Harvey mahu Ladies ikut jejak Arsenal man

Harvey mahu Ladies ikut jejak Arsenal man

Pengendali baru Arsenal Ladies, Laura Harvey yakin pasukannya mampu mengikut jejak langkah skuad lelaki Arsenal yang kembali dari kekalahan 2-1 pada first leg semasa menentang FC Porto sebelum membelasah Porto 5-0 di laman sendiri..

"The tie is still in the balance but the fact that we scored an away goal is big.. We’ve made our chances better by staying in the game.. We played a much better second half than the first when we were never really in the game.. I liked the way we put pressure on them after the interval.. Duisburg maybe have more experience than us, and have many senior internationals in their team.."

"But I am pleased with the performance of my team.. It was the expected difficult and tight match for both teams and we have got the important away goal we wanted.. On Tuesday night the men were able to turn over a 2-1 deficit and win 5-0.. Let’s hope we can do the same!!"

Laura Harvey juga yakin walaupun skuad Arsenal Ladies hampir setiap masa ketika musim perpindahan kehilangan seorang tonggak utama pasukan masih mampu untuk mara ke peringkat separuh akhir menewaskan juara bertahan FCR 2001 Duisburg esok seperti mana mereka lakukan pada tahun 2007 apabila menjulang trofi eropah pertama mereka dan untuk kelab wanita England selepas menewaskan juara bertahan Umea IK 1-0..

"If you put both teams down on paper I think a lot of people expected us to come away maybe defeated by a big scoreline on Wednesday but we knew we had a gameplan and we stuck to it and frustrated them at times.."

"They had chances but we didn't give up and even when we went 2-0 down, some teams would crumble but we just carried on fighting and got a lucky break with the own goal.. But I think we deserved that on the night and it has left us in good stead for Sunday.."

"I have grown to have a lot of admiration and respect for the players at the Club.. No matter what, in big games they turn it on.. In the last 12 months it has been hard with the players who have gone, and the quality of those players, a lot of teams would stop winning games not to mention trophies.. But this club and this team consistently keep doing that regardless of which players we lose.. It's a credit to them and the youngsters we have got coming through are really stepping up to the mark.."

"It will be tense on Sunday but that is what football is about.. That was our main aim from the first leg, to stay in the game so that Sunday was a) a spectacle and b) gave us a chance to progress through, which is the ultimate aim.. So I think it will be tense, I think as much for them as for us.. Like I say I think they expected it to be a relatively easy game I think, so we shocked them a little bit.. We've seen what they are about and we've seen what we can do, and we know there are things we can do better, so if we can put those things right we have a great chance.."

"I think a lot of things come massively into play.. If we went gung-ho and went for it from the first whistle, you open yourself up to conceding.. But from Wednesday we looked at ourselves and said that we could have been a bit better when we had the ball. We worked really hard when they had the ball but when we got it we could have used it more.. So that's the thing to work on for Sunday.. We need to keep up the good work we did defensively on Wednesday and keep the ball better as well and play the football we know we can play.."

Arsenal Ladies memang mempunyai nasib yang cukup serupa seperti pasukan lelaki apabila akan turun beraksi esok tanpa kelibat tonggak utama, nadi pasukan musim ini dan juga penjaring terbanyak pasukan iaitu Kim Little yang digantung 1 perlawanan.. Namun berita baiknya penyerang prolifik Arsenal Ladies Julie Fleeting dijangka kembali selepas mengalami kecederaan..

"It is a big loss, she is a world-class player and she has got the plaudits over the last couple of seasons.. But we have to plan for that, she's just another player we have lost.. We are used to that and we are resilient, we know that no matter what we will give it our best shot.."

"We have Julie Fleeting potentially back for the weekend, Danielle Carter can play in the Kim Little ole, so can Jennifer Beattie, Jayne Ludlow can play a little bit higher up... we have a few options.. We are training again on Saturday so we will iron out what we're going to do and go from there.. There is a little bit of competition for places which is a nice problem for me to have.."

"Whoever plays, I am thriving on the challenge.. Most people wrote us off before we kicked a ball on Wednesday but I believed in what we were doing, I think the players believed in the gameplan we set out.. Winning League and Cup games is great but the Champions League is a whole new ball game.. It's my fifth game in and it's the second leg of a Champions League Quarter-Final so I'm enjoying it.." Adios..