Tierney: Foxes Must Produce High Performance Level

- LCFC Women meet Chelsea in the WSL on Sunday afternoon (12:30pm kick-off)
- City are searching for their first points of the campaign against the champions
- Foxes defender Sam Tierney spoke to the media ahead of the trip south
- She revealed that the team will carry a fearless mentality to Kingsmeadow

Their visit to Kingsmeadow to face the five-time Barclays FA Women’s Super League champions, and current title holders, presents one of the toughest tasks for any visiting team.

However, speaking during Thursday's virtual pre-match press conference via Zoom, Tierney was confident that the Foxes will not be overawed by their illustrious opponents.

“I think one of the biggest messages is just to be fearless,” the former Sheffield United defender began. “There’s all the different context around the game. You can’t deny the quality of players that they’ve got and the experience they’ve had in this league.

“Even their ability to rotate the team they’ve got, it’s incredible. You’ve got to give them credit for where they’ve got to. For us, we’re the underdogs and we’re going to use that mentality.

“We’re going to go in and fear no one. We’ve been working on our game plan and we want to make sure that this can be the start of it now and we get our performance right from our standards and look to build from that.

“We want to try and go and get whatever we can from the game. It’s just about being confident in our abilities and looking forward to this game and then the games beyond.”

Tierney, primarily a centre back by trade, has been deployed further forward in a midfield role during recent weeks, as the Foxes adapt to a lengthy injury list.

The 23-year-old says she is used to being adaptable and more than happy to play whichever role is required for the good of the team. Only one player in the division has won more tackles than her 11 so far this term. 

She explained: “One of the strengths of it is that ever since I’ve been young, in academies and at youth setups with England, it’s been massively important to be versatile and understand different positions.

“I think from my perspective, as long as I’m on the pitch doing everything I can for the team, wherever that might be, we’ve got some fantastic coaches here with great knowledge and they are trying to provide me with the tools and the information to do that job.

“The step up in the league, it’s just about me learning from what’s in front of me, the different teams we’re playing. We’re playing against some world class players that have years and years of experience in these roles.

“It’s difficult, but I’m just taking it in my stride and doing the best I can and giving my all for my team.”

The defender recognises the importance of gaining the team’s first victory of the season, in order to move past their first major hurdle, and then kick on towards a more successful campaign.

Despite a difficult start, losing the first four league fixtures and being knocked out of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup, morale remains high among the players and staff at Belvoir Drive.

“It’s hugely important,” the ex-England youth international continued. “One of the difficulties about transitioning into this league - you’ve seen it in previous years - you’re constantly learning as you go.

“You’ve not really had that chance to experience the league, so we’re finding our feet, but any team will tell you momentum can take you a long, long way, especially in this league.

“Around the Club, that’s what we’re aiming for, just to get those first few points on the board and really start to build from there. But we're trying to stay in high spirits around the training ground and that’s what we’re focusing on. And then we'll see where our season takes us.

“Things will start to gel together and you’ll work on things and once you get that confidence and the points behind you, you start to become a bit more free.

“We planned for this, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. So, we just have to take each week and don’t dwell on it, so that’s how we’re looking at it - taking every game, but trying to get those points as early as possible.”

All times BST.