Bedford: Fine-Tune Aspects Of Our Play

- Manager Lydia Bedford addresses the national media ahead of facing Chelsea
- LCFC Women host the Blues at King Power Stadium on Sunday (3pm kick-off)
- Bedford wants City to play their own game no matter who the opponents are
- The Foxes currently sit 11th in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table

Welcoming the title-chasing Blues to King Power Stadium on Sunday (3pm kick-off), the Foxes head into matchday 18 of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League campaign with an eye on returning to the high performance level shown earlier this year.  

While happy with the progress made across her tenure, the manager is keen to seek further improvements in certain areas following back-to-back league defeats, with daunting fixtures against top-four sides Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City coming up.

The messages to the players have been positive, she revealed, while speaking to the media in Thursday afternoon’s virtual pre-match press conference held at Belvoir Drive.

“I know that over the next three weeks we are going to play some very good opponents who have some world class players,” she began. “But we believe that the style of football that we’re trying to play and the principles that we’ve got are ones which we’re looking to implement regardless of who we’re playing against.

“It was a case of finding the good things and taking them into this game. From our players’ perspective, they’ve got to work hard, they’ve got to work together, they’ve got to be resilient, and they’ve got to wait for that golden moment, and we’ve got to be good at taking those moments.

“We know across the game that Chelsea will probably create way more chances than we do, and we’ll probably have to ride our luck in some instances to be able to keep the score competitive, but we also know as a team we’re starting to score more goals.

“The three goals against West Ham, it’s less of an anomaly now. We scored two against Everton and we felt we could have scored more, so I think what’s positive is that we carry a threat, and we plan to try and execute that.”

The two previous meetings with Chelsea in 2021/22 both ended in defeat, the latter of which came in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup Fifth Round, during Bedford’s time at the helm, though there were plenty of encouraging signs from the way the Foxes played before having Sophie Howard sent off.

Bedford explained: “When we start games with a real good intent and we work hard and together as a group, we can cause problems. We created some good moments in those opening 20 minutes and had a couple of chances as a result of that.

“We were really pleased with the intensity that we started that game with. We‘re looking to be brave to do that. We feel that dropping down to 10 players had an impact on our game plan and our players’ ability to perform to the level we might have.

“I’d be very surprised if Chelsea haven’t done another level of detail on us as a result of how we started that game last time. I’m sure they’ll be ready to cause us even more problems than perhaps they did four weeks ago.

“This weekend we’ll take pride in the scoreline and obviously try to make sure that’s a competitive as it can possibly can be. If you look at the results that Chelsea have picked up over the last four or five games, they’ve played a lot of teams that are in and around us and a lot of those games have ended us as three or four nil defeats.

“But there’s some key moments, the Villa game in particular, where they took them to the last moments. At the same time, I’m excited for the players to have the opportunity to go again and rewrite what the script looks like for this opponent. We see it as an opportunity to see where we’re at, so we’re looking forward to it.”

Back on Filbert Way for the first time since a memorable triumph over Brighton & Hove Albion in January, the 34-year-old is seeking a similar level of support from the Blue Army to preserve a positive recent record at home, winning their last two at the venue.

“There’s no better place to be,” Bedford added. “It’s Mothering Sunday, the sun will be shining. The support we’ve had in the previous games at King Power Stadium has been absolutely outstanding.

“That will be a massive part of the team’s competitiveness and success at the weekend. We’re really looking forward to getting back out in front of that home crowd and hopefully we can continue that winning streak that we’ve got at King Power Stadium.”

All times BST.