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Post by Everton News. on Sept 26, 2019 14:01:25 GMT
Willie Kirk vowed his Everton side will put in an improved display when they host Manchester City this weekend after Sunday’s loss at Birmingham City.
Having won their opening two games in the Women’s Super League, the Blues suffered their first loss of 2019/20 as they went down 1-0 in their opening group fixture of the Continental Cup.
A much-changed Everton line-up went close through Chloe Kelly in Solihull but a Rachel Williams header in the second half gave maximum points to the hosts.
Kirk admitted little went right for his team on Sunday but believes the performance will serve as a wake-up call for his high-flying charges ahead of the visit of Manchester City to Southport on Sunday (12.30pm kick-off).
“It was a frustrating afternoon for my staff and the players,” said the Women’s boss. “We just never put in a performance and at the minute it is hard to understand why.
“Technically we were poor, tactically we made some strange decisions and physically we didn’t play at the same intensity as we did in our win against Bristol City the previous weekend.
“I made a lot of changes and maybe there was too many. That’s not detrimental to those players who came in – we just didn’t have the same rhythm we had last week.
“A lot of things just didn’t click for us. The first 10 minutes set the tone – lack of communication, lack of intensity in our movement, and that continued for the full game.
“We actually created three or four good chances in the first half and maybe we had to take one of those to put that fire into our performance.
“The Continental Cup is a competition that I intend to take seriously, the players intend to take seriously but this display will make us re-focus ourselves and correct a few things.
“The performance next week will certainly not be as bad as that.”
Entry to Everton v Manchester City at The Pure Stadium, Southport on Sunday is free to Season Ticket, Lounge and Official Members.
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Post by rugbytoffee on Sept 29, 2019 18:51:38 GMT
Everton Women suffered their first league defeat of the season at home to Manchester City on Sunday
Steph Houghton's free-kick in the sixth minute was enough to hand Everton Women their first league defeat of the season at home to Manchester City.
Both teams went into the game looking to maintain their 100% record having won their opening two fixtures.
It was the visitors who dominated the opening stages with Everton camped inside their own half.
A good piece of skill from Caroline Weir drew a foul on the edge of the box giving Houghton the chance to have the first effort on goal.
The City captain produced a trademark free-kick, striking low into the bottom corner to give the away side a deserved lead.
Everton settled into more of a rhythm after the goal and began to enjoy more possession in their opposition's half.
They had a great chance to equalise on 15 minutes after good work from Chloe Kelly and Lucy Graham on the left-wing saw Simone Magill played through on goal but she could only put her effort straight at City keeper Ellie Roebuck.
The hosts began to mount more pressure on their opponents, Danielle Turner's cross just evaded Molly Pike in the penalty area and Hannah Cain saw an effort fly just over the bar.
Blues goalkeeper Tinja-Rikka Korpela kept the score at 1-0 with a superb save on to the post to deny Pauline Bremer.
Kelly began to cause the visitors several problems on the left-wing and picked out Cain on the edge of the box but the striker could only fire over the bar once more.
City's lead was fragile at half-time but it should have been doubled shortly after the break when Gemma Bonner could only head wide from Weir's corner.
Everton began to grow into the second half as they had in the first and Kelly was at the heart of their attacks.
City's Jill Scott was booked for dragging the winger back and from the resulting free-kick Kelly played in Magill but again she could only put her effort straight at Roebuck.
As Everton pushed forward in search of an equaliser City looked to counter and Bremer tested Korpela again before hitting the side netting moments later.
Everton had more chances when Turner saw an effort from the left go just wide before Pike hit another shot just over the bar.
The Blues kept pushing forward and forced several corners in injury time with Korpela being sent forward by Kirk.
It looked like Everton had got their equaliser in the 93rd minute when Kelly's corner was met by the head of Graham but her effort was cleared off the line.
City had the last chance of the game a minute later when Bremer was through one on one with Korpela but again the Blues keeper denied her a goal.
Everton boss Willie Kirk said he thought his side were worthy of a point but was proud of his team's performance.
"It was a disappointing start and it's disappointing that is the goal that has lost us the game because I think we thoroughly deserved something out of it," said Kirk.
"City will be frustrated about the chances they didn't take but we've had a lot of chances as well that we should have and could have taken.
"There was a few moments when we thought we'd got the equalier and I don't think anybody would have denied us that, I think we were worth a point.
"The difference between young teams and experienced teams can sometimes just be those little moments that either go for you or against you.
"I've said it since the start of the season that we can compete with anybody on a one off basis, it's about doing it over ten months but I think today we should that we can compete and we'll see where that takes us."
Kirk made five changes to the side that lost 1-0 at Birmingham in the Continental Cup last week and said he took full responsibility for that defeat.
"Last week's defeat was my fault, I made far too many changes.
"I never gave the players a chance to build on momentum and that's not a reflection on the players I chose but I just changed so many things.
"We quickly got over that one and in terms of responses today was exactly what we were looking for."
Next weekend's international break means Everton's next fixture will be away at Reading on Sunday, October, 13.
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Post by Everton News. on Sept 30, 2019 11:17:41 GMT
Everton boss Willie Kirk said there were many positives to take from his team’s performance despite their narrow 1-0 defeat to Manchester City Women at Southport FC on Sunday.
The Blues dropped their first points of the WSL season with City captain Steph Houghton’s driven sixth-minute free-kick proving the difference.
The Toffees carved out a number of opportunities against a City side that lifted the FA Cup and League Cup last season, and finished runners-up in the WSL.
Everton dominated possession for large spells of the second half and saw a Lucy Graham header cleared off the line with just seconds left of the match.
“It was a really encouraging performance,” said boss Kirk.
“There were a huge amount of positives and I don’t think anyone watching the game would have denied us a point.
“It was frustrating that we haven’t taken anything from the game in terms of points because the players deserved something from it. But what we have seen is that we can compete against top teams in the country and that was the challenge we set the players before the game.
“This match showed us how far we’ve come but also how far we’ve got to go to be challenging these teams on a consistent basis.
“We’re really happy with the way we have started the season. Going into this match it was first versus second place in the FA WSL and I don’t think anyone would have denied that when watching the game.
“Both teams went at it. Man City had that little bit of quality on show in the first half in terms of taking the lead but in the second half, and especially in the last 20 minutes, they were really on the back foot.
“The players were gutted after the game but, when we reflect, we’ll be able to take a lot of positives, confidence and belief from the performance. We have got a lot out of the match in terms of knowing where we are and what we need to improve on.
“There is no point in running a team like Manchester City close and failing to follow that up with meeting those standards in our next game against Reading away.
“We need to be going into the next few games full of confidence and hopeful of getting more wins on the board.”
Kirk’s Blues face Kelly Chambers’ Reading Women at Adams Park on Sunday 13 October.
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