Aston Villa head coach said the club’s main aim this season is to build on their recent progress.
Many are questioning whether Aston Villa can push to break into the top four this season but head coach Ward says that success for the club is the continuation of their recent progress.
“First and foremost, success was about retaining key players,” Ward said when speaking in an Aston Villa press conference. “When you talk about success, it is about building an environment where people want to stay, continue their football and development. We’ve had some major players re-sign and continue that project, we’ve had players that were on loan and turned into permanent deals and we’ve managed to add a few extra into the squad.
Success as well as that is continuing what we have been building. Does that mean top four? No. It means trying to better what we did last season and close the gap. Looking at the WSL, how people have recruited and the investment across the division, I have no doubt that this is going to be one of the toughest seasons yet.
“We needed to recruit, we needed to keep building but continual improvement will be a success.”
Aston Villa kick-off the new season with a fixture against Manchester United at Villa Park on Sunday. The Red Devils pushed champions Chelsea all of the way last season and Ward expects the club to challenge again this year.
She said “They were sensational last year. They finished second in the league, got to a cup final; you don’t do that without an awful lot of quality. Credit to them, they had an unbelievable season and they’ve probably had one of the best WSL windows we have seen.
“A lot of money has been spent, a lot of quality has come into the league and I don’t envisage anything other than them having a title charge. I think they will be up there again.
“We are under no illusions, we are up against a top side with world-class players. We know that we will have to be at our absolute best to be competing.”
Aston Villa’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Manchester United kicks-off at 12.30pm on Sunday afternoon.
