Kaminski on Palace Women team news & facing Chelsea at Selhurst... - News - Crystal Palace F.C. (2025)

The Eagles got their first-ever WSL underway at Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend, competing well in the first-half before falling away after the break and slipping to a 4-0 defeat with 10 players.

Optimism abounds for what promises to be another special night in Crystal Palace history – and you can still be there, with tickets for the match available from just £7 for Under-16s, and £14 for Men's Season Ticket Holders.

Ahead of Friday's fixture, head coach Kaminski was asked about a range of players' fitness statuses; the prospect of facing an all-conquering Chelsea side; and the encouragement she has already drawn for the season ahead...

On team news…

Obviously it's a tighter turnaround than normal – we're going to a Friday night from a Sunday fixture. Usually we have the whole week, but we’ve had a couple of days taken off that.

Getting the squad ready and turned around for the Friday night fixture was always going to be a challenge, but we're ready to go. I feel like we're going to have some good days on the grass this week upcoming, and we'll be in a good place ready for Friday night.

I think we've still got some limitations in terms of the players that we brought in towards the latter stages of pre-season, which is normal. We're still getting them up to speed. We need to be careful and cautious with those and make sure that we really take care of sustainability rather than speed in those senses.

We've got to make sure that we look after them and do it properly, but we're on track and we're on course with that, so by Friday night, we'll be looking to up some minutes, which is a real positive direction for us to be travelling.

On Elise Hughes’ recovery from an ACL injury…

She's doing really well. She's in what I would say is a pivotal stage of her rehabilitation now. She's moved from inside the condition of the gym to outside in terms of running, so she gets to see the green stuff again! That's a big turning point for her.

But now this is a big phase in terms of going from the inside of a restricted gym and the movements that she's been focusing on in that environment to the outside, which is obviously now she's running on grass.

Again, we need to be very careful with her in these stages and make sure that she's completing everything correctly. She's done really well with her rehabilitation. She's on track. She's on course.

It really is a credit to her professionalism as an athlete, because I know that Elise really takes her body very, very seriously, and I already know that she's smashed a lot of the targets and scores that we've set for her, and she's coming back stronger and fitter than when she left us before.

She’s in a good place and we need to make sure that we're doing everything right now in the final stages of her rehabilitation.

On new signing Katrine Veje, who came off after 64 minutes at Spurs…

Katrine could play for 200 minutes plus – I think she would if she could! She's extremely hungry to play. We have to make sure that we manage her right.

There's an ongoing issue that we're managing. I don't see any problems. We're just being careful and making sure, like I said, Katrine is fit to play and feature throughout the entire season, rather than us getting out the blocks too early.

We're just being cautious with her and making sure we do things properly with care and welfare, and I expect Katrine to be fine. There's no issue as such, it's just an ongoing management of her minutes.

On Shanade Hopcroft’s fitness…

Shanade picked up a small issue during the summer, which we've been managing in the pre-season period. We've had some treatment completed with Shanade, and she's reacted very positively to that treatment, that intervention that we decided to make.

She’s back out as is Elise on the grass, and today will join in with part of the team session, so Shanade as well is moving in a very positive direction.

I think it was frustrating for her, the timing of the knock that she picked up and it has been a setback for her. But again, I'd like to credit her professionalism because she's taken it very seriously in terms of her conditioning, in terms of nutrition and the whole package of rehabilitation out of the other side of this setback.

She's been fantastic and now she's back on the grass, which I know where Shanade really likes to be.

Shanade loves people. She loves the banter and the daily grind of it. So I've seen her look a little bit brighter over the past week or so, which is great to see, and I know she'll be in and around the team today, which is again a big turning point for her.

On Hayley Nolan’s fitness…

Hayley has been struggling with an ongoing shoulder issue. But again, she's had a procedure on the shoulder. She picked up an injury in pre-season and there will now be a period of rehabilitation after the procedure to make sure that she is fit and ready to go when she returns.

On Chelsea loanee Jorja Fox, who recently suffered an ACL injury…

Jorja I'm devastated for. She worked so hard in terms of coming back from her first ACL. Obviously, I knew Jorja from a previous club. I know what a talent and what potential and future Jorja’s got, and it's devastating for her to be back in the position again for the ACL.

