We delivered a controlled performance in our 2-0 win over Fiorentina on Thursday night, sealing our place in the last 16 of the Women’s Champions League.
Despite going into the second leg with a four-goal advantage, Joe Montemurro named an experienced starting XI, knowing the Serie A side had nothing to lose.
We spoke to our head coach after the final whistle and this is what he said.
on the team’s performance…
The team obviously had it in mind that we had a bit of an advantage and we were probably a little restrictive in making the killer blow. It was a professional performance and there was a period where we misplaced some passes, which we need to tidy up as that’s a little bit sloppy for us, but all in all, a very good day.
on naming a strong starting XI, despite having a four-goal cushion…
We can’t take anything for granted in this competition. All it needs is an early goal or an early mistake and all of a sudden it’s a game on. I thought we managed it quite well and I think they had one shot on goal in the second half, and that was pretty much it. It was good to get minutes into Viki Schnaderbeck too, she’s had two minutes in a row now, so we’re just rolling on with the squad and keeping our momentum going. We’re in a good position.
on whether he wanted to wear Fiorentina down…
Our way is keeping the ball and the more we keep the ball, the more we can keep them running. They obviously had nothing to lose so they could afford to properly commit players forward, but we were quite good today in the sense that we were patient, waited and drew them out to find the right passes and create opportunities to score. We probably could have had more.
on keeping four clean sheets in our opening five fixtures…
I think that’s testament to the situation as it is. We’re creating plenty of chances and when you see Viv missing the chances she did, it’s enlightening I suppose! At the back we were superb, we restricted them to one or two shots at goal and we were very compact. They put a bit of pressure on us but we found the solutions.
on already having to switch the focus to Brighton on Sunday…
We had that in mind tonight too. We had to make sure that we managed the game well and everyone got through. Everyone is ready to go for Brighton on Sunday and the fact that we were able to give Lia Walti and Jordan Nobbs some more minutes was very good.
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