Amandine Miquel praises “team effort” after courageous Leicester City held Chelsea to 1-1 draw in the Women’s Super League. Leicester City boss Miquel believes her side’s draw against league leaders Chelsea, who had won every game in league and cup before their trip to the King Power, will serve the Foxes well in the second half of the season.
“We were willing to give them a lot of trouble. It went very well because we scored on the rare occasion we had, to be honest, we didn’t have that many. But to be able to lead against this type of team and hold it for long is very important mentally for our team,” praised Miquel.
The Foxes had substitute Missy Goodwin to thank after her 20th minute goal, with Goodwin only introduced due to an early injury for Deanne Rose. “Injuries are not unusual for us,” said Miquel.
“It’s not ideal after seven minutes to lose a rotation after that type of team. Also we played on Wednesday and played Man City on Sunday, and it’s Saturday, so it’s not been the easiest week for the players.”
“The only thing we asked them today is to have no regrets, and go on holiday being proud of themselves. We see now the mentality and the team effort even when you have less quality, because to be honest we had less quality than Chelsea today.”
Miquel had promised to “spice things up” against her compatriot Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea side, and felt her tactics had caught the away side off guard. “We changed some positions, by putting Julie [Thibaud] right-back and not playing a back five, so that was a surprise for them.”
“We did end up as a back five in the end, so I think we tried to come out from the back without throwing the ball. We wanted to attract them, and it worked well with our different combinations, we were able to move up the pitch. For once, we had a bit more technical quality which allowed us to get close to the goal and keep the ball more.”
