We slipped to our first defeat of the season on Sunday as we were beaten 2-0 by Manchester City.
We dominated in spells and even struck the crossbar, but strikes from Georgia Stanway either side of half-time prevented us from extending our winning streak in the Women’s Super League.
We spoke to Joe Montemurro after the final whistle - and this is what he said.
on his thoughts about the game…
Obviously there’s always disappointment in a loss, but to have Manchester City camping in their back third for copious amounts of the game was very pleasing. We still probably created enough to take something out of the game, but they took their chances and we didn’t
on how difficult he was expecting this game to be with injuries, fatigue, etc…
We were expecting this game to be very difficult. We made some clear decisions to not bring players back earlier and to rest some players for further down the line. In the end the reality is that we put a team out there that just wasn’t quite good enough to beat City.
on City being in fine form and having a fully fit squad...
There’s no need to panic. The reality is that we all sat down as a group heading into this busy period and made some key decisions on not rushing Kim back and helping some individual players. Dominique Bloodworth is another player and we want to make sure that we don’t do any more damage. They were clear decisions made by us and the medical staff to make sure that everyone is fit and fighting after Christmas.
on what was missing in the final third…
Obviously we lacked composure and quality today. Part of getting in front of goal and getting in the final third is finishing, so we can’t make excuses for not finishing off our chances.. We didn’t and it’s as simple as that - but again, it’s pleasing that we’re getting into these positions and still creating a lot of chances. Under the circumstances we even had more chances than City. We’re realistic. We had a chat about it all after the game and on another day it could have been a different story if one of those chances went in during the first half or the start of the second half.
on Paige Bailey-Gayle making her full debut…
It was great to give some opportunities to some younger players and I’m sure she’ll be better for it. Hopefully she grows into the player that we think she can be.
on whether we missed having a natural left-footed player on the left wing…
The worst thing today was that we probably missed Dom in the middle of the park and she was playing at left back. Dom’s a powerful central player whether it’s defensively or in midfield and we probably just needed that composure from her that would have settled the game a little bit - but our options were there and we will make no excuses.
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