“It's difficult, don't get me wrong. I don't doubt what I'm doing or doubt what we're doing but you become frustrated and maybe doubted at times in terms of am I doing something wrong? Can I be doing something different to make sure that we can get over the line? But I'm under no illusions in terms of the progress we've made and what we've delivered this season. When we come into these games, we know they're going to be tough, we know the sides we're up against and we know we've got a lot of work to do to get to that level of where they're at. We've got work to do, we want to be competing at that top level. But what you shouldn't shy away from, if you won't, is making sure we're competitive in games and we're building on those performances."
Martin on the importance of developing Academy players as our Under-19s face London Bees in the quarter-final of the Capital Cup on Thursday night...
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“We have young players training with us from the Under-19s regularly, so the youth development here is a really big ethos of the club, to develop your own players and make sure we have an Academy that produces a pathway and a conveyor belt of talent for the Women's First team - and the same for the Men's and Academy teams too. We need to make sure we continue to build on that. Yeah, we've got some wonderful, talented players and they deservedly should be in that position after the performances they've had. Yeah, I wish them all the best with their game, and I have no doubts they should get through.”
Martin on what the FA Cup means to him…
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“It's the most prestigious competition in England. A cup competition that you play at Wembley as a final, who doesn't want to play there as a coach, as a player, and as a club, so you want to make sure you can get to those finals. They've \[Spurs\] been there before, so they know what it feels like to be there as a team and as a club, so we need to make sure we can give the fans and the club more days like that. We've got a task in front of us now in Chelsea and we have to make sure that if we want to get there, you have to beat these teams.”
Martin on what he enjoys most about watching his team…
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“More the desire, the passion they play with, the enthusiasm for the growth and development of the team, and then furthermore seeing players play with a smile on their face and play with freedom. Then, when we're performing and we know we're at our best, the energy and enthusiasm that gives not just the team, but gives the staff, the wider staffing group, the wider club. I get a lot of pride in watching the team play, they're playing a really brave way of football and a brave way of playing and when we do that, I think we're at our best.”
On what the main takeaways have been in the defeats to Manchester City and Arsenal…
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“Lots of aspects, definitely with the ball especially. I think second half against Arsenal, even first half, we created moments. \[In the\] second half, we had some moments with the ball where we progressed well, but we just lacked maybe that cutting edge in front of goal and maybe the bravery to actually go and finish, go and take a little bit of responsibility. Then, the City game was the same, the second half against Manchester City, we created so many chances, pushed them back in their half, I think they only got out of it a handful of times, and then really defended well in that game. What we've got to make sure is we start games quicker than we have been but be better in terms of defending the box from set plays and that's an area we need to really push, which we spoke to the players about. We can take those lessons from those games; gives you experience and the best practice moving forward to tell you where you're at and where you need to go.”
Martin on the impact from Lize Kop in our last outing in the FA Cup and her involvement for the game against Chelsea…
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“Hopefully she doesn't have to make any saves. If she doesn't have to make any, then we’ve defended well. But I think in the last game, she's done wonderfully well in the FA Cup; she made some big saves, she obviously made the saves for the penalty shootout win and she's made some big moments. If she is asked this game to step up and make big saves and moments, then I know Lize will do her best to do that, but hopefully she doesn't have to have too much work to do."
Martin on the mentality from the team with a big crowd expected at Kingsmeadow…
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“We know what it's like, the fans are close to the pitch, it's hostile, they make a lot of noise, they back their team and they're the games you want to be part of. I want stadiums where we play to be full, I want them to have a good crowd, it adds more to the interest of the game, it adds more interest for us as a team and for Chelsea, and it spurs the players on when you've got so many people watching. It maybe adds that little bit of pressure that you know you've got to perform and I think at times when we've had that pressure, we've performed well. Hopefully lots turn out for the game and we can put on a good performance.”