Spartans manager Debbi McCulloch outlines new strategy for taking on league leaders Glasgow City

Spartans manager Debbi McCulloch is hoping a new approach to games against the top teams can produce results as her team welcome league leaders Glasgow City to Ainslie Park on Sunday.
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The Edinburgh side are eighth in SWPL1 going into the final game before the Christmas break and going in the right direction again after a poor run of form. After four losses on the bounce, McCuloch’s team have picked up four points from their last two games. Glasgow City have only dropped two points all season. However, McCulloch insists the best chance her team have of causing an upset is to focus on themselves rather than worry about their star-studded opponents.

“Over the past couple of years, we have probably been focusing on the opposition too much”, she told Edinburgh Evening News. “First and foremost, you have to focus on yourselves. We have looked at our previous games, especially the one against Aberdeen looking at where we have done well, what we could have done better.

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“We know what Glasgow City are going to bring. They are going to bring players who want to run with the ball, are physically fit, strong and technically capable of hurting us. We will adjust our gameplan slightly, but it’s normal business for us. We are focusing on what we need to do and how we need to improve, but also what we are doing well and can we do more of that.”

Spartans played Glasgow City earlier in the season with the opposition coming away 7-0 winners. Picture: Mark BrownSpartans played Glasgow City earlier in the season with the opposition coming away 7-0 winners. Picture: Mark Brown
Spartans played Glasgow City earlier in the season with the opposition coming away 7-0 winners. Picture: Mark Brown

Below freezing temperatures all week has raised the prospect of Sunday’s game being postponed. McCulloch, however, would like to see it go ahead.

“I hope the pitch deforests,” she added. “Unfortunately, we have quite a heavily frozen pitch at the moment, we are hoping the sun comes out and increases the temperature to be honest. We are looking forward to it, it is our last game of 2022, it is one we are going to try and be competitive in. We know the challenge we will face having previously played Glasgow City this season. We are at home, and we feel like we are making good progress. We are ready to implement our game plan and try to bring home three points.”