Smerud impressed with Crystal Palace’s fight ahead of Manchester City fixture | OneFootball

Crystal Palace manager Leif Smerud says that he has been impressed with his side’s ability to keep on fighting despite their relegation to the Barclays Women’s Championship having already been confirmed.

The Eagles’ survival hopes came to an end last month but they fought hard in their latest fixture against Leicester City, coming from behind on two occasions to claim a point in a 2-2 draw.

When speaking to the media ahead of this weekend’s trip to Manchester City, Crystal Palace boss Smerud said that he is pleased to see his side continuing to fight.

“If you look at last weekend’s game, we started really well and then we conceded just before half-time,” Smerud said. “When you’re relegated and it’s over, it’s the easy choice to give up. For many players and teams, it would be what would happen but we didn’t, so I think scoring and getting back in that game [was positive].

“Getting back in it [again] in the 98th minute, they gave everything and you can’t ask for much more than that. It’s one thing to not be good enough, it’s something you can live with, but we have to fight with what we have and that has impressed me.”

This weekend’s fixture against Manchester City is a tough assignment but Smerud believes that his side can rise to the challenge with the pressure now gone.

He said “It would be great [to get a result]. I think now, we can play without any pressure. We could be sitting here having to win to stay in the league and it’d be a totally different kind of game. We can go and do our best.

“We are facing a really good team, so it’s about putting up the best performance we can and then we will see where it can take us.”

Smerud’s long-term future is yet to be decided and the Crystal Palace boss did not want to comment on whether he is likely to still be in the job when pre-season for the 2025/2026 campaign begins.

He said “I think the right thing now is to focus on the game. It’s the last one of the season and we want to finish well.”

Crystal Palace’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Manchester City kicks-off at 12.30pm on Saturday afternoon.