Leicester City were agonisingly close to disappointing the Gunners at King Power Stadium on Sunday afternoon, as the Foxes fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat at the hands of Jonas Eidevall’s side.
Leicester manager, Amandine Miquel, spoke to the media following the clash at home, describing it as a ‘positive’ display from her side.
Speaking further, Miquel expressed “I’m happy with the performance of the team. I think that we were very consistent defensively, dangerous on some transitions and in the end higher and giving Arsenal trouble.”
She continued, “I think we adapted well on any changes that they made, we changed so they had to think again on what they could do. So that was good. It was a good tactical game and I’m very happy with what the players have showed today. It will be good to build for the next games.”
The Foxes put on an impressive defensive showing at King Power Stadium, denying Arsenal any freedom to catalyse a positive attack.
Speaking more specifically on the defensive performance of her side, Miquel expressed that it was a firm goal of Leicester’s as the season commenced. She said, “I think that [defence] is the first thing that we want to improve. We’ve got the plan for the season with the players, they felt, and the staff also felt that they took way too many goals last season.”
Touching on how the defensive goals will impact the side more generally, Miquel said “The first focus was on the defending, which has not been too bad so far. Offensively we’ve got the strength and the quality to make a difference, so when the defence will be more organised then we will maybe we able to have more possession and be a bit higher.”
Caitlin Foord made the switch to left back for the Gunners in the latter stages of the game- a position she was yet to play in for Arsenal before the fixture against the Foxes.
Analysing whether this change had a tactical impact on her side, Miquel expressed “We always try to target the weak points, so that was one of the possibilities.”
Miquel continued, “Just mainly on the wings is a zone that they tend to leave, because they are in possession a lot. So we have fast and interesting players in transition so we wanted to use that. I think that they did well, it’s more on the details and the control of the last pass, but I think overall the goal is a mistake from us. That will happen again, we just have to make sure we’re making less.”