My thoughts are really with her. I've obviously been in contact with her and wished her well. Fingers crossed she can keep that mentality and the long process of rehabbing again to keep her future as bright [as possible], because she's a great player. And this season she would have been a huge part of our journey. It wasn't meant to be, but I wish her all the best.

On the promise of the first-half showing at Spurs…

We need to unpick it for our future and for our performances. I have a group that is extremely dedicated to improvement and I have coaching staff that are capable of analysing the game to make sure that we're being thorough with our work.

I myself have looked at the statistics of the game and I think for me, obviously, the first-half was great, but I think it actually lasted a little bit longer than that in terms of the performance. I think we got almost into 55, 60, 65 minutes of being okay. There are some really positive statistics in there.

We had a lot of attacking corners, for example, but what that leads to in terms of outcomes, we're going to need to unpick. We had a good possession stat, but we need to make sure that we're entering the final third and entering the penalty area to get some chances inside the penalty area.

Obviously we need to look at the transitions in terms of the shape under the ball and making sure that when we're sustaining attacks, we're really clean because we’ll get caught out on the turnover if we're not diligent with our passing and clean and accurate.

We know we need to do that. The players are capable, there's no doubt about it. I back the group in terms of that, and I know that we'll be working this week hard into the fixture to make sure that our turnovers are successful and we're careful with the ball, which ultimately cost us a little bit at the weekend. We have to make sure that that is a clear piece that we work on going forwards.

For beyond Chelsea, for the future in terms of the games that we've got coming, Chelsea will look a little bit different in terms of the way we approach the game, but those statistics and that analysis will be relevant for the game and beyond.

On the significance of facing a team like Chelsea in the WSL…

It’s a big opportunity, a big moment. But it's important that that doesn't overwhelm the squad, it doesn't overwhelm me. We've done so well to get in this position, and we need to remember that this is what we want to do for many years to come.

Although there are many firsts this season, we need to make sure that those moments don't overwhelm us, and we're there to play. That's the most important thing, and that's what I remind the players all the time: we're there to play, we're there to compete.

On Chelsea’s wide attackers…

I think it's not only on that [Lucy Bronze’s] side, I think the other side's just as dangerous. And again, the distribution from both centre-halves in the back line is a definite threat and a definite strength for them. Their distribution is, you know, one of the strongest in the league.

And again, it's not just the attacking full-backs. It's the strength through the midfield and the front. But, you know, some of the patterns they do are very aggressive, very attacking. They like to get forward, play forward, run forward, so we need to make sure we're tracking, blocking. We need to make sure that we're really getting hold of those threats, but also really taking care of our own performance.

Yes, Chelsea have got some great tactical strengths and strong players in their squad, but we need to make sure that we're focusing on us and not just the opposition and what they bring.

On the step-up from the Championship to the WSL…

I feel like that's where we're at, at this moment in time. It's very difficult to, like you say, go on such a winning streak that we were on [last season], and I think now the players are busy adjusting to… sometimes in the league below you can get away with small things, small errors that don’t punish and cost.

And now when we make mistakes, the strength and quality of opposition will punish us quickly, at speed, and it's dangerous in its counter-attack and precision. We've been learning fast lessons in that sense.

I think it's important that we have played that [first] game because you can play as many pre-season games as you like. There's nothing like a competitive fixture, your first league game, and the learnings that we've had from that game have been tremendous in terms of in comparison to the other games that we've played.

We really are making best use of that now to look at that game and look at how sides are able to punish [us] against top-quality opposition. But like I've said, I've got every faith in the group. They are meticulous in terms of their willingness to get better.

As staff, we push them week in, week out. I've got athletes who are dedicated to that and really, it's a credit to them because I know that they will want to fix and be better every week as we get the measure of the league.

On memories of playing at Selhurst Park..

We’ve got some great memories. And yes, obviously, we had friends and family here that day [when we won the league at Selhurst Park in May] and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

But we have to move on. Those memories become a little bit distant. They keep us together. They keep us remembering why we love the game, and they'll keep us motivated through tough times. We shared an unbelievable experience together at one of our homes, Selhurst.

But now we must look forward and ultimately, we're here to work. We're here to perform and play. Like I said, every week we want to be better and really take the game to Chelsea.

Don't miss a kick

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Match Details

• Crystal Palace Women v Chelsea
• Friday, 27th September, 2024
• Selhurst Park
• 19:30 BST

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