WOMEN'S TEAM

Vasseur Hungry For Goal Rush

Everton Women manager Jean-Luc Vasseur believes scoring first in this weekend's clash with West Ham United can provide his side with a needed shot of confidence in their quest to climb the Barclays FA Women's Super League table.

The Blues return to action on Sunday (2pm GMT) with a trip to the capital to take on the Hammers at the Chigwell Construction Stadium, following an extended winter break due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the squad.

A victory would put the Toffees level on points with this weekend's opponents, who currently sit eighth in the standings.

The spoils were shared with a 1-1 draw when the two sides met at Walton Hall Park in December - and manager Vasseur believes the first goal could be key in what he anticipates to be another close contest.

"I think we need to score the first goal because, perhaps, it changes the face of my team - I know my team is not confident at the moment," said the Frenchman at his pre-match press conference.

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WOMEN'S TEAM 14:24 Thu 20 Jan 2022

VASSEUR LOOKS AHEAD TO WEST HAM CLASH

Everton Women manager Jean-Luc Vasseur looks ahead to the Blues' first match of 2022 as they travel to face West Ham United in the Barclays FA Women's Super League.

"Our main focus is on winning the game, but I think [scoring first] will be important for us.

"If you know me, I like my teams to score goals.

"It is a state of mind to score - you need to go forward, not back and when the players are short of confidence, there can be hesitation and that makes things difficult.

"I want us to find that confidence by scoring goals."


While frustrated that scheduled fixtures against Aston Villa and Chelsea had to be postponed in the past fortnight, Vasseur says his squad is now in a better place - and champing at the bit for a competitive match.

"Today [Thursday] is a wonderful day because we're in Liverpool and it is sunny - there is great sun and it's wonderful to work," he continued. "I have got 16 players on the pitch, with two goalkeepers, so we can try to have a good session. 

"Every day I need to be careful about my squad and it's not easy.

"I made the decision to restart early [after the scheduled winter break] - just after New Year's Day. We worked well, we worked hard but, unfortunately, then we had the COVID outbreak and we needed to break and it's been a case of working in small groups at times, which isn't perfect.

"But now we are ready to start. We are happy to play against West Ham.

"It is not the best preparation, but we prefer to play matches, of course.

"We were not in a good momentum at the end of last year, so we need to score the first goal and manage the situation of the result. 

"We need to score goals and win the match. It's important to restart well.

"There are fine margins in this league - the WSL is very open and every team can put in a big performance and win any match. 

"We need to change which side of that fine margin we are falling on."


With the January transfer window open, Vasseur was also quizzed on his plans in the market.

And, while admitting changes to rules since Brexit have made things more complicated, the UEFA Women's Champions League winner says he would like to add to his squad - if the required quality became available.

"It is difficult to recruit exactly what I want because we need to respect the rules of recruitment," he explained.

"There is an opportunity to recruit some players and we are trying to do that - but we are not trying to recruit players just for the sake of it to boost numbers.

"We need some profiles, because we're missing some profiles in the current squad. 

"We need pace and we need someone who plays on the right side, for example. 

"We have two left-backs, but only one right-back and I think it's better for the competition to have two players."