‘We Want To Be Aggressive’ – Kirk Talks Arsenal Fixture

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‘We Want To Be Aggressive’ – Kirk Talks Arsenal Fixture

LCFC Women take on Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Friday evening and manager Willie Kirk wants his side to play with confidence at Meadow Park.

2023-05-05T07:13:55.742Z

by Matthew Temple

Published

05 May, 2023

‘We Want To Be Aggressive’ – Kirk Talks Arsenal Fixture

LCFC Women take on Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Friday evening and manager Willie Kirk wants his side to play with confidence at Meadow Park.

Matthew Temple

2023-05-05T07:13:55.742Z

‘We Want To Be Aggressive’ – Kirk Talks Arsenal Fixture

LCFC Women take on Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Friday evening and manager Willie Kirk wants his side to play with confidence at Meadow Park.

Matthew Temple

2023-05-05T07:13:55.742Z

‘We Want To Be Aggressive’ – Kirk Talks Arsenal Fixture

LCFC Women take on Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Friday evening and manager Willie Kirk wants his side to play with confidence at Meadow Park.

Matthew Temple

2023-05-05T07:13:55.742Z

‘We Want To Be Aggressive’ – Kirk Talks Arsenal Fixture

LCFC Women take on Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Friday evening and manager Willie Kirk wants his side to play with confidence at Meadow Park.

Matthew Temple

2023-05-05T07:13:55.742Z

The Foxes are a side in form and have picked up six points from their last possible six, thanks to home wins against Reading and Liverpool, scoring six goals across the two matches.

In Wednesday’s press conference at Belvoir Drive, Kirk previewed City’s upcoming clash with the Gunners - a 7:30pm BST kick-off in the capital.

On cloud nine

After picking themselves off the foot of the WSL table for the first time this season after their 2-1 win over the Royals in early April, the Foxes attempted a similar mission against Liverpool only days ago, and achieved the same outcome.

Goals from Josie Green, Carrie Jones, Ashleigh Plumptre and Missy Goodwin guided Leicester to their biggest ever WSL win and three huge points which takes their tally to 13 for the 2022/23 campaign. The manager was happy to see such a dominant display after four weeks away from action.

“We were off for a couple of days to maximise recovery before a four-day lead into the Arsenal game,” Kirk explained. “But the players have been in a really good mood as you’d expect. April has been a good month, and the squad are in a jovial place right now.

“The mood has been great since the turn of the year, but it was frustrating after the Reading game as we went straight into an international break and didn’t get to see many of players before going back to the bottom of the table.

“But after getting another win and lifting ourselves back off bottom and into tenth, it’s great to see and we’re looking to build on this momentum this week and over the course of the rest of the season."

Aggressive football

Solidifying a brand of football which is becoming a pleasure to watch for the Filbert Way faithful has seen the Foxes catch up with the rest of the pack since their miraculous turnaround at the start of the calendar year.

Asked about how he presents his ideas to the team, Kirk stated that his message has always been the same, and that they will be no dramatic changes to their approach against Arsenal.

“We spoke to the team just before the Liverpool game, and we said about being ruthless and as we know from the game they were,” the 44-year-old continued. “We played with confidence, aggression, and freedom, which we’ve reiterated to the squad on multiple occasions.

“The only way for us to play now is confident. If we started playing in a low block, and just defending behind the ball then it won’t be a true reflection of us, or what we want our identity to be.

“So, we want to be aggressive on Friday night and play attack-minded football. I don’t think we’ll dominate the ball against Arsenal so it will be a different game to the previous couple, but we’ll still have periods within the match where we want to be positive with the ball.”

Playing the top teams

In the past, the manager talked about games against the ‘top four’ as a ‘free hit', but admits that this has been a mistake and it can allow the players take their foot off the gas in games where they may not expect anything from it.

Instead, the former Everton manager was keen to explain how they see Friday night as an opportunity to play their style of football, and take something from the three-time WSL winners.

He added: “I said to the players that one of my main concerns was focusing on the badge that we were playing against. We’ve framed games wrong in the past and I’ve described games against the top teams as a free hit and that there’s no pressure on us, but I believe that is wrong looking back now.

“So now our aim is to take something from every game we play. I believe the team are coping with the pressure well. We’ve had a couple of games which can be seen as a ‘must win’ or at least a ‘must perform’ game, and they’ve still played with confidence, so I think credit has to be given to these players.”

The game plan for the Gunners

Friday night will pose to be a difficult test for the Foxes, who face a side only beaten three times in the league this season, but Kirk has identified areas in Arsenal’s game which he hopes his team can exploit.

“I think very few teams come back from conceding early against the top teams,” Kirk told the media. “Scoring early also doesn’t guarantee you anything, I think Reading proved that at the weekend (when they were beaten 4-1 by Manchester City).

“We know that they have great quality, but we must capitalise on our opportunities and make the game uncomfortable for them. We will be going to play in their half.

“We’ve said that if we don’t dominate the ball, then we need to dominate territory. We’ve had mixed success in our game plans, but we’re going in with confidence knowing that we have the quality to get something from the game.

“We’ve been very clear and honest with the players. Arsenal played in the Champions League Semi-Final which shows the quality they have but also that they could be mentally and physically fatigued which we must use to our advantage.”

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