EXCLUSIVE – Birmingham City boss Amy Merricks: We know what we need to do to win the league | OneFootball

Amy Merricks’ Birmingham City travel to Sunderland on Sunday – with both sides hoping to be there or thereabouts at the end of the WSL2 season.

And Merricks spoke exclusively to SheKicks.net to reflect on the recent transfer window – and what the season could hold for her Blues.

“It’s early days, isn’t it?” she said. “Everyone’s got a lot of new faces in their squads, which makes it competitive, but we’re just focusing on ourselves. We can’t control what other people do, but we can control our actions and the way we approach each game and the performance we give, so our ultimate focus is on that.

“We want to win the league and we know what we need to do to win the league.

“[We’re] just excited that we’re in it now and it’s very real, and can’t wait to get back out there for our first away game.”

She said she was “really happy” with her transfer window, which included the addition of players like Oceane Hurtre and Batsheba Louis plus the loan signings of Lucy Newell and Korean superstar Ji Soyun.

“We’ve done some excellent business, and I think a large part of that business was maintaining a core group and extending some important contracts of players that were already here.

“We’ve got a great group, great characters, and the additions that we’ve brought in, they all bring some unique additions to the side and the qualities both on and off the pitch, and of course we’ve brought in some great experience as well that know what winning looks like and feels like.”

Amy Merricks: We’re still building

Birmingham beat Bristol City 5-1 on the opening day of the season, which Merricks described as “a really positive start”.

She explained: “I was really pleased with the performance. I thought we were really intentional with what we wanted to do, and we went after the game, so it’s maintaining that. Every game is different, and Sunderland pose a different challenge for us, so we need to adapt again.

“A positive start is just that – a start. We have to be consistent with our actions and what we’re going after.”

She added: “We’re still building, we’re in a good place but also there’s various areas we want to tighten up. We pride ourselves on being hard to beat, and I certainly think we can be a lot tighter defensively. It was better in the second half [against Bristol City], we improved in the game, and credit to the players, because I think the way that they’re taking on board information and applying it has been very, very good.

“They’re a very hungry group, you can see that from the way they perform, and they’re very on the ball, and they’re relentless with pressure. What they want to do is excellent but we have to maintain that.”