Column: No added pressure in title defence

People say we will be under more pressure than normal this season after winning two league titles in a row, but I don't believe that to be the case. Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Notts County have put a lot of investment into their squads this year and have strengthened, so there is a lot more pressure on them this year.

We have also made some new additions, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens. We are looking forward to getting started again now and we face a tough trip to Birmingham City in the FA Cup on Sunday. Pre-season has been a bit testing to be honest because,out of the 11 weeks, we have only had the whole group together for four of them because of the international programme. It happens every year and that's why we came in a bit earlier than normal this year and I'm pleased with how it has gone.

We have got one or two niggles going into our first game on Sunday, but it can't be helped and I'll pick the best team that is available to me and hopefully that will be enough to get us through. Birmingham City are a similar side to what they were last year, but it's a tough start for us, especially being away from home, because they are a very strong, well organised outfit.

The way I look at it is you have to beat the best teams if you want to get the final of this competition, so it will be a good benchmark to see where we are. My priority, as always, is trying to defend our title again and finishing in the top two because qualifying for the Women's Champions League is important for us. We want to do better in the FA Cup this season, especially the way in which we got knocked out to Everton, but the priority is the league. 

It has been decided that the final of the FA Cup will be played at Wembley this year which is obviously a great incentive - but you can't start thinking about that. We've still got this fifth round tie with Birmingham City, then it's the quarter-final and semi-final, so yes we would love to get there, but we've got to concentrate on this game first and foremost. We then start our title defence on Wednesday night, when we play Sunderland who won the FAWSL2 last season, at the Security Select Stadium in Widnes in front of the live TV cameras.

There will be no easy games in this division and you've only got to look at last season when we won the title with a 50 per cent win rate. It just goes to show how competitive the league is and as I said it's going to be even tougher this year with teams like Manchester City, Notts County and Chelsea strengthening their squad. As far as we are concerned we have confidence as always, I am working with a fantastic group of players who are hungry for more success.

We need to start well and go into the break in a good position which is really important. The new players have settled in well. Everything is a learning curve, it will take them time to settle and I'm not anticipating them to be fully settled in until at least six or seven games into the season, but there's no pressure on them and we just want to go and enjoy our football. 

Thanks for your support as always.

Matt