bit of the magic themselves and it can make them play just that little bit extra against such a top opposition like United.

"We're going to go out there and give it our all and work as hard as we can to go through. I think it's just relying on the girls' professionalism to make sure that they are switched on and focused. We're lucky that we've got players that can go out there and do that."

Although the FA Women's Championship season was wrapped up two weeks ago with the trophy lift for the champions taking place at King Power Stadium, the Foxes have now had to quickly re-energise and re-focus for this FA Cup clash.

Putting all thoughts of the title celebrations behind them has been easy with the mentally that is within the group, Morgan believes.

"We said to the girls, make sure you enjoy this season and the moment because as soon as this season finishes, it all changes and it all starts again," he explained. "We gave them a few days off last week and now we get to move forward and this week they came back in firing.

"Our atmosphere is always fun, lots of laughs and jokes. Morale is pretty high at this moment in time. Our girls are very good at keeping focused and it's something that I'm very fortunate with.

"It does help that I've got people like Ashleigh Plumptre, Remi Allen, Sophie Barker, those three in particular always drive standards and drive the energy levels. It keeps the younger girls focused more.

"Naturally all the girls have their own self pride and they want to make sure that they give the best version of themselves against United. It's a big challenge."

All times BST.