'It's About Keeping Momentum' - Kirk Talks Man Utd Challenge

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'It's About Keeping Momentum' - Kirk Talks Man Utd Challenge

Willie Kirk hopes his LCFC Women side will be able to nullify Manchester United's threats when the two sides meet at Leigh Sports Village this Thursday in the Continental Tyres League Cup.

2023-12-14T09:00:00.000Z

by Matthew Temple

Published

14 Dec, 2023

'It's About Keeping Momentum' - Kirk Talks Man Utd Challenge

Willie Kirk hopes his LCFC Women side will be able to nullify Manchester United's threats when the two sides meet at Leigh Sports Village this Thursday in the Continental Tyres League Cup.

Matthew Temple

2023-12-14T09:00:00.000Z

'It's About Keeping Momentum' - Kirk Talks Man Utd Challenge

Willie Kirk hopes his LCFC Women side will be able to nullify Manchester United's threats when the two sides meet at Leigh Sports Village this Thursday in the Continental Tyres League Cup.

Matthew Temple

2023-12-14T09:00:00.000Z

'It's About Keeping Momentum' - Kirk Talks Man Utd Challenge

Willie Kirk hopes his LCFC Women side will be able to nullify Manchester United's threats when the two sides meet at Leigh Sports Village this Thursday in the Continental Tyres League Cup.

Matthew Temple

2023-12-14T09:00:00.000Z

'It's About Keeping Momentum' - Kirk Talks Man Utd Challenge

Willie Kirk hopes his LCFC Women side will be able to nullify Manchester United's threats when the two sides meet at Leigh Sports Village this Thursday in the Continental Tyres League Cup.

Matthew Temple

2023-12-14T09:00:00.000Z

The Foxes are without a win since beating Liverpool in the League Cup in October, but have picked up multiple points from draws, most recently to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, taking their Barclays Women's Super League points tally to nine for the season.

Now looking ahead to another busy week which starts with a second trip of the season to Leigh Sports Village, the Manager hopes his side can keep the chance of qualification from the League Cup groupstage in their own hands...

Four away games in a row

Thursday's trip to Leigh will be City's fourth consecutive away game after Manchester City, Chelsea and Brighton, and therefore Kirk was asked about the effect this has on his team, but believes keeping organised and energetic shouldn't be an issue for this side.

"It's about keeping momentum," the Manager opened with. "Players would rather play matches then train, but we've got to be sensible in terms of our selection. Everyone knows I like having a lot of energy up front so it's about keeping that fresh if nothing else.

"We can make a couple of changes to the game plan and try to take something from the game. We'll know more come Thursday as everyone else is playing Wednesday night, so we'll know what to do against Man Utd to keep things in our hands."

"We've got a squad full of internationals so they're used to hotel stays and having a bit of down time during the day. How we approach this game will be a little bit different being a Thursday, so we've got to think how it will impact the West Ham United game on Sunday.

"We're travelling on the day instead and staying over after the game, which is a little bit different for us but we think it's the best way to approach this game to be fit and ready come Sunday when we face West Ham".

Learning points

The Foxes have been in the lead during four of their last five games, but have failed to see out victory due to defensive errors and late goals. Always working to rectify these mistakes, the former Everton manager wanted to focus on the positives seen so far during the 2023/24 campaign.

"We'll certainly want to keep the attacking threat," Kirk voiced. "We've scored 14 goals in the league so far, and this time last year, we'd scored two; one was an own goal, which is a massive difference.

"We're constantly adapting that game model and looking at our organisation off the ball, and then when we have the ball. We're trying to get the players used to defensive shape while in possession which isn't an easy thing to get their heads round because it can have negative connotations but we're trying to turn it into a positive.

"Counterattacking against us has been an issue, but we've identified that and highlighted so we need to be able to show a bit of resilience around that and make sure we stop those counterattacks at the source, rather than letting them become dangerous further our end of the pitch."

Manchester United

Aileen Whelan scored at Leigh Sports Village earlier this season when the two sides met in a 1-1 draw in the WSL, and Kirk aims for an improved performance this time round, despite knowing the quality that the Red Devils will being to the match-up.

He added: "We certainly want a better performance than last time because even though we got a point, we were a little bit disappointed with the first half so we'll look to remedy that and have a better 90 minute performance.

"If we go ahead this time, we'll want to keep the lead a bit longer, that's for sure. They're a top team and will make changes; they'll have to because they've assembled a team for the UEFA Women's Champions League, and they've not got that anymore so I'm sure the thinking behind building that squad was to prepare for three game weeks.

"So, I'm sure they'll utilise the quality of that squad. But, we know they've got a style and the things they do consistently, and even though we know that, it doesn't mean we'll be able to counter it, but we'll be preparing ourselves as best as possible to nullify them and play our game."

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