Maestre compliments squad mentality as London City Lionesses’ first WSL campaign wraps up

London City Lionesses travelled to Brisbane Road for their penultimate match of the season in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Sunday. Despite a 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, there are still many positives to take from the club’s first season in the topflight.

Eder Maestre discussed recent performances, his future with London City, the mindset he believes will get the best out of the team, and the growth of women’s football as the 2025/26 season almost draws to a close.

Dominance over Leicester City

LCL had a strong win over Leicester last weekend and Maestre gave comments about his opinions on the game: 

“The way we overcame the first goal we conceded, I think we were very dominant in the game. Conceding goals can create hesitancy in the game for the players in the pitch because when you are comfortable the chances that you are having in a fast situation. When you concede you can feel that trust coming down but the team were still pushing and Lucia scored in the next minutes. One of the best things I liked was how the team were believing in the plan and trying to do the same things despite the first goal. 

The other thing I really liked was understanding that when we reach the second or third goal the team were still starving for more goals and were hungry to keep pushing to the end. I think it is very positive because it demonstrates that the team have the energy to deal with the situation that is unexpected.” 

Relationship between Spurs and LCL

LCL have a lot to prove against Spurs after The Lilywhites knocked them out of the FA Cup back in February where we saw sudden death penalties being the decider of who would progress in the prestigious competition. Maestre stated: 

”I hope we can have a good game against them and take revenge as it was very painful as we suffered a quality goal then lost through the penalties.

I think when you suffer this situation where you felt that you had the win so close and the last moment everything changes. I think we can find this extra motivation through the experience that we had a few months ago. I hope we can be interconnected with this idea. On the other hand I prefer having the team very focused and trying to ease the mindset of outside situations and only be connected with things that are gonna come instead of wasting energy on past experiences. We cannot think because we performed well in last games that we will again. It is trying to use that energy in a good way to perform well again.” 

When describing Spurs, Maestre’s comments included credits to their attack and accuracy on the pitch: 

“Tottenham are a very good team with very talented players and they are very clinical in the first half of the pitch. We have to stay alert of every position they try to make. I think they are one of the best teams in the first part of the half and when the reach the critical position they have the chance to accelerate the game and being very painful in the box.” 

Maestre was also asked on his opinions of Martin Ho’s coaching: 

“When I analyse Tottenham I can see a big war behind the team. In position they are very flexible in the way they can adjust their shapes to the behaviours to exploit gaps in the build up. 

They are used to having some risks in the build up but they take a lot of advantage of that situation. I think he is a very smart coach with good tactical knowledge.” 

Growth of Women’s Football

Rising numbers in fan involvement means that playing away from home is beginning to get harder. Maestre responded to this idea: 

“We try not to concentrate whether we are playing home or away because we focus only on things that are happening on the pitch to be more in control of emotions and the match. We are trying to create a mentality of just focusing on things that are happening on the pitch instead of thinking about home or away.”

Over the last week, Tottenham have announced the departure of five players including captain Bethany England. This is a period in the league that a lot of WSL clubs are now reaching. Maestre commented: 

“It is difficult when you are working with player throughout the season and you have good connections. On the other hand you have to remember this is a professional environment has to align with what the club propose by making the best team we possibly can. More players are going to come and other players are going to leave. It is part of the process; you make these personal connections but all people here are professional and at this part of the season it is common for everyone.” 

Looking ahead for LCL

LCL have bright aspirations for the future and Maestre discusses the next steps they want to take to achieve this: 

“I think we are all completely aligned to improve in all areas around the club because our ambition pushes us to classify as champions next season. Everything around these goals aligns to be in the best position to reach these goals. We are ambitious and we are going to fight to get to Champions League next year.” 

Building on this, when LCL play other teams that are at close proximity to them in the league they are very tight games: 

“If you recognise that you are in this part of the standings it could be the closest scenarios to your reality. Maybe other moments you play with more pressure because you are fighting against them in terms of classification but on the other hand we have to only be focused on the game and to not think so much about the opening we have in front of us, we have to put the aim in our capabilities, be confident in our match plan and understand that it doesn’t matter if the team are in the top or bottom as we have to play more with the same energy. We are just thinking of football and the match plan that we are working on during the week.” 

Long-term ambitions and what’s next

LCL are also due to play in the World Sevens at the end of May which will provide a huge opportunity to prove themselves as well as individuals at centre stage: 

“We are going to face the competition optimistically and we are going to share more minutes with players. We are going to try to be in a good balance with the performance and trying to have very good moments with all the players as well as creating a fun moment with a more easy going and relaxed environment by getting everyone involved to have a very good experience.” 

Maestre doesn’t want his players to fixate on certain league positions and to focus heavily on outcomes of games but to look ahead and stick to a solid game plan:

“We try to always have a balance where you have to be strong and try to cope with the context. When bad moments occur you have to be strong it’s part of the job and when the good moments appear you have to keep extra happiness to always keep in good balance to train everyday. If you are very worried when you lose and excited when you win then maybe you are going to be in a role that can put you in a good way to train so its about understanding. I really like using all of the professional experience.” 

London City Lionesses have one final fixture to be played on Sunday 16th May (13:30 KO BST) at home, where they will host Aston Villa. Maestre and the squad have high expectations to end their 2025/26 campaign on a high.