Fran Alonso takes his Celtic FC Women side back to Petershill Park this afternoon on a revenge mission against SWPL1 leaders Glasgow City. The Celtic manager has watched his side lose both games against City this season despite the Hoops certainly deserving something from both games.
It’s fine margins of course and while there were strong penalty claims turned down in both matches for Celtic, the fact remains that today Celtic need to win to re-ignite their title challenge. Any other result and it’s going to be all about fighting against the current Champions theRangers for the second Champions League spot.
The Celtic Star spoke to Fran Alonso and Pamela Tajonar ahead of today’s game.
“We have been very close in the games against Glasgow City, and the past games against them have been very tight,” the Celtic goalkeeper said. “We just need to focus on being better in the situations against them, maybe read the game better at times.
“We know how they play. So it’s all about being very smart, and knowing how to create more chances and finish them off. We need to make sure that we are aggressive and threatening up front, which is what we have been lacking in the last few games against them.
“You never know how a game is going to go, so we need to make sure we put all of our efforts and apply the work we have been doing during the week to the game,” Tajonar said. “On pitches like Petershill Park, it is important to be confident and be sure that we still impose our game. It can be tough, but I think we still have the quality to be able to keep the ball on the ground and keep moving it around as we like to play.’
“I think we have been doing better in those situations on other similar pitches. Maybe we struggled a bit more at the start of the season, but I think we have been doing better from that point of view.
“I am sure if we can come out with the right mentality. Of course, the pitch can have an impact but it doesn’t have to affect us that much if we play our game. We are perfectly capable of doing that, so I don’t think it will be an obstacle.”
Meanwhile Fran Alonso told The Celtic Star: “We can’t wait for the game. We have gone a week without a game, too, because of the international break. So it’s been a long wait.
“We just wanted to play the day after the Partick Thistle game. We wanted to test ourselves and correct what we felt we could have done better in the game. Now we are going to have the chance to do that on Sunday. The players are hungry and training very well.
“They are training at 120 per cent, which is the levels we need to try and get the three points against a team that hasn’t lost this season. We are all really looking forward to it, and we can’t wait for Sunday!”
Celtic FC Women of course face Glasgow City again next weekend – this time in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup at Hampden but despite our best efforts, Fran Alonso wasn’t interested in talking about that massive game as Celtic look to retain the Scottish Cup.
“If I’m totally honest, I have no focus whatsoever on the semi-final next week. I’m not focusing on Hearts in midweek, either. I only care about this game on Sunday. It’s so important,” the Celtic manager said.
“We really want the three points, and we are going to fight as much as we can to get the victory. We felt in the last game against Glasgow City at Petershill Park, we weren’t great. We were a bit unlucky. At 0-0 we don’t get a clear penalty, and then we have an opportunity to score at 1-1.
“They are a very clever and experienced team, and in the last minute of that game they managed to get the winner. We felt like we were so close. The last game at Excelsior Stadium was the same. We felt like we should have had another penalty and then the one great action they score from.
“So it’s fine margins. This time, we are hoping to control these margins, and hopefully, we can beat them for the first time this season because nobody has done that. We did that against Rangers a few months ago. So we’re hoping that we can do the same on Sunday. But we know it’s going to be very tight, and we will have to be at our best because they are a very good team,” Fran Alonso said.
COYGIG
A top of the table meeting today in Glasgow! 🍀
🏆 SWPL
🆚 Glasgow City
🏟 Petershill Park
🎟️ https://t.co/TWKgE4ONou
🕓4:10pm
📺 BBC Alba #CITCEL | #SWPL | #COYGIG pic.twitter.com/ibWexRSMgJ— Celtic FC Women (@CelticFCWomen) April 16, 2023
