Kirk: We’re Still Building

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Kirk: We’re Still Building

Manager Willie Kirk believes better things are to come from LCFC Women who welcome Everton this Sunday in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

2023-10-07T11:34:00.000Z

by Matthew Temple

Published

07 Oct, 2023

Kirk: We’re Still Building

Manager Willie Kirk believes better things are to come from LCFC Women who welcome Everton this Sunday in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Matthew Temple

2023-10-07T11:34:00.000Z

Kirk: We’re Still Building

Manager Willie Kirk believes better things are to come from LCFC Women who welcome Everton this Sunday in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Matthew Temple

2023-10-07T11:34:00.000Z

Kirk: We’re Still Building

Manager Willie Kirk believes better things are to come from LCFC Women who welcome Everton this Sunday in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Matthew Temple

2023-10-07T11:34:00.000Z

Kirk: We’re Still Building

Manager Willie Kirk believes better things are to come from LCFC Women who welcome Everton this Sunday in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Matthew Temple

2023-10-07T11:34:00.000Z

The WSL season commenced in great fashion for the Foxes, who beat Bristol City 4-2 at Ashton Gate after a late first half equaliser from Aimee Palmer kick-started a City comeback to earn all three points.

This weekend sees Kirk’s side take on the Toffees, with plenty of talking points from the Manager’s press conference at Belvoir Drive...

Beating Bristol City

City's Manager couldn’t of dreamt of a better start to the season, especially after seeing three debutants in the form of Palmer, Lena Petermann and Jutta Rantala all open their Leicester accounts.

But this performance didn’t start in great fashion, and therefore Kirk commends his team’s efforts to stick to the gameplan and come out in the second half with confidence in their abilities to see it through.

“In hindsight, it was great that we went a goal behind, because we showed character to get back,” he told the media. “At the time, it’s not ideal or comfortable but the equaliser was at a perfect time and then with a couple of tweaks at half-time, the players took to the field with determination.

“We didn’t quite see their commitment to the plan in the first half. We were a bit disappointed with our first half display, but we improved in the second and got our rewards that we deserved.”

New faces

Nine new players joined the Club this summer, including Courtney Nevin and ‘keeper Janina Leitzig who made their moves to Leicestershire permanent after impressive loan spells during the 2022/23 season.

The 44-year-old continued: “It’s hard to put a number on how long it takes a player to settle in. It depends on the style of play, the type of players you’ve already got. You need to have those players with the knowledge to pass onto the new ones coming through.

“I think we’re operating at about 60 per cent potential, so it’ll probably be the second half of the season where you see the best side of us. But there’s encouraging signs, and we’re still building and we hope to keep that going Sunday.”

The fans on Filbert Way

The former Everton manager explained the impact that the Foxes faithful have on the team and the ability to record positive performances on home soil.

“In the second half of last season, the fans were excellent,” the Manager stated. “It started with that win over Brighton & Hove Albion. You could feel a real buzz around the stadium but we have to give them something to create that energy.

“I think after that they started believing in the team, and they wanted to keep coming back. From there we just kept building, and the fans played a massive part in our victories over Reading and Liverpool.

“The fans have bought into the players, and I’m sure they’ll come back in their numbers on Sunday. We need them and we hope to build a project with the fans together.”

Everton's threats

This weekend’s opponents arrive to King Power Stadium off the back of a 2-1 defeat to Brighton on the opening day, but Kirk admitted that Leicester must be wary of the talent that the Toffees will bring, should they want to carry on their winning form on Sunday.

“We know their strengths and areas that we can exploit,” the Scotsman explained. “There’s not that much we don’t know about them. They’ll be disappointed with their start to the season because I would’ve backed them to beat Brighton.

“I’m sure they’ll be disappointed to take nothing so they’ll be looking to bounce back and we must make sure we start the game sharply and use the fans to get a positive result.”

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