Birmingham City Women v Spurs Women - Karen and Juan's preview

Spurs Women return to action in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League (WSL) with a midweek trip to Birmingham City on Wednesday (4 December), kick-off is 7.30pm at Solihull Moors.

Our first competitive clash with Blues, originally scheduled for last Sunday, was moved due to an Emirates FA Cup second round tie at Birmingham’s home ground on Monday (2 December).

Both sides come into the match in identical form, following three consecutive defeats in the WSL and Continental League Cup and ahead of tomorrow’s match, Head Coaches Karen Hills and Juan Amoros have backed the players to bounce back against the Blues.

 “At the moment, for our game against Birmingham, preparations are going well and we are confident that the group are capable of going there and winning,” Juan commented. “In the league we lost at home to Arsenal, the reigning champions, and away to Everton at the end of a difficult three-game week and they are both very good teams in good form. Realistically now, we need to move on and need to focus on the next few games but not think too far ahead.”

Karen added: “We want to make sure that we go out there and compete in every game and our meeting with Birmingham is no different. As long as we stick to the game plan and the players go out there and do their best, for me it’s a game that we are more than capable of winning, however we need to be fully prepared and fully focussed because there is no easy game in this league. It’s about our expectation of what we want to achieve as a group.”

The hosts are ninth in the league, while we are positioned in seventh place, on the hunt for our first league win since our 2-1 victory away to Bristol City which came over a month ago on 27 October and despite some recent disappointing results, both Head Coaches are satisfied with how things are progressing in our debut season in the WSL.

“We knew that coming into this league was always going to be challenging and tough,” Karen admitted. “We’ve played at some amazing stadiums, in front of thousands of fans, we’re a newly-established team with a mix of experienced and young players - I think we’ve done extremely well so far. Obviously, we’re disappointed to lose our last three games, however, to get points on the board at this stage of the season is huge. We have a fantastic squad that’s really gelling together, but we knew this season wasn’t going to be all highs and there would be moments when we’d need to regroup and go again and that’s part of the journey. To be siting seventh in this amazing league, surrounded by quality teams and quality players, I’m pleased with where we’re at in this moment in time.”

Juan added: “I’m sure we’ll be in a good position at the end of the season because of all the hard work everyone does on the pitch and behind the scenes. There’s already been periods that have been amazing, we’ve been the team who have played in front of the most people at Premier League stadiums and those are the type of experiences that will stay with us forever. Now it’s all about what’s coming next and how we prepare for that. It’s always about the next game, and yes we’ve lost the last two league games but that’s part of the game and we’re experienced enough to know that, and we’ll go again and I’m sure we can expect something better tomorrow night.”

On converting our chances in matches, Juan said: “We do a lot of work in front of goal and sometimes in those key moments it’s about having the right intention and execution and we know we need to be better. I think we have huge quality in those areas and I’m sure with the work we’re putting in, the goals are going to come.

Karen finished: “We’ve got Rianna Dean and Kit Graham who have come into this league and they’re creating chances and we’ve got belief in them and they know as individuals that they need to believe in themselves, back themselves, because they’ve got an amazing squad behind them who back them all day long. They certainly have the ability, now it’s just about being able to convert chances on a consistent basis.” 

We return to The Hive for back-to-back home matches against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday 8 December (2pm kick-off) before we host Lewes in the Continental League Cup on Wednesday 11 December, kick-off at 7:30pm. Get your tickets here.