Spurs 1-5 Man City (WSL) | Ho's verdict

Martin Ho gave an honest assessment of our performance after a 5-1 defeat to Manchester City in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Friday evening.

The visitors netted three goals in 20 minutes – Aoba Fujino, Vivianne Miedema and Kerstin Casparji on the scoresheet – to take control of proceedings in the first half, despite a positive opening quarter-of-an-hour to the contest at Brisbane Road.

Although Lize Kop produced the heroics to deny Khadija Shaw from the penalty spot 11 minutes into the second period, former Spur Grace Clinton stepped off the bench to add a fourth for City.

Olivia Holdt fired home a fantastic strike from distance to pull a goal back in the closing stages before Laura Coombs reinstated their four-goal advantage in the fifth minute of stoppage, bringing an end to our perfect start to the campaign.

Speaking to us after the game, Martin said: “Disappointing. I thought we took a step back in terms of aggression, how we pressed and our intent to defend. We had spells, especially in the second half, where we were better but, overall, I thought the first half was stronger.

“We had good moments, but too many off moments where we were hesitant. When we did press, we caused them problems, but against top teams, you can’t switch off like that… they’ll punish you.”

“When you look at the game collectively, you can’t be fighting an uphill battle at 3–0 or 4–0 down. We can’t allow ourselves to get in that position. We’ve actually defended really well in other games, but tonight we weren’t decisive enough with our pressure. We did have some good spells with the ball, got into good positions, and Olivia's goal in the second half was brilliant.

“There are positives in how we responded. The attitude to defending in the second half was better, and the players who came into the game gave us more. But as a team, we can’t accept being that passive - against top sides or anyone.

“We have to make sure we’re competitive, we show up for games and we don’t have another result like this.”

Our next fixture comes quickly – five days in fact – as we turn our attentions to the Subway Women’s League Cup for the opening game against Aston Villa at Brisbane Road, tickets still available, and Martin sees it as an opportunity to put things right.

“Games are coming thick and fast now in these three-game weeks,” he added. “It’s another opportunity to put things right. Every individual has the chance to put their case forward, and we’ve got to make sure we’re competitive going into Aston Villa on Wednesday.”