Carla Ward spoke to media at Bodymoor Heath on Friday morning as she looked ahead to Sunday’s Barclays WSL encounter against Everton.
Aston Villa’s manager discussed Simone Magill's positive return to action, proving doubters wrong, increasing confidence and our opposition.
Here’s what she had to say…
On Simone Magill...
“She’s been excellent since she came in. The first year was really tough for her to come to a new club and before she was in the building she got injured. That was tough for her, but the way she was during that first year was brilliant. During pre-season she was nothing short of sensational in putting herself in the mix. We’ve been gutted not to have her available for more games but we knew we could get her onto the pitch for 30 minutes on Wednesday night. We did and she did what she does best and that’s score goals. I think it’s a good moment for her to get her first goal.”
On proving people wrong...
“It’s what I’ve done my whole career. In football you can lose a few games and be under pressure… you win a few games and you’re back to doing your job. The football club backed me, the fans have backed me, the players have backed me. It was really important that we stuck together, and we’re in a good place.”
On using the Conti Cup to build confidence...
“We can’t underestimate the importance of the timing of those two ties. It’s been in between [league] games that have allowed us to give people confidence, get the team confident, implement the way we want to play. It’s been massive for us. We took [the cup] seriously last year and we got to the latter stages. It’s a cup competition we want to take seriously this year, and we’ll continue to do so.”
On team news...
“Simone [Magill] was back in the squad last week but she’s available for more minutes. Lucy Parker’s back on the grass today with the team, which is excellent news, but Sunday will be too soon. Apart from that, everyone’s fit and ready to go.
On Everton...
“They’ve got a way of playing. They’re better than their league position suggests. They’ve played some good stuff and I thought they were excellent against Chelsea. What I would say is that I think it’d be very naïve to think this is going to be an easy game because of their run. We know what football’s like and we know what momentum swings are like. Since Brian [Sørensen]’s come in he’s implemented a way, and they’re never an easy team to play against. They’ve got a lot of quality so we’re going to have to be at our absolute best. It’s really important that we take this as a big challenge because that’s exactly what it’s going to be.”