FA Cup progression would be a very positive thing for Aston Villa says Arroyo | OneFootball

Aston Villa head coach Natalia Arroyo says that the continuation of the club’s run in this season’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup can be a good thing.

The Villans are in a battle for survival in the Barclays Women’s Super League but they have enjoyed more success in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup and are just two games away from a first Wembley appearance.

When speaking to the media ahead of this weekend’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup quarter-final tie at Manchester City, Aston Villa boss Arroyo said that her side can balance their priorities and that FA Cup progression can be a real positive for the club.

“We can balance both competitions,” Arroyo said. “Our priority is to stay in the league but we have to be prepared for the next game.

“Our next game is against Manchester City and it’s an opportunity to get into a semi-final and be close to Wembley. That would be a very positive thing in a difficult season.

“We will try our best and we will be able to focus on the league [afterwards]. We want to dream as big as possible and play with a ‘why not’ energy. That will help us get something positive from Manchester City. Our focus is on playing the best way possible. Manchester City will have more of the ball than Everton and Leicester, so we will have to answer different questions but performing well is the best way.”

Beating Manchester City is a huge ask and Arroyo says that her side must manage the game well both in and out of possession.

She said “It’s difficult to face teams that manage possession well. The question for us is about how we organise ourselves out of possession because they move the ball very well and have a lot of rotations. We need to be very stable and solid in our out of possession structure but try to find aggressive moments.

“It’s important to stay stable without the ball and find our moments to play fast when possible because that’s probably one of the chances that we have in the game. In possession, we need to manage it well, breathe with the ball, move them and make them suffer. If we expect a game where we are running all of the time, we will defend too much, so keeping a balance will be key.”

Reflecting on her side’s recent poor results against Leicester City and Everton, Arroyo said that Aston Villa need to remain together and continue to work hard.

She said “We are not getting the results that we want, so we need to stay focused on performances but accepting that we need to get points.

“In the last two games, we were disappointed because we didn’t take our first chance and we then found ourselves in positions where we were behind. We need to manage counter-attack teams like Everton and Leicester better because it’s pushing us into a position where we are not able to play [our game]. We will try to avoid conceding first but it can happen.

“We are improving but it’s not enough. We need to keep pushing and hopefully, the bad results will help us become a stronger team. We will keep working hard and remain positive. We need to deal with the situation and emotions. In the bad moments, we need to stay together and one good result could change things.”

Aston Villa’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup quarter-final tie against Manchester City kicks-off at 12.30pm this afternoon.