West Ham Women v Leicester City Women

I
’d like to wish Willie Kirk, his
staff, and his players a warm
welcome to east London
for this afternoon’s fixture.
We’ve had two weeks since we
were last here, and we’re hoping
to put right the disappointing
aspects of our performance
against Brighton & Hove Albion.
I said it in my post-match
interviews, but you can’t expect
to take points from any fixture in
which you concede five goals.
That was very disappointing,
and as a team, we’ve looked
over what we can improve
on heading into this game.
We know that Leicester will
put up a really good test for
us this afternoon, so we need
to make sure we’re heading
into the game with the right
mentality and that we’re ready to
compete from the first whistle.
Willie Kirk has gone in as their
new manager, and I think you
will see a toughness that perhaps
they haven’t had so far this
season. They might be bottom
of the table at the moment, but
we can’t underestimate them.
I spent four full seasons with
Leicester during my own playing
career, and won promotion to
the Premier League with them
in the 2013/14. It’s a club that I
have a great fondness for from
my time there. That feeling gets
put aside this afternoon, though,
FROM THE
MANAGER
Good afternoon and welcome to Chigwell
Construction Stadium for today’s Barclays
Women’s Super League match against
Leicester City.
as we go in search of our third
home win of the season.
We’ve just had our third
international break of the season,
and I’m pleased to report that the
majority of our players came back
in good condition. It’s great that
we’ve got so many of our players
representing their countries at
all age levels, and I’m pleased for
those that went away and did well.
Obviously, that does mean that
we have less time as a whole
group to work on things heading
into today’s game, but every
club is in the same boat, so we
can’t use that as an excuse.
Since our last match, we’ve
also said goodbye to my assistant
manager, Edu Rubio. Edu became
my assistant this summer, and
has been absolutely fantastic,
not only for the team, but for
me personally as I make my
first steps into management.
He now becomes Julen
Lopetegui’s first-team coach,
having previously worked together
at the Spanish FA. We’re gutted
to be losing a person of his
quality, but we know that this is a
fantastic opportunity for him, and
we wish him every success with
Wolves in the Premier League.
I’m delighted to have my new
assistant manager, Jimmy Walker
in the dugout with me today.
Jimmy is somebody that I’m
really pleased to have as my
number two. I’ve known him
for a very long time and has
been helping us out with the
goalkeepers this season. He’s
fitted into the group seamlessly
and the girls really respect him.
He has a fantastic
amount of knowledge and
experience from his years as
a player and as a coach.
I’m really excited by the prospect
of working with Jimmy, alongside
our first-team coach, Danielle
Bowman, in leading this team to
the goals we want to achieve.
As always, thank you for your
fantastic support. We will need it
once again this afternoon as we
look to return to winning ways.
COME ON YOU IRONS!
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COME ON YOU IRONS 7