New West Ham United manager Rita Guarino goes into her first Barclays Women’s Super League match this weekend knowing it’s going to be a big challenge.
The Hammers face defending champions Chelsea on Sunday, in the new boss’s first game since taking the hot-seat before Christmas, replacing Rehanne Skinner.
But the Italian told the media that she is concentrating on her own team rather than worrying about the opposition – and assured supporters that she’s been impressed with what she’s seen in training so far.
“The fans are on the same page of where we are,” she told SheKicks.net, “because everyone here wants to attain a result.
“So I can say that in every minute of the training session, I can see players that want to improve, want to fight for this shirt – and I can say that we try every second to do our best.”
Rita Guarino: We need to work
West Ham are currently second from bottom of the league on five points, with one win to their credit so far this campaign.
And Guarino said that her message to her players had been “first of all, that we need to work, that we need to create an environment of wanting to go in the same direction.
“We have a goal – it’s very important for an organisation or a team to have a goal, it’s so important to be very aligned in this, and step by step, try to improve our game, our style of play.”
Guarino on Estelle Cascarino: A proven winner
On Thursday, the club confirmed the loan signing of France international Estelle Cascarino from Juventus until the end of the season, and Guarino described her as “a proven winning player”, adding: “She has a very, very great quality on either foot. She has experience. She can read the game.
“So I think that she can add the quality on the team.”
