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Women's team manager Luke Podmore "excited" ahead of Reds' upcoming pre-season schedule

Eight weeks on from the conclusion of the 2017/18 season, FC United Women are set to take to the field for the first game of a new chapter, tomorrow (15th July); the opening game of the FCUMW 2018/19 pre-season campaign. Ahead of a packed schedule, the Reds appear to be raring to go, with Everton Ladies Development Squad the first opponents, as they visit Broadhurst Park, tomorrow.

Manager Luke Podmore is as ready as anyone for United’s summer schedule and having monitored the squad over the last few weeks, he believes that the mood in the camp is at a peak level going into the opening fixture. "Since we kicked off the official pre-season preparations, a few weeks ago, the mood in the camp is the most excited I’ve ever seen it and the most determined the group has ever been. They’re [the players] all really looking forward to the new challenge and what comes with that, obviously the stadium and the other attractions it brings. We’re absolutely buzzing, we hope to take each week as it comes in order to get stronger and stronger before the season comes."

Off the back of nine wins from nine pre-season games, twelve months ago, Podmore has put together a more challenging and demanding schedule that he believes he and the players can gain a large amount from, as they prepare for the new season. "We’ve gone up a level since last pre-season so I really want to see how the players deal with a little more adversity than what they are used to. I want to see them tested, in different scenarios and then how we deal with that. This season we are going to come up against different teams with different mindsets at different stages of their development so it’s important that we develop a plan B, a plan C, a plan D...ahead of the new season because at some point we may have to revert to those. I want to push the players to their absolute limits so that they can get the best out of eachother, only then will we produce our best as a team."

Having been successful in terms of silverware last season, Podmore insisted on keeping together the core of the treble-winning squad from 2017/18. The boss has also strengthened the side with three new additions, so far this summer. Defender Emily Marsh became Podmore’s third summer signing just over a week ago, having also added midfielder Corie Mather and defender Emilie Revitt from Blackburn Rovers LFC and Liverpool Ladies FC respectively. Podmore has had plenty of praise for his new additions with two of the three expected to feature tomorrow; Emily Marsh the exception through injury. "I’m really excited to see what they can do tomorrow and in pre-season in general. Corie [Mather] is a wide player, has been around development squad football for a while, she’s got great quality going forward and a good end product - I expect Corie to fit in really well. She suits our style of play, listens to instructions and I can already tell already that she’s taken on board some of the stuff we’ve already done, so I’m excited to see how she develops over pre-season."

"Emilie [Revitt] is another player who I think will slot in really well. She gives us good solidity at the back and good depth in an area where we were perhaps a little light last season. She gives us good balance too which allows us to change system and look at new ways of playing because we’re capable of doing that as a team."

As well as strengthening his side through new additions, important to Podmore was keeping together his core group of players from last year’s successes. "It’s massively important. We needed to make wholesale changes ahead of last season to create a fresh mindset and implement new ideas. It was really important that we freshened it up last year and brought in the players that we needed to create the legacy, the system and the philosophy that we wanted and last year we got that, some of the football we played was outstanding. We don’t need to make those changes now because we have that core group who understand how we play, how I want us to achieve things and how I want us to conduct ourselves on and off the pitch. So it was important to keep that core and sprinkle a few players in who I know can add to that, it makes our squad even stronger than last year, which of course bodes well for the season ahead."

Everton Ladies’ Development Squad is the start of an attractive pre-season lineup for United over the coming weeks. Fixtures against various FA WSL Development League and FA Women’s National League sides await the Reds over the next two months. Podmore had specific focuses in mind when putting together this year’s schedule. "This year it was really important to step up the pre-season a little bit. Last year’s pre-season was great, we had some really tough fixtures and some tough tests to set us up for the season. But pre-season isn’t about winning really, it’s a bonus if anything. This year we wanted physical games, games that will hold a quick tempo and ones that are ultimately very competitive. It’s important that we have the variety in opponents so that we can go into the season with different plans, ideas and adjustments."

Having already outlined certain targets and objectives to his players, Podmore believes that a productive pre-season can only help the squad further to achieving the targets, once the regular season begins. "We had the presentation at the start of pre-season that outlines the targets and objectives that I believe that the team should be going for and can make, in this upcoming campaign. Obviously pre-season will set us up if we can get everything we want out of it; the fitness elements, the tactical elements, the psychological elements. Regardless of results, we need to make sure that we’re prepared and if that means we have to go through some tough experiences to get there, that’s fine. The targets are important at this stage though because if you come out of pre-season scoring goals and picking up wins, hopefully you’ll be able to go into the season with a similar mindset. Come the end of the year, hopefully we’ll be able to look back on pre-season and see what impact it’s had on our season."

The FA WSL Development League side of Everton Ladies will be the first test for Podmore’s Reds, at Broadhurst Park tomorrow, a game which Podmore believes will be the perfect test for his side. "Everton are a great opponent to kick pre-season off with. Players in that side are obviously aspiring to be a part of the first team at the club and so we’re playing against potential future WSL players, if not players that have already experienced that level itself. It will be a great experience for us, to test ourselves against our team who have got the facilities and resources that Everton have got. We’ve made great strides over the last year-and-a-half, the team is night and day. On and off the pitch, we’ve raised our levels and ultimately had a plan to aspire to be at a better level than where we’re at. We don’t want to make numbers up, we want to achieve things - winning five trophies in the last 19 months has outlined those aspirations. Therefore, playing against teams in and around the Super League and the National League will be huge for the players and will build their confidence. That was the case last season, it made us believe that we could go into the season and really do some damage, hopefully that will be the same again this year."

You can see Luke Podmore’s Reds open their 2018/19 pre-season campaign, tomorrow afternoon, as we host Everton Ladies Development Squad at Broadhurst Park. The game is a 1pm kick-off and is part of the club’s annual beer festival.

We hope to see you there!



First Posted ~ 21:09 Sat 14 Jul 2018
News ID ~ 7947
Last Updated ~ 21:49 Thu 18 Feb 2021