West Ham United Women’s manager Paul Konchesky is looking forward to resuming the campaign against Manchester City on Sunday.
The Hammers get their season back underway on Sunday at Chigwell Construction Stadium versus City, in a match that sees fifth play fourth in the Barclays Women’s Super League.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday, Konchesky spoke about his squad selection, preparing for the test City will pose, and potential movements in the transfer window…
We’ve got the majority of our players fit.
We’ve got one long-term injury in Jess Ziu but, other than that, we’re close to having everyone fit. That’s going to be a nice selection headache for me, because it will probably be the first time that I’ve had the majority of my squad to pick from. It’s a nice problem to have though, so I’m looking forward to it.
We’re fifth in the table at the moment.
Are we happy with that? Yes we are, but can we get better? Also yes. People looking in at us might think we shouldn’t be where we are in the league though, but this group will thrive off that.
We want to prove that we are in this position because we’ve got a good group of players and a good group of staff. I think that shows in our league placing at the moment.
We want to win every football match.
We know Manchester City are a good team and we respect them, but they can get on top of you if you respect them too much. With us being at home, with our decent home record, we won’t sit back. I want us to play on the front foot.
We know City are good but we’re good as well. We’re fifth in the league and they’re fourth, and we’re up there for a reason. We want the win and start 2023 on the front foot.
Khadija Shaw has been in incredible form for Manchester City.
I’m going to have to put a minibus in front of our goal to stop her from scoring! In all seriousness, she’s been fantastic for City and she’s certainly one of their main threats. It’s difficult to defend against a player of her stature, but we’ll have a game plan to try and stop her as a team.
We want to try and stop the service to her, so she can’t score a goal. We know she’s a big influence in that City team, and we need to stop all of them.
As the manager, you’re always looking to strengthen in the transfer window.
As much as you think you’re doing okay, you want to bring in players who can help the team climb higher in the table.
We’re working behind the scenes to try and bring players in, but I think people know just how tough it is to that, and especially in January. Other clubs never want to let their best players go in January, but we want to bring in players who can strengthen the team.
Claudia Walker has moved on and I wish her all the best for the rest of her career. That potentially opens up space in our squad for another attacking player. But there are other areas, as well, that we’d like to try and strengthen.
We are doing our best to do that. The staff know what I’m looking for and, if we can bring the right players in during this window, we will do that.
Viviane Asseyi has settled in straight away at West Ham United.
Around the building here, she has been fantastic. She has amazing morale and she loves being at work. I think that proves the environment she has at this football club.
On the pitch, she has been fantastic and scored some brilliant goals. But that isn’t all she brings. She has great work-rate and brings leadership too, both on and off the pitch. I also think she’s only going to get better for us.
On a personal note, I’ve loved every minute of my time in charge of West Ham United Women so far.
I think I’m quite lucky because I had that year as the assistant first, so maybe I learned the way to be a manager as the No2, but being a head coach is something I’m loving. I’m enjoying what I do and that’s the main thing for me.
I think you thrive if you enjoy what you do. To this day, I have to pinch myself because I’m managing the football team that I love.
