Experienced heads can help London City Lionesses deal with promotion pressure says Wilde | OneFootball

London City Lionesses defender Maddi Wilde says that the experienced players can help the team deal with any added pressure and expectancy this season.

The Pride have been building both on and off the pitch over the summer with owner Michele Kang stepping up her commitment to push the club forward towards the Barclays Women’s Super League.

London City Lionesses will kick-off the new Barclays Women’s Championship season next month as one of the title favourites given the quality of some of their summer signings, combined with the appointment of Jocelyn Prêcheur as their new head coach. The Pride have a good mix of experienced and talented young players in their squad and it will be fascinating to see how the team fare against their promotion rivals.

There will be more pressure and expectancy placed upon London City Lionesses this season than ever before but defender Wilde believes that the team are in a great place and that the experienced heads will help everyone remain focused on the job in hand.

“No matter where you are, there’s pressure, that’s football,” Wilde said when speaking in a Barclays Women’s Championship media event. “It doesn’t matter if it’s grassroots or playing at the top level, there’s pressure. We are always going to have that no matter where we are.

“The big name players coming in can help us settle that [pressure] because we can use their experience. If anything, that takes the pressure off a little bit.

“At the moment, we are really calm and things seem really relaxed. Nothing is really building us up yet.”

There are not many leagues more competitive than the Barclays Women’s Championship. Last season’s title race went down to the final day while as many as five teams were in with a chance of promotion at one point. Wilde says that adaptability to the league’s different challenges will be key for London City Lionesses this season.

She said “We need to be adaptable. You will face different challenges, it’s not an easy league to be a part of. You can never predict any score in this league.

“It’s about being adaptable and not getting too ahead of ourselves. We need to stay really humble with where we are and what we have, stay composed. I feel as though adaptable is definitely the way to be.”

London City Lionesses go into the new season with something of a multi-national squad. Amongst the club’s impressive summer signings are Kosovare Asllani (Sweden), Charlène Meyong (Cameroon), Miljana Ivanović (Serbia), Shen Mengyu (China) and Julia Roddar (Sweden). While the London City Lionesses dressing room will be made up of different nationalities and cultures, Wilde says that the language of football will bond the team together very quickly.

She said “At the end of the day, football is a language and it’s a sport that brings everyone together across the whole world.

“It’s easy done [to integrate different cultures and nationalities], I don’t think that’s a challenge whatsoever. We are a welcoming group; we want everyone who comes in to feel welcome, so that’s the easiest job.

“It’s good to bring in fresh faces, players with different attributes, so we are really looking forward to it.”

London City Lionesses kick-off the new Barclays Women’s Championship season with a fixture against Newcastle United at Hayes Lane on Sunday 8 September 2024. Tickets are on-sale now and can be purchased by clicking here.