Kirk: A Really Difficult Game
- LCFC Women were defeated on the road by Chelsea in the Barclays Women’s Super League
- Pernille Harder scored twice for the Blues at Kingsmeadow
- The loss leaves City two points above Reading at the bottom of the table
- Leicester face West Ham United on Sunday 21 May (3pm BST kick-off) at King Power Stadium
After a promising display in a narrow 1-0 defeat to Arsenal, the Foxes returned to the capital to face Chelsea but were beaten under the lights 6-0 by a side chasing back-to-back WSL titles.
After the game, the manager shared his reflections with LCFC TV and admits that his side weren’t competitive enough with the Blues, but the loss to key individuals had an impact of the match.
“We wanted to try and stay in the game for as long as we could like Arsenal on Friday,” Kirk explained. “But we just didn’t get to grips with certain elements of the game and I think Chelsea’s movement can do that to you.
“It proved really difficult at certain times. I think losing two centre-backs (Sophie Howard and Ashleigh Plumptre) didn’t help the game. One was our decision, and the other was a slight knock, but to lose them made it tough.
“It’s not then just about replacing them, it also has a knock-on effect to the rest of the team because you have to replace them with players from other positions, so that was always going to be tough.
“As I said to the players, I’m not accepting the performance or scoreline, but I am pragmatic enough to know that this game won’t define our season. We’re still on track for what we want to accomplish. That is to win our last two games, to achieve the points target that we’ve set so that we stay in the division for next season.”
Deep into the second half, the former Everton manager introduced Shannon O’Brien into the game, who made her first appearance for the Club since losing out to West Ham United back in November.
Kirk was delighted to see the forward pick up some valuable minutes, and believes that the squad will not be faded by this heavy defeat, and are still confident of doing what’s necessary to retain their WSL status come the end of May.
He added: “There were a number of positives from the game. When we were brave enough to play, we played well, but it’s just getting the players to believe in that. I thought Missy Goodwin had a fantastic game, and to have Shannon back after such a long injury was great going into the last two fixtures.
“I’ve not got any fear about this affecting our last two games. We’ve had some heavy defeats this year, including away to Manchester United and Aston Villa, but each time we’ve bounced back.
“We know the level we’re at, and it isn’t Chelsea’s level right now, and we’re big enough to admit that. And we know that being able to compete with Chelsea is a long way down the line.
“We’ve got a bit of work to do ahead of next week, but we’ll get the players back in and we’ll be working hard to face West Ham on Sunday.”