West Ham United women's make a familiar journey to the North West of England when they head to Everton for their latest Barclays Women's Super League assignment on Sunday.
The 2024/25 campaign is just three weeks old, yet this is the third time already that Rehanne Skinner's team have headed up the M6 to take on one of the region's clubs.
Following away clashes with the two Manchester outfits, this time they will alight their coach on Merseyside, with three points up for grabs at the Toffees' Walton Hall Park ground.
After taking a point from unbeaten Liverpool at home, the Irons will be hopeful of recording both their first league victory of the campaign and their first away points of 2024/25.
Hammers boss Skinner is confident her team is up to the task, as she faced the media for her pre-match briefing...
We're relishing 'tough' Everton challenge
Last year against Everton, from memory, I feel like we should have been 3-0 up at half-time and didn't take the chances, and then it ended up costing us the game. So, it'll definitely be competitive because they're a tough, hard-working team, similar to us.
It’s going to be a challenge on both parts, but I think it will make for a really good game all round, and we need to make sure that we're obviously focusing on the consistency of what we're trying to do, and that ultimately leads to increased goalscoring opportunities.
We had a couple of chances against [Manchester] City, and we've got to make sure we hit the target in those moments. It’s definitely something that we've got to keep working on.
Everton have obviously had a difficult time in these last few weeks and I wouldn't want to wish that on anyone, with the injuries that players have suffered. I think we've had our ups and downs in the last year and a couple this year in terms of players being unavailable to us at the last minute, but it’s going to be a tough test, and we need to make sure we're at the races from the first whistle. We want to make sure that we put last weekend right this time around and try and make life as hard for them as possible.
I think the structure and the principles that Brian [Sørensen, Everton manager] plays are the same as us, regardless of the shape, and that's the bit that you have to manage. There's ways of managing both sides to it that we have to prepare for and have to get right, and that's something that we're ready to do.
I think the biggest thing for us is making sure we capitalise on the key areas of the pitch that we know that we can exploit with the personnel that we have, and I think if we do that effectively, we'll create chances and cause problems for them and their defensive structure as well. Everybody's tactically trying to beat everyone else, but what it boils down to is being the most effective at what you do on the day.
This game is an important one for us, we all know that, and we want to make sure that we do get that right and obviously come out of it with points.
We pride ourselves on being very difficult to play against
It's great to hear that we're difficult to deal with, and that's something we're actively trying to be better at this year. We want to make life really difficult for other teams.
I think the players that we've added into our squad help us to adjust our style a little bit at certain times when we think we can exploit certain areas against team and we've got slightly different personnel to be able to utilise in those moments. That's been a part of the intent around growing our squad, in that we've got a little bit more versatility within what we're trying to deliver, and then from a players perspective, they know that they add quality at certain moments in certain scenarios, and that helps for their clarity within their role as well.
So, I think, going into the weekend, no matter what, we have to focus on delivering what we're good at and bringing that together. I think every game, we're starting to gel a little bit more, given that we've had nine new signings in the summer. It's a big turnover. We know we're going for a fight. It is a really difficult place to go, and both teams have a lot to fight for.
We've got lots of goalscorers
Every week we see the way that the players are performing here. Ultimately, we have the a lot of capabilities with [Manuela] Paví, Seraina [Piubel], Viviane [Asseyi], Riko [Ueki] and Emma Harries. We scored six in the game against Portsmouth. It doesn’t matter what the competition is, what the squad is, or who the opposition is; in those moments, we know we can score goals.
We just need to make sure that we do that in this setting and have to be ruthless in those moments. The players know that, and that's where, as part of their job, they've got to step up and deliver that.
Kirsty Smith is back in the squad
Kristie Mewis won’t be in the squad, but Kirsty Smith is back in the squad, so that’s positive news.
We’re unsure at the moment [how long Mewis will be unavailable for]. We're just assessing the progress in her calf injury. We've got several players in midfield that are all fighting for a shirt, so it gives everybody the license to be able to push as different games suit different players. So certainly, it gives everybody an incentive to try and take a shirt, and ultimately, within the Club, we're wanting to create a fight for your shirt mentality because everybody wants to play, and so everybody's got to then deliver when the opportunity arises.
This is an opportunity for some of the other players, for sure, so we're obviously looking at them carefully.
We're improving every game
The bottom line is, I think we've been improving game on game, and I thought there were big chunks of the game against City that we played really well. It's coming together, and more players are becoming sort of 90 minute ready, so it's strengthening the squad and the depth, and when we make changes, we're getting the energy levels at the right times. We just have to keep chipping away at that, really.
It [the disallowed goal] was onside at the time the ball was played. It’s difficult, but we've drawn lines all over the pitch and we know that it was onside. So even in the moment, looking back at the replay on the bench from the footage, it was immediately obvious the timing of the pass, which is a great pass, by the way, and the timing of the run were spot on.
Goals change games. At the end of the day, we go 1-0 up in the first two minutes against City when we've been working really, really hard. It changes the mentality of the players, and it obviously puts you on the front foot, and it gives them something that they have to work harder to chase. I think it's a really well-worked goal as well, and from a team perspective, it was a great press, we turned it over, found an opportunity to play through their gaps, and we've taken it really well.
I think the players did give a good account of themselves.
There's other things that need to happen first before we can introduce VAR
I think [being asked about Video Assistant Referee] is the question I've been asked the most in four years of being a Club manager. Ultimately, we still don't support the referees. The investment in the referees is still not appropriate for the way that the game has evolved, and that's where the game is still not delivering to the standards it should be delivering at.
The assistant referee is not in line with play when the goal [against Manchester City] happens as well, so we have to make sure that everybody's up with play and making sure that they make those decisions. Where VAR and goal-line technology are concerned, that only happens when you're in certain stadiums, and the cost of that is really high as well.
There has to be a bigger project going on here, so if that's the route, everybody needs to be prepared to put their hand in their pocket to make sure that it actually works effectively for the game, and if I'm honest, there's other things that need to happen first to get that right.
