Renee looking to maintain high standards on Sunday

Renee Slegers wants more of the same from her team’s performance levels as we travel to Borough Sports Ground to face Crystal Palace on Sunday, a few days on from our 3-0 win at home to Real Madrid.

On what to expect from the Eagles, who are bottom of the Barclays Women’s Super League with nine points from 17 games, our head coach spoke about the fighting spirit Palace are likely to show.

“They are obviously fighting for points so they will put everything on the line and they will do everything to get points on Sunday,” she said in her pre-match press conference. “That's what we're preparing for. For us it's important that we did really well last Wednesday. A lot of positives in the performance and I think we set ourselves some new standards.

“We want to live up to those standards again on Sunday so it's mostly going to be about us and what we can deliver on Sunday.

“Wee faced so many challenges during the season. I think we've played against so many different styles of play, different formations. I think we're getting really good at solving those different challenges and we play against teams that change in-game. So I think we're getting more and more mature in whatever opposition comes with on matchday.

“We can solve it and what Crystal Palace is going to do we don't know. Lately they've been playing a back four with the new manager but you never know, they might change something for Sunday.

“It's very competitive so we don't take points for granted at all even though we're in second place in the table now. We understand that every game is hard in the WSL so I think the competition is, as a whole, the league is very strong.

“So it's good that it's very competitive. I think it's in the top, in the middle and in the bottom everyone is fighting for things, which is good. But I expect Palace to come out with a lot of motivation because they need every point possible.”