Safe hands, new faces and 5 more talking points as LCFC Women prepare for kickoff
LCFC Women return to WSL action this Sunday with a trip to newly-promoted Bristol City. It’s been a busy summer for Willie Kirk and his staff as they prepare a new-look team for another tough assignment, so what are the main talking points throughout the squad?
1. In safe hands
Few Leicester fans thought we’d be able to get her back. Even Willie Kirk didn’t think we’d be able to get her back. But, as was pretty clear if you follow her on social media, Janina Leitzig was living her best life last season after joining on loan from Bayern Munich and, implausible as it seems, we were able to sign her permanently.
Leitzig had one of the biggest individual impacts on a Leicester team we’ve ever seen. We’re talking N’Golo Kante levels. So if you’re new to LCFC Women, imagine if we’d only signed Kante on loan, the entire Premier League had been able to see how good he was and he’d still wanted to come back so much that we were able to make him a Leicester City player.
Leicester also brought in Dutch international keeper Lize Kop to challenge Leitzig for the number one jersey. While we may not be able to compete with the WSL’s biggest clubs for squad depth in other areas, there aren’t any clubs with better options in the goalkeeping department.
2. Full-back fiesta
Not far behind the Leitzig coup was the return of another loanee, the Australian international left-back Courtney Nevin. While her main strengths are her delivery from wide areas and set pieces, Nevin also added defensive steel.
One of the best players in the squad is the right-back CJ Bott, who will be looking to put New Zealand’s disappointing home World Cup showing behind her.
As with the goalkeepers, full-back is a strong area for Leicester, although it remains to be seen how Kirk sees the versatile Janice Cayman fitting into the overall plan. Cayman is equally at home at right-back, where she appeared for Belgium this week, or further upfield - where she may end up to accommodate Bott.
3. A shock departure, an impressive capture
While most of LCFC Women’s summer seemed overwhelmingly positive, it was a shock to most when Ashleigh Plumptre announced her departure. She’s since pitched up in Saudi Arabia, which poses separate questions.
Leicester have sought to replace Plumptre with the signing of Julie Thibaud, a French international of undoubted pedigree. At nearly six foot, Plumptre’s height was often an asset so will Thibaud, at five foot six, be able to compensate?
Sophie Howard, fresh from scoring a last-gasp equaliser for Scotland in midweek, will again be a reliable presence. There’s also a chance Sam Tierney may need to be pushed back into defence, where she has performed well in the past. There aren’t a huge amount of options at the back and it will be interesting to see how Kirk copes with any injuries or suspensions.
4. The holding role
The role played by Ruby Mace in front of the back four in the second half of last season was integral to Leicester’s improvement in retaining possession. Mace completed 81% of her short passes, won 60% of her tackles and averaged 5.2 tackles and interceptions per game.
Replacing Mace will be difficult, but perhaps Leicester will be looking to summer signing Aimee Palmer to step up from winning the Championship with opening-day opponents Bristol City to make the defensive midfield position her own. Palmer certainly seems to have confidence in her new side’s ability and ambitions.
Then there’s Monique Robinson, who has looked accomplished in her fleeting appearances for the club so far and could be ready to announce herself.
5. Keeping it in midfield
Kirk has spoken of his pride at the team’s improvements in possession, but do we have the right players to keep this trend going? One area where Leicester look light after the departures of Mace and Molly Pike is in central midfield.
Aileen Whelan and Sam Tierney are important players for their energy and pressing, but may need to improve with the ball this season. Josie Green will hope to have an injury-free campaign and could turn out to be a key player.
The squad looks slightly unbalanced given the number of attack-minded options vying for playing time but, as we’ve seen with changes of roles in the men’s team, that could be transformed if Kirk opts to try players in new positions - and central midfield looks most in need of bolstering.
6. Rose from the Royals
Leicester may have occupied bottom place in the WSL for most of last season, but the team there when it counted was Reading. Salt was rubbed in the wounds when Reading’s Deanne Rose, who missed the vast majority of last season with an achilles tendon injury, swapped the Madejski for the King Power this summer.
All you need to know about the kind of pace and creativity Rose could be bringing to Leicester’s attack is contained in this exciting showcase:
7. Forward thinking
Rose was just one of three summer additions to the Leicester attack, alongside German international Lena Petermann - an experienced goalscorer who could revolutionise the whole side - and the Finn Jutta Rantala, another who has scored plenty of goals and will now play outside of Scandinavia for the first time.
Leicester were boosted last season by the return from injury of Wales’s Hannah Cain, whose tally of 3.23 shots per 90 last season came in way ahead of any of her team-mates. The boost this weekend will come when Shannon O’Brien, 2021/22’s Player of the Year, starts fully fit after missing a long period of the last season.
The other question marks surround whether players can kick on following promising starts. Will this be Missy Goodwin’s breakout year? Has Remy Siemsen, who will unfortunately miss the first six weeks, found her feet in the WSL? Most intriguingly of all, will Ava Baker continue to build on her enormous potential?
Leicester’s problem has been goalscoring for much of the two WSL years to date. That could all be about to change.
