Bedford: Pre-Season Running Smoothly

- LCFC Women’s Lydia Bedford discusses pre-season with LCFC TV
- The manager is pleased with the progress made so far
- Friendly fixtures have allowed good rotation in the team
- Work on the training pitch has helped to build towards their aims

Facing several different opponents during friendlies at Belvoir Drive, including OH Leuven, Bristol City, Southampton and Reading, as well as taking part in team building trips up and down the country, the Foxes have enjoyed a varied pre-season schedule to date.

Given all the tools to be in good shape for the new Barclays Women’s Super League campaign, which begins against Everton on 11 September, before facing Tottenham Hotspur at King Power Stadium a week later, there is an eagerness to get started.

“It’s been going really well, really smoothly,” Bedford said of the pre-season schedule. “We’re in week eight of 10 now and it’s flown by. The 4 July feels like an awful long time ago. It’s been a really good platform for the players, and it’s built in a really nice way.

“Our first fixture was around 21 July, so we had a couple of weeks before that to build on the training pitch and then the fixtures have really come every week from that point onwards, which has helped them to build the learning.

“We have probably pitched the fixtures in a really good way, which has tested us at times, but given us a really good opportunity to rotate the squad, give different players opportunities and really build the foundations of how we want to start the season, so I’m really pleased.”

Erin Simon, Aileen Whelan and Josie Green joined the squad as permanent signings over the summer, alongside Manchester United loanee Carrie Jones, with all four possessing previous WSL experience, something which was key for Bedford when looking to recruit, as well as ensuring there is competition for places across the pitch.

“They’ve been excellent,” the manager commented. “We had four players through the door right from the start of pre-season and they’ve all, in different ways, had a massive impact on our squad. It definitely raised the standards in terms of coming in and showing their professionalism.

“The experience that they have brought from the other WSL clubs that they have been at has been fantastic for us. They have definitely felt like a breath of fresh air, the four of them. They are different, they have different personalities and they have fitted really nicely into the group.

“And then on the pitch, they have really helped to improve what we have been doing. Along with the players that we’ve got, I think that’s raised the overall standard of what everyone’s pushing each other to do.

“I think one thing we really lacked towards the end of last season was competition, to be able to push the starting 11, each other and to make it competitive. That’s something I think we really have now and it’s showing in our pre-season.

“We’ve rotated reasonably regularly (during pre-season), and everyone’s had the opportunity to be able to push each other and those four players coming in have been a big part of that.”