'We don't focus on keeping possession'

SCW: Tell us a bit about your playing style and what your team’s brand of football is...

MF: "When I went in, we knew we had to improve our athleticism. I wanted them to win the ball back as early as possible, get at opponents and ask questions, whether that be through a sequence of passes, a phase of play, or 1v1s.

"I always say to our players, if you’re out numbered, 2v1 or 3v1, then by all means recycle possession. But if you’re 1v1, you should be getting at that player and asking questions.

"We don’t focus too much on keeping the ball. I don’t think we’d get excited by the fact we had 70% possession - it’s more about creating key chances. 

"Sometimes that is through possession. We played a team on Sunday that sat quite deep and were required to move the ball around much more than we would normally to try and draw them out.

"But most teams will come at you and that gives you opportunities to find space in behind and be quite intense.”

SCW: That approach requires confidence. Some in the female game have said that is something they have to work on more with female players. How do you go about building up confidence?

MF: "It’s something I’m learning. We have a player that really doesn’t know how good she is. I say to her every time, ’get at the player’ and she’ll do it regularly in training. 

"She’s well-known in the league, players are scared of her. Sometimes I think she takes an easy option and it is purely because she thinks ’What if I lose possession?’. But when you’re in the final third of the pitch, the risk is really low and the reward is so high.

"I would never tell them off for losing possession in the final third - I’m only upset when they just palm it off to a central midfielder, because if I was that full-back, the last thing I would want is her running at me. She really is a beast of an athlete. 

“So sometimes it’s reassuring the player of what they can do - ’Do you remember when you did this against this team? That’s exactly what we want, it worked that time’. 

SCW: What does your planning and preparation look like for match days?

MF: "When I first came in, the girls weren’t told the starting 11 until half an hour before kick off. That shocked me a little.

"Previous coaches were a bit concerned that if a girl finds out she’s on the bench, would she turn up? If a girl doesn’t turn up, it’ll be the last time she plays for me. And it’s not something we’ve ever had an issue with. 

"We don’t focus too much on keeping the ball - it’s more about creating chances..."

“So the squad will go out on a Friday. That allows any girls that aren’t in the starting 11 to get over that disappointment.

"If I feel the opponent’s best player is, say, a left winger, I might text the right-back on Saturday and say, ’How are we’re going to cope with her tomorrow?’. Just engage in conversation, and provoke a bit of thought. 

“On matchday, I used to find I fell into the pit that a lot of coaches do, getting so involved you take each loss so personally. 

"I’m not so bad any more. I try to treat it like a coaching session. In the first 10 minutes, we’ll rarely say anything. I don’t feel like anybody can benefit from anything within the first 10 minutes. It has to settle.

“At half-time, the coaches will stay outside the dressing room for five minutes. It allows us to have a little discussion and make sure we’re all singing off the same hymn sheet."

SCW: If you could give one takeaway point to a coach, what would it be?

MF: "A mentor of mine said, ’Don’t let your professional standards drop. Be professional in everything you do’.

"I benefited from some really good mentors, but almost ended up trying to be a carbon copy of them. As I’ve got a bit older, I’ve learned to take the best bits of them but still be me.

"That’s probably the best bit of advice I can give - take everything good from the people you work with, but don’t lose you."