Eder Maestre says his London City Lionesses team are well aware that they may be facing a supercharged Manchester City side in the Barclays Women’s Super League this weekend.
The WSL leaders lost 1-0 to Chelsea in the Subway Women’s League Cup semi-finals during the week, and Maestre knows that it could give them additional motivation as they return to league action.
“When you suffer this kind of defeat, maybe in the next match you are going to be more prepared to rebalance now the situation, so yes, I think all the matches are different,” Maestre said in a press conference on Friday morning.
Eder Maestre: You need experience in your squad
Hinting that he had not yet made a decision on what part new signing Delphine Cascarino would play in the match, he reflected on the importance of attracting players of that quality.
“If you want to build that winning mentality, you need to have the players that know how to win,” he said, suggesting that experienced senior players set a good example to the next generation of talent.
“Players like Delphine can drive the way to train and bringing that high standards of training.”
He added that experience could make the difference against Manchester City, saying: “When you face the first team in the standings, you need that experience in the match because, yes, it’s not only about bringing that energy, it’s how is the way you are going to manage some situations because sometimes you are going to struggle in the game and in that cases you need to put the experience on the table and try to use it to manage this struggling situation.”
London City Lionesses are seventh in the WSL table – 17 points behind leaders Manchester City. They have struggled for goals in recent matches, but got their first of the Maestre era last weekend as they beat Sunderland 1-0 to reach the fifth round of the Women’s FA Cup.
