Brighton manager Melissa Phillips says her side are looking to build on past performances, as they try and rise up the table.
After a victory on the opening day against Everton, the Seagulls suffered three defeats on the trot against West Ham, Tottenham, and Chelsea.
However, they stopped the rot last weekend with a hard-fought draw at home to Manchester United.
Their first five games have left them in ninth place with four points to their name.
While Phillips is happy her squad are building as each game goes by, she wants to see her team a little further up the table.
“I think we’re happy in how our performances have grown from game to game, especially in the last block heading into this one.
“We learned a lot about ourselves before the international break, particularly in the games against Spurs and West Ham, I don’t think we were as happy with those performances, and we know exactly where we could have been a bit better.
“But we’ve taken those lessons and really built on them in the last few games, and therefore we are happy with the progression and are starting to get rewarded for that.
“But we also know we’re only as good as our next performance. We have to take the way we felt on Sunday, bring that into training, and continue to add and build as a team.
“We want more; we’re not necessarily happy with the position that we’re in, but we’re happy with the overall direction.”
Terrific Terland
Without a doubt, the brightest star in the Albion lineup has been Elisabeth Terland.
The Norwegian has found the back of the net five times so far and sits second in the top scorer standings behind Martha Thomas.
Terland’s American manager is pleased with how a player who demands so much of herself has performed.
“Terri will always be a player who continues to step up her performance and take it to new levels, and that’s because of the way she prepares, how she reflects and what she demands of herself.
“She takes a lot of accountability, and she’ll always demand that little bit more from a personal standpoint.
“It’s great that she’s in form and finishing the chances that fall to her.
“In pre-season she wasn’t converting as many chances as she would have perhaps liked to, but she’s gone away and adjusted a few things and now she finds herself getting chances every single game and is finishing them.”
While fans and WSL aficionados will rave about her goals, Phillips was keen to highlight the unseen work that Terland also brings to this ambitious team.
“She’s a source of energy for this team and plays with a real intensity; she’s such a competitor.
“We know we can build through her but also stretch the game with her, and it’s so impressive to have such a dynamic player in that way.
“She certainly contributes more to the team than just her clinical nature in front of goal.”
Manchester City test
Brighton are midway through a run of games where they face all of last season’s top four, and this weekend seems them travel north to face Man City.
“Man City are a good team. They’re excellent in possession and they have a real ruthlessness about them in front of goal, and they attack wide and central areas very well.
“We know we’re going to have to have a really top performance out of possession, like we did in the last two games, and also manage the ball better when we go forward.”
In the second half against Chelsea and throughout the game against Man United, Brighton showed a fearlessness and a positivity that drew a lot of plaudits.
Phillips knows that, if her team are to upset one the so-called “big dogs”, the team have to play in a certain way.
“We want to be a team that gets pressure onto the ball and in possession; that’s so important.
“If you look at these top teams, if you sit in and try and soak up pressure, they have the quality to play around, to play through you, to break down low blocks.
“Having said that, if you are very brave and bold and apply higher pressure and make sure you have good organisation, you can reap the rewards, like we did against Manchester United.”
