- LCFC Women were beaten 6-2 by Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League
- Sam Tierney and Janice Cayman scored City’s goals at King Power Stadium
- The Gunners scored six second-half goals to take the points
- Willie Kirk talked about the fine margins that make the difference at this level
After their strongest start to a WSL campaign, which saw Leicester pick up seven points from their first three games, they have now gone three loses on the bounce; most recently against Arsenal at King Power Stadium.
The Foxes put in a brilliant first-half display that earned them a two-goal lead, thanks to Sam Tierney and Janice Cayman, but a rampant Arsenal quickly overturned the game with six second-half goals.
“It’s a difficult to sum up that game right now, with the emotions around it,” Kirk opened with. “Today showed how good we can be, but also how fine the margins are at this level.
“If you don’t look after every detail, you can get punished. We wanted to be a high-scoring team, but Arsenal were devastating on the counter-attack and that cost us.”
Tierney opened the scoring on Filbert Way with her first goal of the season and 10th for the Club. Despite the loss, the former Everton manager is delighted to see the progress of the English midfielder, who started the game with the armband.
“I though she [Tierney] was excellent,” Kirk stated. “Given that Aileen [Whelan] was unavailable to start, I wanted Sam to captain the team, and I thought it could elevate her game even more.
“She’s a fantastic player, I said that when she signed the contract. It was really important to get her on a new deal, and we did, so I’m just looking forward to keep working with her.
“She’s still not operating at her full potential, and I think she can be an England international in the future, and I’m glad Sarina [Weigman] was here tonight to watch that.”
Without a win since early October, Kirk believes the confidence still remains high in the Leicester camp and looks forward to their next test, at home against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon.
“I honestly think that there will be no problem with getting over this loss,” the 45-year-old continued. “I’m looking forward to training next week and I’ve said to the players already that Spurs is a must win game, in terms of the trajectory we’re trying to reach this season.
“What I’ve found is that we when we put the players under realistic pressure, they respond well, and I’m sure it'll be no different next week and we’ll be excited to play in front of these fans again and try to right some wrongs.”