Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain proved to be a frustrating night for Lisa Evans and her teammates.
They approached the game with the goal of controlling the midfield and tempo, but soon found themselves under pressure and playing an unfamiliar style.
We spoke to our No 17 after the game - and this is what she said:
on her feelings at the final whistle…
Just frustration. I think in spells we were on top and could have done more and we were unfortunate not to create more chances for ourselves. But all in all, I think we were beaten by the better team on the day.
on our sloppy start and why that happened…
Well, first of all we were really disappointed with the first goal because I don’t think we’ve conceded a set-piece goal in a long, long while. They started strong but then we started to come back into the game and finished the second half really well, we just couldn’t put our chances away. There were a few in the first half that maybe if we’d converted, it could have been a different outcome, but in the end I think it came down to PSG’s quality and we didn’t particularly get the ball down in midfield and play forward. They punished us for that and we became far too transitional.
on whether Mead’s goal gave them confidence before the break…
Absolutely, I think we were really dominant in that spell of the game and kept finding ourselves in some really good positions. We were pushing on for another goal, but after the break I think we struggled a bit more and it became a bit of a grind. It showed that PSG have been back training and playing competitive games for longer. It was a really hard situation for everyone with COVID and having everyone in different places, so maybe it could have been different if we’d been training together a little longer, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
on Joe’s half-time team talk and what he wanted to see from the team…
We had a lot of points defensively relating to dealing with the No 10 in the pocket, but I actually think we defended fairly well in the first half. They creates a few chances but they weren’t clear cut as such and in the second half we just didn’t replicate some of the positive things from the first.
on PSG’s power in the final stages and whether we were struggling…
Yeah, they were really dominant and powerful. That was their game plan and I think if we’d solved those situations better we could have made things a lot easier for ourselves. We needed more of the ball and we could have played through the middle more too. We went long too early on and played their game and that allowed them to dominate in the second half.
on the importance of shifting our focus to the WSL…
Definitely. If anything, it’s been great preparation for the season. Unfortunately we’ve not progressed, but we still had a really good game against a top, top side who could potentially go all the way in this competition. That’s the positive we can take and now all attention turns to Reading.
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