‘We Must Not Give Ourselves Limits’

Next Match | Saturday 18 April Sat 18 Apr

POR

(A)

00 D

20 H

33 M

27 S

Interviews & Features

Heritage

Photos

‘We Must Not Give Ourselves Limits’ – Miquel On FA Cup Aims

Amandine Miquel has assured that LCFC Women will be taking Stoke City very seriously as they bid to reach the Adobe Women’s FA Cup Fifth Round.

2025-01-15T10:00+00:00

by Sam Jones

Published

15 Jan, 2025

‘We Must Not Give Ourselves Limits’ – Miquel On FA Cup Aims

Amandine Miquel has assured that LCFC Women will be taking Stoke City very seriously as they bid to reach the Adobe Women’s FA Cup Fifth Round.

Sam Jones

2025-01-15T10:00+00:00

‘We Must Not Give Ourselves Limits’ – Miquel On FA Cup Aims

Amandine Miquel has assured that LCFC Women will be taking Stoke City very seriously as they bid to reach the Adobe Women’s FA Cup Fifth Round.

Sam Jones

2025-01-15T10:00+00:00

‘We Must Not Give Ourselves Limits’ – Miquel On FA Cup Aims

Amandine Miquel has assured that LCFC Women will be taking Stoke City very seriously as they bid to reach the Adobe Women’s FA Cup Fifth Round.

Sam Jones

2025-01-15T10:00+00:00

‘We Must Not Give Ourselves Limits’ – Miquel On FA Cup Aims

Amandine Miquel has assured that LCFC Women will be taking Stoke City very seriously as they bid to reach the Adobe Women’s FA Cup Fifth Round.

Sam Jones

2025-01-15T10:00+00:00

The third-tier Potters stand in the way of progression for the Foxes in their first FA Cup tie of 2024/25, having reached the semi-finals of last season’s competition.

Prior to Wednesday's 7:45pm GMT kick-off at Meadow Lane in Nottingham, Leicester’s Manager sat down to field questions from the media in her pre-match press conference at Belvoir Drive...

‘We have improved’

Strong performances to end the year.

A difficult first half of the campaign ended with a resounding 5-2 victory over Birmingham City in the Women’s League Cup and although the Foxes exited the competition following that win, they backed it up with an even more impressive point at home to reigning champions Chelsea back in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Now coming out of a month-long break from action, Miquel hopes to see more of that fight and tenacity when recommencing the season.

She said: “It’s important to relax and not think about football for a moment. Everyone managed to do that and that’s good, because if you want to perform, you must have a real break and it’s the same for the players.

“The players are still with that feeling from the last two games. They have improved and we felt a mental switch with more confidence. Scoring five goals in a game did help us mentally and the draw against Chelsea was good to prepare for the second phase.

“We’ve got a team with great players. Games will come and we will do our best and take it as it goes. I’m confident that the players we have can make a difference.”

‘A famous competition’

The starting XI from City's FA Cup Semi-Final appearance.

Managing in such a prestigious cup is not something that Miquel is taking lightly, especially after watching LCFC Women create history by earning a spot in the last four in 2023/24, while the primary focus of retaining WSL status must remain.

“Obviously it is a very famous competition,” she continued. “We are happy to start it this week and do our best. Last season, they did very well so it is a bit of pressure for me, because a semi-final is not easy to reach.

“But then again, if we do, it’s game by game. It’s not that many games to go to the semi-final, so we’ll do everything to compete in every game because we know it is a competition that we want to try and go as far as we can in. We must not give ourselves limits.

“Obviously, it would be amazing to win such a competition. At some point, the further you go, the harder the opponents should get, so we will do our best. As we saw in our last game, you can take points against any team.

“They (the players) have that motivation because they know that it is a prestigious competition. But they also know that we have to work for the WSL and that may also be important, because it is important to stay in that league and that is the main objective that we have right now.

“A good cup run is nice but in the end we know we have to do better than we did in the first [league] phase if we don’t want to stress until the end of the competition. It starts with the first game against Tottenham. We have to be ready and competing.”

‘Show our best’

The Potters saw off Chester-le-Street Town in the third round.

Opponents Stoke are a semi-professional outfit who compete in the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division, but that does not mean Leicester should expect an easy afternoon in Nottingham, Miquel believes.

The 40-year-old explained: “For me, this a game that is very important because from my experience in the cup in France, I have lost against that type of opponent because we don’t respect them and 'it’s going to be easy'.

“For me, in a 90-minute game, whatever the division or the level of the team, anything can happen. We have to be careful going into this game and make sure that all the players are because no opponent is easy to beat.

“I think it will not be an easy game because they are third division. We have to show our best football and respect this team to the full extent because it will be a strong game. We have watched a few games and we are analysing them like we would analyse Chelsea or Man City.

“We are going to play this game as if it was any opponent and take it very seriously. It will be tricky if we think it is going to be an easy first game.”

LATEST HEADLINES

From The Archives - Arthur Chandler’s Shirt Crests Our all-time record goalscorer, Arthur Chandler, began his professional career at Queens Park Rangers in September 1920.

5 Hours 16 Mins Ago

Rowett: James & Ramsey Assessed Pre-Pompey Gary Rowett revealed that Jordan James and Aaron Ramsey are being monitored prior to our trip to Portsmouth.

16 Apr, 2026

Pompey Clash Live On Foxes Hub We're at Fratton Park this Saturday lunchtime - here's how to follow the action across Foxes Hub.

16 Apr, 2026

McSweeney ‘Really Pleased’ With Leeds Triumph Leon McSweeney believes our Under-21s were rewarded for a high level of performance produced during the 3-2 success over Leeds United on Monday.

15 Apr, 2026