Aston Villa return to Barclays Women’s Super League action this weekend, as the Villans host Leicester City at Villa Park on Sunday. Villa manager Robert De Pauw spoke to the media ahead of their upcoming fixture with the Foxes.
There was no update on squad fitness that would impact this weekends team sheet but there was promise in the news that “Jill Baijngs is training again, not with the team, but individual training. Anna Leat is also doing runs, she’s close to joining maybe in the next week.” Apart from those, there was just the reminder that “Rachel Corsie will be out for a longer period of time, as she had a knee operation and obviously Paula Tomas is out, because of the suspension”.
The influence of Paula Tomás’ red card
Last weekend, summer signing Paula Tomás was shown a straight red card after a challenge on Brighton’s Kiko Seike. Consequently, the Spaniard will now serve a three-match suspension following an unsuccessful appeal to have the decision overturned.
Speaking on the failure to reduce the impending ban, De Pauw expressed that “it’s disappointing, of course, from our side. It’s a referees decision, and the committee decided the same. We still don’t agree, but in the end, it doesn’t make sense to put more energy in it. I read a lot of things from different people that they also don’t agree and think it was very heavily punished.”
When probed on just how influential that moment was on the outcome of the game, De Pauw elaborated that “it was a draw at the moment. The red card came and they got a penalty. So you have a double punishment in that moment. You get a penalty, which is mostly a goal, and then you lose the game in that moment because you have one man down.”
Aston Villa ‘have things we have to improve’ says de Pauw
Despite the fact that Aston Villa are yet to register a win in their 24/25 WSL campaign, they have produced some spirited performances across the opening weeks of the season. Looking back on the first three weeks of his tenure, De Pauw noted that “with Chelsea, we could could have gotten more out of it, I think Spurs, to be critical, we should have won that game. And Brighton, it was a little bit unlucky. We made mistakes in the moments that we shouldn’t have, it’s not that the performance was bad, it was an okay performance last week, but we lost, so I do think there are things we have to improve.”
De Pauw also spoke on the positives within his team, stating “we see the progress the team is making, you see the type of football we’re playing. But the little details make the difference in this league, so we have to improve on every detail that makes us lose games but can also make us win.” He was full of praise for his side when citing “everybody is really training hard, is pushing and driven. The atmosphere is that, of course, we want to win and there is disappointment, but everybody’s still hungry to push.“
Regarding Sunday’s meeting with Leicester City, De Pauw highlighted just how tough the game will be as both sides look to register their first victory of the campaign. “On the weekend, it will be two teams battling for the first win”. He then went on to praise the opposition, expressing that “they have some good players; Mouchon is good player, I like Momiki and Takarada, the Japanese players, so they have quality in the squad so we have to be ready.”
Player loading ‘always a thing for attention’
Unfortunately, every game week of the season so far has seen an ACL injury from players across the WSL, so it was no surprise that De Pauw was asked for his assessment on the crisis, and just how much focus Villa place on preventing such injuries where possible.
The Villa manager expressed that “it’s always a thing for attention. It’s not that we take talk about it daily. I don’t think you need to put the focus of the players on that all the time, but we make sure that we divide the load well in the week in training.”
He went on to admit that “you never get 100% guarantee that you can prevent it, but we try to prevent it as best as possible, in the end you want your best squad on the pitch as most as possible.”
The value of the academy
It was announced this week that academy graduate Georgia Mullet has signed a contract extension with De Pauw’s side keeping her at the club until 2027.
De Pauw spoke about the promise of Georgia Mullet stating “I think she has a lot of potential, she’s very driven, very focused on what she wants.” In yet another comparison to a big name in the men’s game – after calling Jordan Nobbs a ‘mini [Luka] Modric’ last week – he made reference to the fact that “as a player she [Mullet] reminds me a little bit about [Erling] Haaland, also the way she looks in her face, so let’s hope she can produce the same things for us! I have full confidence in her.”
The Halfway Line was keen to hear about how Mullet serves as an example of just how cherished the academy is for the Midland club, and De Pauw made it known that he wants to see the academy players progress to the first team. He shared that “if you get homegrown players in your team then you create a certain identity and culture within the club. Then if you can teach those young players what that culture is and what you expect from them, they can pass on that culture to new players that come in from outside or new players that come out of the Academy, and that’s how you build a strong culture. If you can develop that kind of culture in your club, in your team, then it’s very good.”
Aston Villa will host Leicester City this Sunday in the Barclays Women’s Super League at Villa Park. Proceedings will head underway at 14:00 BST and can be streamed live on YouTube.
