Konchesky

Konchesky: We lacked that winning mentality in defeat to Lewes

West Ham United Women’s manager, Paul Konchesky said that his side didn’t show a winning mentality out on the pitch in their 2-1 defeat to Lewes. 

The Irons didn’t really get into their stride in the loss at The Beacon. The Irons did take the lead thanks to Grace Fisks header, but they were caught out by a two-minute double salvo, with Emily Kraft firing in from close range to turn the game on it’s head before the break. 

In the second half, Lewes held firm to hang onto the victory, leaving Konchesky wanting more from his side. 
 

We need to make sure that we don’t switch off that winning mentality 

If we are being honest, I think Lewes wanted it more out there today. I don’t want to make excuses, but the pitch was poor, and it affected the way that we would normally play. 
 
Lewes had a good gameplan and have some decent players, I think they’ll do well in the Championship. 

It looks as though the manager has got them playing how he wants them, and like I say, I think it came down to them wanting it a little bit more than us. 

More minutes for the girls was the positive today

We had Dagný (Brynjarsdóttir) and Kate (Longhurst) back out there today, which was important because we need to get the ready for the beginning of the season. 

Dagný has been away at the Euro’s, so she was able to play 60 for us today, and we will gradually ease Kate back in after her injury at the beginning of pre-season. 

We’ve got more matches coming up, so there’s more opportunities to get players up to where we want them. 

We’re another week closer to the season now, so we need to make sure we’re prepared for Chelsea on the opening day of the season. 

This is the time to be working on things

Pre-season is always a good time to be experimenting with different ideas, but we also want to make sure we’re performing to our usual standard. 

Every time we take to the field, we want to win matches – it gives you the confidence to go and be confident and express yourself in matches, and that’s what we want to see. 

We’re going to have to go away and look at what didn’t happen today and see where we can improve. 
 

Interested in watching West Ham United Women this season? Sign up to our mailing list or click on the graphic below to purchase a Season Ticket for the 2022/23 Barclays Women's Super League season now!

"""