Jo Potter on Ipswich Town, the international break and the return of an 'exciting young player'
Crystal Palace Women's Manager Jo Potter reflected on the frustrating league draw against Sunderland last Sunday, admitting the team fell short of their usual standards in the second half. She insists the focus has been on improvement this week, and is eager to put things right in the Subway Women's League Cup against Ipswich Town on Sunday.
Palace went behind on the ninth minute through a wicked deflection, but only needed three minutes to muster a response - Kirsty Howat chipping the goalkeeper to score her third of the Barclays Women's Super League 2 campaign.
Potter was honest about the emotions following the 1-1 draw last Sunday, acknowledging the team’s frustration after a bright first-half.
She said: “Yeah, it was hard because we’ve been really disappointed with not getting results after promising performances, but we really felt that second half on Sunday wasn't up to our standards.
“We didn’t show our normal traits, what we were about. We didn't create many chances second-half, we didn't control the game like we like to control the game, like we have been controlling games.
“We don't expect to be perfect by any means. We know good opposition will take moments in the game and have a sustained amount of pressure, but we don't expect it for a full half of a game. I thought we were in control at half-time, we came in with good messages and we just kind of didn't execute the game plan as we would have liked.”
The staff wasted no time in diagnosing the issues and preparing for the upcoming cup fixture.
“We’ve picked it apart, we've dug into it in analysis, in training. We've started the process of trying to make that a little bit better, so we're on the right track again and it’s a good place to start on the weekend to try and turn it around and turn it into a better performance and hopefully three points again,” she said.
Looking ahead to the Women’s League Cup clash on Sunday, Potter sees the game as a valuable opportunity, particularly as the teams have not yet met in the league.
Potter said: “We know that Ipswich have not got a huge squad to rotate so it's a good chance for us to see them.
“We've got a good idea now of how they've been playing and what they like to do. They're a team that have come up with some real identity and a real way of playing and they’re trying to show that and they’re trying to re-implement it.
"So, no game’s easy as we said, every game comes with its own challenges, and we're looking forward to it and looking forward to putting a few things right.”
Following the Ipswich match, the team will enter their first international break of the season, a period Potter views as crucial for both reflection and rest.
She said: “It's a really good chance to tie everything off and reflect and have a look at the past few months and what's been happening.
“We've got a really good staffing group that we’re constantly reflecting all the time over short-term, but it'll be a good chance for us to reflect over more medium-term what that looked like, how we've ended that kind of phase.”
It also provides a necessary break for the players.
“It's also a good chance for people to recharge and go away and have a little bit of time off, have some downtime and try to recharge themselves.
"They will need to be able to go again hard when the window’s finished, because you're straight back into it with not much time to prepare,” Potter said.
Potter also provided an update on the squad ahead of the match and the upcoming international break.
She said: “We had a late injury with Josie [Green] at the end of training on Saturday. That's not a good one so she's going to be out for the foreseeable. Molly [Mae-Sharpe] is out for the foreseeable as well, so that's two major blows for us really.”
However, the team will be boosted by the return of a new face.
“But we've got Zara Bailey that's back into full training this week, so it's been good to see her and her attributes and what she can bring. She's going to be an exciting young player, and we're excited to see what she looks like over the next coming weeks, she should be featuring in the squad at the weekend.
“My Cato got some valuable minutes at the weekend and so did Aimee [Everett], so we've got a couple back but a couple out as well.”
Kick-off against Ipswich is at 14:00 on Sunday, 19th October at the VBS Community Stadium.