Resilient Foxes Building Together, Says Howard

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Resilient Foxes Building Together, Says Howard

Sophie Howard says LCFC Women can take heart from the way they performed in the second half of Sunday’s defeat at Arsenal.

2021-12-13T18:36:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

13 Dec, 2021

Resilient Foxes Building Together, Says Howard

Sophie Howard says LCFC Women can take heart from the way they performed in the second half of Sunday’s defeat at Arsenal.

Sam Jones

2021-12-13T18:36:00.000Z

Resilient Foxes Building Together, Says Howard

Sophie Howard says LCFC Women can take heart from the way they performed in the second half of Sunday’s defeat at Arsenal.

Sam Jones

2021-12-13T18:36:00.000Z

Resilient Foxes Building Together, Says Howard

Sophie Howard says LCFC Women can take heart from the way they performed in the second half of Sunday’s defeat at Arsenal.

Sam Jones

2021-12-13T18:36:00.000Z

Resilient Foxes Building Together, Says Howard

Sophie Howard says LCFC Women can take heart from the way they performed in the second half of Sunday’s defeat at Arsenal.

Sam Jones

2021-12-13T18:36:00.000Z

- LCFC Women were beaten 4-0 by Arsenal in the WSL on Sunday evening- The league leaders racked up two goals in each half against 10-player City- Sophie Howard assessed the performance and result following full-time- She felt the players all stuck together on a difficult night at Meadow Park

Goals from Jordan Nobbs, Vivianne Miedema and Frida Maanum’s late double ensured it would be the hosts who racked up their eighth win in nine Barclays FA Women's Super League games so far this season, leaving Leicester rooted to the bottom of the standings.

But the defender, who played the full 90 minutes in north London, felt that City could go away satisfied with aspects of the performance, especially given the fact that they played more than half the game without Jemma Purfield following her 43rd-minute red card.

“I think going down to 10 players in the first half was tough, especially against Arsenal,” Howard admitted to LCFC TV. “But what we did show was resilience and we stuck together and that’s definitely something we can take away and build on.

“The biggest thing we wanted to do was stick together because we knew that going down to 10 against Arsenal, you could crumble, but I don’t think we did and that was our main goal.

“We tweaked a few things tactically at half-time, obviously we had to change formation because we lost a player. We implemented that really well and then fought until the end.

“We have to give credit to Arsenal, their class does show, they’re a class team and then they scored two goals in the second half, that can happen with that calibre of players.

"We had a little bit of a phase where we struggled with the line, we’ve done it better previously, but we’ll assess that, we’ll correct it, and we’ll build on that going forward.”

The 4-0 reverse at Meadow Park was Lydia Bedford’s first game in charge of the Foxes and the Scotland international also provided some insight into how the first week has gone under the new manager.

She explained: “A lot of people would think that she’d come in and implement loads of new things and change a lot, but it actually hasn’t been the case.

“Obviously, she has different things that she is implementing and that’s always going to happen with new management, but we are sticking to our foundation and building around that, I’d say.

“It’s not like someone is coming in and changing everything and we’re struggling with that. We’re in it together and we’re building together more than someone coming in and changing everything.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game, but as a team we go into these games with nothing to lose. We’re going in to fight, we’re going in to battle and that’s what we did do.”

The 28-year-old believes the mentality within the group can help to overcome a tricky week of fixtures which includes competing in both the Continental Tyres League Cup and the Women’s Super League.

She added: “We need the whole squad. We’ve got three tough games. We’ve just had Arsenal, we’ve got Man City coming up on Wednesday and then we’ve got the massive game against Birmingham on Sunday.

“So it’s going to be about managing the squad and again sticking together to get points from these games. We want to build on that foundation that we have and get out of it what we can.

“Mistakes are going to happen but as long as we stick together, I think we’ve got a lot to gain and a lot to build on.”

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