Everton are still waiting for their first win of the Women’s Super League season but defender Lucy Hope is confident they can put that right this weekend
Everton defender Lucy Hope admits “every point is a prisoner” in the Women’s Super League (WSL) and says she is hopeful the Blues can pick up their first win of the season against Leicester City this weekend.
It has been a difficult start to the campaign for Brian Sorensen’s side, who lost two players to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in their first two games. With midfield duo Aurora ‘Yaya’ Galli and Inma Gabarro now sidelined for the foreseeable, Everton’s squad have had to rally together to start getting some points on the board, and the Blues are now unbeaten in their last three games in all competitions following draws against Arsenal, Newcastle United and West Ham United.
“It’s always a shock to the system when you have even one ACL injury,” Hope tells the ECHO. “It’s quite hard emotionally for the team and of course for the player it happens to, but to get two in two weeks is obviously quite unheard of.
READ MORE: Everton training ground secrets revealed including ‘disgrace technique’ and shock ‘fastest player’READ MORE: Friedkin Group sent message over ticket prices as Everton supporters’ group seek talks
“We just made sure we got round both of the girls and made sure they felt at home. Yaya is obviously from Italy and Inma, it’s her first season here and she’s only been here a few weeks. She doesn’t speak great English so it can be quite overwhelming. We just tried to make sure they both felt at ease. They’re in safe hands and we’re with them every step of the way.
“I think with the performances the girls have had to put in on the field, we’ve had to dig deep because we’re even thinner on numbers than what we were. We don’t obviously have that big bench that we can rely on so all of the players are putting everything that we can into the games.”
After back-to-back defeats against Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester United, Everton managed to pull off one of the early upsets of the season by holding Arsenal to a goalless draw at the Emirates earlier this month. It was still not the three points Brian Sorensen’s side so desperately craved but, after a tough few weeks, the draw almost felt like a victory
“Against United, we got beat but we came off the field with such a positive feeling,” Hope says. “These games are won and lost on such fine margins and I feel like against United it was one individual error that lost us the points essentially.
“We went into that Arsenal game heavily the underdogs and it was obviously at the Emirates so it was tough but getting the point was massive for us. Every point’s a prisoner in this league. There’s no easy games now.”
That sentiment certainly resonated a week later, when Everton found themselves a goal down to strugglers West Ham United at Walton Hall Park. Despite dominating the game, the Blues were behind for close to an hour thanks to Anouk Denton’s early strike, before a Camila Saez own goal restored parity 18 minutes from time, ensuring the spoils were shared on Merseyside.
“Against West Ham, we felt like we dominated that game so to go 1-0 down was really disappointing,” Hope admits. “Certainly, the difference between not getting a win against Man United and drawing the West Ham game was massive.
“Even though we got beat by United, we felt emotionally very different after West Ham because we know they’re a team that are in and around us and one that we should be taking points off. Sometimes when you look back at the end of the season, these are the games that really matter. We were glad to get a point but we probably should have got the three.”
Indeed, it is fair to say that Everton’s performances this season have not always been justly rewarded. It continues a trend from last season, when the Blues often struggled to turn possession into points, particularly as the injuries continued to mount at Finch Farm.
Having joined the club from Bristol City in 2019, Hope is one of the most experienced players in Sorensen’s squad and she admits she often feels an extra responsibility to keep spirits high within the group, even when things aren’t going to plan on the pitch.
“I’m part of the leadership group so we do a lot of talking and hold a lot of meetings together to make sure we’re all pulling in the right direction,” she says.
“If anyone feels like they’re struggling, they can speak to us privately but I think it’s important that the core of the team uses that experience. At Everton, we never seem to have it easy so we try and dig from some of that experience we’ve had over the past few years and we’re probably now a bit more savvy about the things that we’re doing.
“I think Brian and his staff have adapted to that as well. This isn’t a league where you can just play gung-ho football. There has to be structure in defence and attack because the other teams have so much quality.”
While it hasn’t been the easiest start to the campaign for Everton, there is confidence within the camp that they have all the necessary ingredients to turn their season around. And Hope believes it is the group’s resilience and tenacity that will help them climb the table.
“One win in this league can see you go from 12th to fifth in the table which is pretty crazy,” she says. “I think a lot in this league now comes down to goal difference. As much as we’ve not scored a lot of goals, we’ve also not conceded loads apart from in that first game. As much as scoring goals is really important, keeping clean sheets is also going to be massive for us.”
