Bedford is now ‘Tinkerwoman’
CITY BOSS ROTATING PLAYERS LIKE RANIERI
CLAUDIO Ranieri’s Tinkerman tactics are clearly rubbing off on Lydia Bedford, writes Will Jennings, of Sportsbeat.
Former Leicester boss Ranieri was renowned for his love of rotating players and maximising squad depth.
And after he unforgettably led the Foxes to the Premier League title in 2016, current women’s chief Bedford hopes to apply the same formula.
Leicester beat Birmingham 2-1 in a crucial Barclays FA Women’s Super League relegation clash last weekend to move five points clear of safety ahead of tomorrow’s home game against West Ham.
Bedford has a full squad at her disposal and reckons channelling the insight of the 70-year-old Italian and managing her players’ workload could prove a prudent strategy come the end of the season.
The 34-year-old said: “One of the biggest challenges on a week-by-week basis at the moment is managing how many players we have fit and available.
“Everybody wants the opportunities to play and with some of the games that we’ve had, it’s been tricky to provide playing minutes to some players, because the games have almost gone to the last minute.
“With Birmingham last week, we were able to make a few changes, but maybe not as early in the game as we might have done.
“If we’d have put another goal in the back of the net early in the second half, we could have made some of those changes sooner.
“It’s just about managing that and trying to keep everyone at the same level because ultimately, come March, April time, we’re going to play some tough teams that will probably require us to rotate.
“We’ll need to have fit and available players that can last 90 minutes to be competitive with those teams. So, we need to keep everyone fresh.”
Jess Sigsworth and Jemma Purfield’s strikes helped fire the Foxes to that allimportant triumph against rivals Birmingham last weekend.
Emily Ramsey was sent off for the hosts at St Andrew’s and, buoyed by a recent upturn in form, Leicester took full advantage.
Sigsworth and Purfield’s goals before the break set the visitors on their way and despite Louise Quinn pulling one back on 85 minutes, Bedford’s players held firm to move further away from the relegation zone.
They have now got the likes of Everton and Aston Villa in their sights ahead of welcoming seventh-placed West Ham to the Pirelli Stadium tomorrow.
Leicester have racked up just nine league goals all season and striker Sigsworth, 27, believes they need to develop a more ruthless killer instinct if they’re going to climb further adrift of the drop.
The former Manchester United ace said: “I just feel now we’ve got to be a bit more clinical.
“We could have really killed (the game against Birmingham) off.
“We missed some really good chances – we did really well in the first half and we’ve just got to continue that now for 90 minutes.”
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