Kirk: We’re Setting New Standards

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Kirk: We’re Setting New Standards

Manager Willie Kirk was thrilled with LCFC Women’s start to the season after beating Everton 1-0 at King Power Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

2023-10-09T08:45:00.000Z

by Matthew Temple

Published

09 Oct, 2023

Kirk: We’re Setting New Standards

Manager Willie Kirk was thrilled with LCFC Women’s start to the season after beating Everton 1-0 at King Power Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Matthew Temple

2023-10-09T08:45:00.000Z

Kirk: We’re Setting New Standards

Manager Willie Kirk was thrilled with LCFC Women’s start to the season after beating Everton 1-0 at King Power Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Matthew Temple

2023-10-09T08:45:00.000Z

Kirk: We’re Setting New Standards

Manager Willie Kirk was thrilled with LCFC Women’s start to the season after beating Everton 1-0 at King Power Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Matthew Temple

2023-10-09T08:45:00.000Z

Kirk: We’re Setting New Standards

Manager Willie Kirk was thrilled with LCFC Women’s start to the season after beating Everton 1-0 at King Power Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Matthew Temple

2023-10-09T08:45:00.000Z

- LCFC Women beat Everton 1-0 in the Barclays Women’s Super League - Lena Petermann scored the only goal at King Power Stadium- City have six points from their opening two WSL games - The Foxes face Liverpool in the Continental Tyres League Cup on Wednesday

The positive opening to the 2023/24 Barclays Women’s Super League campaign keeps flowing for the Foxes who made it two wins from two last weekend with a narrow win over the Toffees on home soil.

Following the full-time whistle, City's Manager shared his feelings on the game, labelling the test a tough one, but was delighted with his team’s performance and the impact that some individuals had on the scoreline.

“Before the game, I went up to the hospitality lounge and told them it would be a competitive match and I think I can back my words up with that,” Kirk stated. “I’m sure it was a good game for supporters, and we had a really good opening 15 minutes.

“After that, we didn’t seem to lose belief, but we started doing the hard things, and Everton had their tails up towards the end of the first half. Janina [Leitzig] pulling off a great double save from the penalty.

“In the second half, I think Everton started brightly and we had to work our way into the game. We were sitting off deeper and we needed to make sure we were pressing higher up the pitch, but the goal was fantastic.

“The pass from Sam Tierney was outstanding and the finish was brilliant as well – it’s what we’re starting to expect. It was a bit tough at the end but I’m a great believer of making your own luck and we did that.”

Leicester’s season started solidly with a 4-2 win over newly-promoted Bristol City on the opening day, before doubling their tally with a first clean sheet of the season and a second half goal from Lena Petermann, who already has two goals to her name.

It took the Foxes until February to reach this point last term. That isn’t the only sign of improvement in the team and the former Everton manager explained how these new standards must continue to be met.

He added: “We keep creating firsts. It’s the first time we’ve beaten Everton, first time we’ve got six points in two games – in fact, it’s the first time we’ve got any points in two games. And the first time we’ve been sat top of the league after two games.

“There’s so many things this group are achieving, and we want to create some history for future Leicester teams to look towards and we’re working honestly and hard during training and that’ll serve the team in good stead.

“We need to have a good ‘keeper if we’re going to play really high and aggressive. It’s a little bit uncomfortable at times but to be able to rely on a player like Janina is great, and she thoroughly deserved her clean sheet today.

“I’m so glad I didn’t take Lena off a couple of minutes earlier. We were waiting for the ball to go out before making the change and it finally did when she put it in the net. So a little bit of fortune there, but a great finish from her.

“We’re setting new standards, and we need to keep rising to them, because we say if you do something for the first time, it needs to become the standard. There’s only one other club that have six points so far in Liverpool, so it shows the quality of the league.”

The games keep coming for City who carry on their WSL campaign next weekend when they travel to Leigh Sports Village to face Manchester United. However, Leicester face another test before that when they meet Liverpool in the Continental Tyres League Cup on Wednesday evening - a 7pm BST kick-off at Pirelli Stadium.

“Any squad rotation will be done on fitness and health,” the 45-year-old continued. “We not going to change the team for the sake of it, we want to win every game. I think it's really important we have that mindset.

“The team we put on the pitch isn’t always your best 11, there’s a difference between who you want to start the game and who you want to end the game. We probably will introduce another two or three but that will be based on who we think can exploit Liverpool.”

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