Read the thoughts of Head Coach Lee Burch, as the Bees make the trip to Merseyside to take on Everton in the Fourth Round of the Women’s FA Cup.
On the confidence in the squad
It’s been a good month, 4 points, two clean sheets against two difficult sides. Particularly at places that are difficult to go and get points, it’s been a good start. Performance-wise we’re a lot happier with the London City performance in possession, whereas Lewes we lacked some quality in possession, but out of possession we found a bit of consistency across the two games. We’re definitely going to need that (consistency) going into a tough Everton game. The players are really looking forward to it.
On thriving on the underdog status
Everytime you play in the cup competitions, the fa cup being the main one when you play higher opposition, you go in as underdogs. We know that on Sunday we are going to have to play really well against a strong Everton side. this is football, this is what it’s all about we go there wanting to win the game.
The Conti Cup has given us the opportunity to play WSL sides, but this is a different format because of it not being a midweek game. The FA Cup will hopefully bring the best out of us.
On learning lessons from the Conti Cup games with WSL clubs
The Brighton game in the first half we were superb, we should have been 1-0 up rather than 1-0 down at the break. It was fitness levels that kicked in the second half, we have to be wary that the same happened against Arsenal as well. They had high-end quality but the fitness levels do kick in, that is something with do need to bear in mind. We need to stay in the game as long as we can and make sure that our impact from the bench is strong.
We need to make sure our players manage themselves across the game because Everton are gonna be fit, they’ll be confident, they have some players who are playing really well. If we switch off at any moment, as other teams have done, they have players that can punish us.
On approaching the game with a no-fear mentality
We have to have that, we already have that. But, Everton are having a great season, so we’re probably getting the best version of Everton there has been for a while. But hopefully, they are feeling they will get the best version of London Bees have had had for a while. We’re gonna go there and have a plan to make sure we’re hard to beat but make sure that we have an attacking threat as well. That is something we have to find the consistency of at the moment.
On team news
The squad is looking much better, we still have a couple coming back from longer terms injuries. Nikita (Whinnett) will be with us that is the plan at the moment. There are two or three others who have got minutes, so we’re definitely in a better place than last weekend and probably the weekend before.