London City Lionesses looking to kick on in WSL after difficult run | OneFootball

Not many teams have faced a much harder start to the season than London City Lionesses in the WSL and after a difficult run of fixtures the newly-promoted side are ready to settle into the top flight.

Jocelyn Precheur’s side have already faced three of last season’s top four.

London City Lionesses ready to move past tough start

Despite their tough run of fixtures to start the campaign, London City Lionesses still aren’t bottom of the table.

In the only game that they didn’t play one of the top four from last season the newly-promoted Lionesses edged out Everton for their first three points in the first division.

The club’s joy from matchday three was short lived however as Manchester City put London City Lionesses to the sword over the weekend.

“We knew this month [would be difficult]. It’s already challenging to come from WSL2 to WSL in terms of adapting to the rhythm, the speed, the intensity, which is completely different, but it’s even worse when you play the top four.” Precheur said following the loss.

“The gap is huge and we are not there. We knew this gap existed and now, it’s about really improving game-by-game, building this team to reduce this gap as much as possible.”

Precheur has previously stated that the Lionesses need to build a team and not just an XI this season.

Fixtures ease up slightly for the club in the next two weeks, with clashes against fellow relegation contenders Liverpool and West Ham coming up.

“The road will be long, the job is tough, but this is our ambition. We cannot be so arrogant to think that we can reduce this gap fully in just four weeks, it doesn’t work like that. We just need to keep going.”

London City Lionesses still have plenty to be positive about this season and with a win in their first League Cup group game they remain in high spirits for the cup competition.

Jocelyn Precheur praises Nikita Parris

Despite the loss to City, there were still positives to take out of the 4-1 loss on Sunday.

Precheur sung the praises of veteran forward and summer signing Nikita Parris after the game.

“If you want to compete in this league, you need some leaders and Nikita is one of them.
She’s important on the bench as a player and she’s also important on the pitch, off the pitch in the changing room; to give and share out experience to everyone.

“She shares her experience and she shows very good leadership. She also increases her performance game-by-game and she’s a kind of player who can change a game, she is very important for us.”

Parris was the only goalscorer for the Lionesses over the weekend, but her consolation goal was already the WSL veteran’s third goal of the campaign.