Nildén on Robins clash: “We will go there, be brave and play our football” | OneFootball

Amanda Nilden reflects on her time in Lilywhite so far and is looking forward to the challenge of Bristol City in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Sunday afternoon (2pm UK).

We travel to Ashton Gate on the back of an important victory over Leicester City in the WSL last weekend as we continued our push for a top five spot in the league, sitting six points behind Liverpool and Manchester United.

“I’m looking forward to Sunday,” Amanda told SPURSPLAY ahead of our trip to the Robins. “All the games we are playing at the moment are very important and we will go there to try and get the three points.

“We have had a good week and we got confidence from last week’s result, so we will go there, be brave and play our football, we want to play from the back and build-up slowly.”

The 25-year-old joined us on loan in the January transfer window, with an option to make it permanent in the summer from Serie A giants, Juventus, and has been straight into the action in Lilywhite.

Amanda has already featured in nine games across all competitions - five in the WSL, two in the FA Women’s Continental Tyres League and two in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup – and the defender has enjoyed minute so far despite the differences in the style of football between England and Italy.

“I’m really enjoying it, it’s a fantastic Club and I love my team-mates and we are playing good football at the moment, so I really like it,” Amanda added.

“For me, I’m settling in quite fast. I have played a lot and I’m trying to take every opportunity I have to improve and help my team and, I think, so far it has been working really well.

“The football here is very different from Italy where it’s more possession-based, while here everything is so much faster, the players are stronger, and you need to make decisions quicker. So, it’s a big difference for me but I feel I am coming into it more and more after every game.”

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The Sweden international was part of the squad that created history in the Women’s FA Cup at the beginning of this month as a penalty shootout success over Manchester City book our spot in the semi-final of the competition for the first time in our history.

Amanda played a crucial part in our victory as she stepped up to take our third spot-kick of the evening and she showed complete calmness, guiding her effort into the top right corner in what was her first-ever professional penalty.

When asked about that moment, she replied: “I never really take penalties, so I have never been in that position before. I was just into the game and wanted to win so I just said ‘I can take it’ and, in the moment, I was confident and I’m happy I did that now.

“We went to the semi-final [of the Women’s FA Cup] and that’s a big step for us as a team and also very important for all of us to gain confidence and prove that we can do this and go far in this competition.”

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