‘We Had More To Give’ – Kirk Addresses Spurs Performance
- LCFC Women drew 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur in the Barclays Women’s Super League
- Janice Cayman opened the scoring in the first half at King Power Stadium
- Celin Bizet levelled things up to ensure the points were shared
- Leicester face Manchester City on Wednesday evening in the Continental Tyres League Cup
On Sunday afternoon, City collected their eighth point of the 2023/24 Barclays Women’s Super League campaign after a second goal in a week from Janice Cayman was cancelled out by Spurs’ Celin Bizet.
Following the game, the Manager shared his thoughts, and although happy to end the day with one more point than they started with, was disappointed his side couldn’t see out victory on Filbert Way.
“I thought it was a missed opportunity, and two points dropped,” Kirk stated. “We’ve taken the lead and potentially had Spurs on the ropes, but we’ve not killed the game off, and we weren’t clinical enough.
“It was a frustrating one, but it was positive in terms that it breaks that losing run, but there was so much more for us to give, and I don’t think we showed a true representation of us today.
“We made it very clear before the game that the first 15 minutes were crucial, and I think we had a good 20. Between 20-30 minutes, we seemed to drop off the game. We didn’t have any intensity in the press.
“We thought we solved a few problems at half-time, bringing on Aileen [Whelan] who had a bit more aggression in the game, but we just never seemed to properly find a flow.
“The second half was scrappy, and I think both teams will be disappointed with elements of their play. But it brings us a point closer to our target than we were this morning, so we need to build on this.”
The previous clash saw Leicester let a two-goal lead slip away to a ruthless Arsenal side, who scored six in the second half last weekend.
When asked about whether this is something that was playing on the players' minds in the dressing room during the break, he responded by saying it wasn’t something that came up.
Kirk added: “I don’t think the human brain lets in the word ‘don’t’. If you say don’t do something, your brain will want to do something. We’ll never go down that road, but we were disappointed at half-time because even though we had the lead, we weren’t playing as well as I hoped.
“We wanted to go out, trying to win the second half. We were pretending it was 0-0 and trying to keep the pressure on, but we never got going.
“There might have been a subconscious feeling from Arsenal, where we had those flashback moments, but that’s something we need to work with the players on if that’s the case.”
Young star Denny Draper, who has scored 14 goals for the U21s Academy so far this season, was introduced into the game to make her first senior appearance in front of a Leicester home crowd and the Manager was full of praise for the forward.
He went on to commend the performance of ‘keeper Janina Leitzig, who kept Tottenham at bay in the second half to ensure a point for her team.
“Denny [Draper] has been exceptional,” the 45-year-old added. “She’s been away with the England U17s and scored eight goals in three games, and she got taken off in two of them.
“She’s going to be a top talent already, and we just thought, we wanted to go and win the game, and we were trying to find something that would give us a little spark in the second half.
“Janina [Leitzig] was fantastic. We had some really tough conversations with her last week about her in possession work, but we wanted to put her into positions where she’s under pressure, as we feel that’ll help her develop.
“In terms of defending the goal, I don’t think there’s anyone better in the league. She showed that again today, and I’m sure Spurs will be disappointed to not have won the game themselves.”