Everton Women boss Kirk demands strong start against Chelsea
Goodison News editor Elliott Cuff reporting from Tuesday’s pre-match press conference…
Everton Women manager Willie Kirk knows his side will face a tough challenge when they face Chelsea Women in the WSL on Wednesday evening.
The Toffees face Chelsea off the back of a barnstorming performance against Birmingham City on Thursday, where they comfortably won 4-0 against the Midlands outfit.
They’ll now face off against a Chelsea side that currently sit 16 points ahead of Everton at the top of the table, having lost just one game all season.
Goodison News attended his pre-match press conference, and Kirk was critical of how his team started against Birmingham, suggesting that they must start right against Chelsea if they hope to beat the Blues.
Kirk said: “I thought we had a slow start [v Birmingham]. I thought we were a little bit sloppy in and out of possession in the first 20 to 25 minutes, and we did also have another early sub to make which maybe disrupted us a little bit.
“I thought the first goal we scored was really well worked and then after that we found our rhythm and put in a really good performance.
“If we start like that against Chelsea [on Wednesday] there will be no game to win, because it’ll be gone by half-time.
“We need to start really, really well, we know that by previous games against Chelsea.
“I thought we a little bit fortunate in the game at Goodison Park [in September] to survive that first 20 minutes, only being a goal down, but we showed a lot of resilience that day to get our way back into the game and get another fantastic result.
“We’ll be looking at that in terms of lessons learned but also in terms of belief and confidence.”
It’s not going to be easy
Chelsea have won their last three WSL fixtures on the spin, so it won’t be easy for Everton to put another dent in their impressive record this season.
After comfortably easing past Birmingham in midweek we hope that the club will push ahead with momentum and in high spirits, but that is easier said than done when coming up against quality opposition like this.
Another huge positive for Everton in the game against Birmingham was that Alisha Lehmann got off the mark for the club, and she’ll want to continue that against Chelsea, especially with the Toffees now just four points behind Arsenal.
Kirk said during his press conference that he thought Chelsea would win the league this season, and it isn’t hard to see why he’s made that assessment. They’ve been the strongest side in the league all season by some margin.
Still, we’ve also enjoyed our football this season, and hopefully we can see the team rise to the occasion when they host the Blues.
In other Everton news, Gareth Southgate is concerned about Jordan Pickford’s fitness ahead of England’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers.