Ready To Get Going, Says Bott
- LCFC Women return home from Perth International Football Cup
- The Foxes beat West Ham United 5-2 in the third-place play-off game
- CJ Bott is happy to be back and looks forward to the start of the WSL season
- Leicester travel to Liverpool for the opening league fixture
LCFC Women are back on home soil after a two-week long camp for the Perth International Football Cup, where they were beaten on penalties by Manchester City in the first game, before claiming third place with an emphatic win over West Ham United.
Getting time to spend with her fellow team mates, Bott believes the trip to Australia was positive in more ways than one, and the on-field performances showed that.
“I think it was a really positive trip,” the defender stated. “It was a good amount of time in pre-season to be with the girls and get to know the new players. But then we also achieved a lot on the pitch which was exciting.
“The West Ham game especially was a good performance from us all and we put all those lessons into practice; it was annoying to concede twice but you can see our plan coming to fruition with the five goals.
“Any amount of time you can spend with the team is good for morale. Spending 24/7 with the girls was a lot but it was also really fun, and getting to know everyone well.”
Now back at Belvoir Drive, the final pre-season preparations are underway as a fourth consecutive Barclays Women’s Super League season dawns, kicking off with an away fixture against Liverpool (Sunday 22 September, 2pm BST kick-off).
Full of praise for the new recruits this summer, with a special mention to French striker Noémie Mouchon, who netted in the 5-2 result against the Hammers, Bott has confidence in the squad’s ability and believes they can start with a win on Merseyside.
“It’s definitely a lot colder (in the UK) compared to Perth in the winter which is disappointing,” City's No.4 continued. “It feels good to be back though; Belvoir Drive feels like home, and we’ve got great facilities to help us get back into the swing of things.
“It’s fun coming into the season and playing games is what we’re here to do so we’re all really excited to get going. It’s crazy that I’ve been here for so long, but I’m just excited to start the new season.
“We’ve had some really good signings this summer. We’ve seen quite a lot of what Noémie (Mouchon) can offer in Perth, she’s awesome and I think she’s going to help put us in a good place from an attacking point of view.
“We’re definitely not going to be interested in a relegation battle this season, and you can see in our pre-season performances that we’re in a good place. We’ve learned our lesson the past few years and will be aiming for the top half of the table.
“It’s so important to start strongly and Liverpool is always a good challenge for us. We have often put in some great performances against them, but unfortunately that last game of last season wasn’t great.
“We don’t want a repeat of that, but we’ll come out all guns blazing, we’ll be ready for a battle and we’re aiming to put points on the table after that game.”