Brighton aiming to be ruthless in both boxes against West Ham says Roberts | OneFootball

Brighton & Hove Albion’s assistant head coach Chris Roberts says that his side must be ruthless in both boxes when they face West Ham United this weekend.

The Seagulls travel to The Chigwell Construction Stadium as they look to bounce back from last weekend’s 2-1 home defeat to London City Lionesses.

Brighton & Hove Albion’s latest opponents pose a big threat on the counter-attack and assistant boss Roberts has called on the team to be effective at both ends of the pitch.

“Being ruthless in both boxes has been a big message this week, taking the chances,” Roberts said when speaking in the pre-match press conference.

“Going into the West Ham game, they’re very transitional, they’ve got a very dangerous forward line and counter-attack really well. The goal they scored against Spurs was a perfect example of that counter-attacking threat.

“We’ve had a big focus on being ruthless in both boxes this week and hopefully, that pays off at the weekend.”

West Ham United’s front-three have individual qualities that can really hurt an opposition and Roberts says that a lot of work has been done on defending attacks.

He said “As we do with every game, we look at situations and scenarios. We set up tactically to try and take advantage of where we can be strong but also, we look at where our opponents are strong and how we try and nullify that. That’s been a big part of the training week.

“It’s not only been about looking at the players on the front-line, it’s been about how they get their chances, where do the chances come from? At the moment, they’re a team that don’t need a lot of possession or territory to score goals. 

“A big part of the training week has been about attacking control, ability to deal with counter-attacks, ability to delay attacks and get back to defend as a team.

“We know they’ve got quality in their front-line but we’ve got a lot of quality defensively in our structures as well. It’ll be an exciting match-up and hopefully, we’ll come out on top.”

West Ham United are under new management with Rita Guarino having been appointed head coach before the winter break. Roberts says that the Italian has looked to build on The Hammers’ existing strengths.

He said “It’ll take a bit of time because when a new coach comes in, they’re working with a combination of what they want right now and also, what the team can give. You’ve got to find the middle ground between your playing style and what the identity already is based on the type of players you have.

“From her point of view, it looks like there’s a focus and buy-in into the attacking threat that they have and trying to get the best out of that.

“They had very little of the ball against Leicester but won 2-1, were very dangerous against Spurs and they score in most games. We are prepared and we have to be ready for that threat.”

Brighton & Hove Albion’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at West Ham United kicks-off at 12pm on Sunday.