‘It doesn’t matter who we get’ – Leicester City boss Kirk ready for any FA Cup challenge | OneFootball

Leicester City head coach Willie Kirk says that his side will take on anybody in the quarter-finals of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.

The Foxes booked their place in the last-eight after defeating Birmingham City 6-2 in a fifth round tie at The Pirelli Stadium this afternoon. Five different players got their names on the scoresheet as Leicester City’s quality shone through against one of the best teams in the second tier.

Leicester City can now look forward to Monday’s quarter-final draw and head coach Kirk is open-minded when it comes to his side’s next domestic cup opponents.

“I want a home tie if we are at King Power but I don’t want a home tie if we are at The Pirelli,” Kirk said when speaking to the media after the victory over Birmingham City. “Obviously, that’s a scheduling thing and we don’t know what will happen around that.

“At this stage of the competition, you just take anybody. I look at the last time I got to an FA Cup final [with Everton] and we got Chelsea in the quarter-finals. I’ll make sure I say it to the players that it doesn’t matter who we get, if those big teams are to lose a game, it’s usually a quarter or a semi. Those big teams don’t lose finals; if we are going to catch them, it’ll be in the last-eight or last-four.”

Leicester City fell behind against fifth round opponents Birmingham City before turning things around to go in at the break 3-2 up. The Foxes then netted three unanswered goals in the second half to end the contest as the emphatic winners.

Kirk gave an honest assessment of his side’s performance with Leicester City having not gained full control until the second half.

He said “The start was far from what we wanted but in some respects, it’s good to concede early. As much as you warn players about complacency, the best way to get over that complacency is to concede early.

“We certainly knew we were in a game at that point and I thought that we found solutions quite well. I thought that the players did rise to it, we were a little bit disappointed that we didn’t take complete control of the game at times; there was an opportunity in the first half after we had gone 2-1 up to really control the game and we failed to do so.

“We went through a few things at half-time and in the second half, things felt a lot more comfortable.”

Leicester City’s second half momentum was energised by some impressive performances from the bench. Substitutes Deanne Rose and Aileen Whelan both got themselves on the scoresheet. The former brought real energy out wide in the last 25 minutes.

“The bench that we’ve got now allows us to constantly protect the team,” Kirk said. “If anyone’s getting complacent, not doing their job or putting in a poor performance, we can put someone on just as good. It just protects the quality of the team and the quality of the XI that’s on the pitch.

“If you look at the quality of that bench today, Lena Petermann is missing from it, Remy Siemsen has not made the squad, Denny Draper is a player of huge potential that we might use this year, so we are in a good place squad-wise.”

Leicester City are next in action on Sunday 18 February 2024 when they face Bristol City in a Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at The King Power Stadium.