Blue Annihilation

Wednesday 16th March: Walton Hall Park: WSL: Everton vs Chelsea

Supporting the blue side of Merseyside is always something I swore I would never do and in the men’s game I’ll stick to that. However, for this match I was firmly on the side of Everton women as they hosted Chelsea ladies in the WSL. Chelsea are challenging for the title against my first women’s team, Arsenal, and I also know one of the players on the Everton team so I could hardly cheer against her.

Getting to the ground was easy as I just had to get the 19 bus from Queen Square, which is opposite Lime Street station. The bus ride was not long but on it I faced a difficult decision. There was a tout on the bus separating each of the paper tickets that he had prepared to sell at the ground and having a fault with my email ticket I was forced to choose, between trusting the screenshot I’d taken of the email to be enough to get me in or taking a ticket from the tout. I chose to trust my screenshot as I can’t stand touts, ripping off other fans for the sole purpose of making their wallets bigger.

Luckily for me my screenshot was enough to get me through the turnstiles at the ground from where I picked up my free programme. Then I made my way off the wide avenues of the beautifully leafy suburb of Walton and inside the stadium which boasts a single stand down the dugout side of the pitch. The side opposite the dugouts hosts the camera tower and a load of scaffolding which is going to become another stand in the future, but behind the goals are standing room only.

I decided to take a seat for the first half and with it being unreserved seating I chose to sit in the second row back from the pitch right on the halfway line. I was just resting into my seat as the teams appeared on the pitch for their warm-up, out of the building behind the goal far away to my right. The visitors decided to stop in the near half to their entrance, whilst the hosts traversed the length of the pitch to warm-up away to my left beneath a gorgeous sunset that proved too distracting for me to care about what warm-up exercises either team had chosen to use.

One thing I did notice in the warm-up though was that the Chelsea away kit consists of a Yellow top, Black shorts and Yellow socks. This combination when scanned from top to bottom gave them the appearance of a rotting banana skin and was perhaps appropriate as they were facing a potential banana skin in this match.

The visitors from London are chasing the WSL title and came into this one in 2nd place in the table and just 5 points behind their rivals Arsenal with the advantage of having 2 games in hand over them. Chelsea are also in brilliant form coming into this having only lost twice all season and not once in their last 5 matches. They have only conceded 7 goals in their 15 matches so far this season and had not lost since 11th December when they were shocked by Reading in a narrow 1-0 loss.

Their hosts for their part have had such an inconsistent season with more changes of management than I have been able to keep track of. This lack of consistency in leadership has effected performances on the pitch with 8 losses in their 15 matches before this one and averaging less than a goal scored a match. This is despite their squad including the excellent Toni Duggan, Claire Emslie and captain Izzy Christiansen. Adding to that the defensive abilities of Danielle Turner and Poppy Pattinson and they have the quality to be far higher in the table. Combine this quality on paper and the recent upturn in form coming into this one as they have won their last 2 matches and I was interested in seeing if they could banana skin the high flying Chelsea and complete a hattrick of wins under their current manager Chris Roberts.

Mr. Roberts is on the programme as the Interim Manager though so I had no faith that he would be around 11 days after this one when I followed up the advert on the inside front cover of the programme and followed Everton to their match against Man U at Old Trafford on Mother’s day (see the next blog). Everton Women have truly become the Watford of the Women’s game as they rack up the managerial changes this season, but unlike the Hornets they can be assured of avoiding relegation this season as only 1 team goes down and Birmingham City have monopolised that spot.

Everton did not help their chances in this match though when Roberts saw fit to send his team out for the start with Toni Duggan only on the bench. The teams were announced just 9 minutes before kick-off and that Everton omission was not the only shock awaiting me as Chelsea left much of their attacking firepower on the bench. They had Bethany England, Lauren James and Drew Spence all on bench warming duties and Fran Kirby was only spared this fate as she was not even included in the matchday squad. Was this simply Emma Hayes resting her biggest threats for more difficult games on the run-in or was it overconfidence that would come back to bite her team in the ass? Only action on the pitch would tell, but my read was that it was more of a resting situation as they still had Sam Kerr in the starting 11.

When the teams emerged they followed the WSL tradition of lining up with their backs to the fans and this is something that really needs sorting out as it really breaks the immersion and enjoyment of the fans when the players they have come to see won’t even look at them. It was also unhelpful on a personal level that Walton Hall Park contains neither a screen nor a match clock and as such all the timings in this blog will be extremely approximate.

Chelsea started as they meant to continue by grabbing hold of the ball and just not letting it go. Everton for their half were unable to get anywhere near the ball in the first 10 minutes and their defensive play was that of a group of people who had only met 5 minutes ago and not of a team of pro footballers who have played together all season. The home support became as silent as a group of strict librarians, but luckily for them the visitors were unable to make use of their monopoly of possession to create any chances of note in the first 10 minutes. All they managed was a couple of weak shots straight into the waiting arms of Courtney Brosnan in the Everton goal.

By the 10th minute though the visitors had finally worked out how scoring works and took the lead that they absolutely deserved from their dominance so far in the match. Their opener came via a cross from deep on the right that was dropped on a sixpence for the onrushing Kerr to nod home from 6 yards out completely unmarked. It was an incredible cross for sure but to anyone familiar with Women’s football, which the Everton team certainly are, leaving a player of Kerr’s undoubted quality unmarked in the box is so foolish that most school teams wouldn’t make that mistake. Everton were so poor at this point that all I was wondering just how many goals Chelsea would get to pump up their goal difference.

The visitors were being given the run of Walton Hall Park at this point to the point that they could’ve taken a quick nap every time they received the ball such was the time they were being given by the hosts. It was as though the Everton ladies had never heard of the concept of closing your opponents down. The Chelsea players were getting at least 5 yards of space around them and were then able to waltz their way to anywhere they wanted when they had the ball, with none of the hosts players making even the weakest attempt possible to stop them. They were leaving it to any one else around them to track players and close them down and as such no-one was doing it.

This lack of willingness to take personal responsibility for keeping Chelsea at bay I was amazed that it took till the 17th minute for the visitors to double their lead. This one came from a simple throw by Millie Bright on the right that her teammate was allowed to drive forward with, as the two Everton players nearby left it to each other to track the run and thus predictably neither did. The ball was then laid back to Bright and her cross to the left side of the box was thumped home on the volley by Guro Reiten. To her credit Brosnan was able to get a hand to it, but there was simply too much power on the shot to give her a chance of keeping it out and less than 20minutes into the match Chelsea were already 2-0 up.

Everton were playing like a bunch of jokers at this point and they added to their comical display when Brosnan cleared the ball straight into the face of her teammate Gabrielle George from point blank range. Gabi George to her credit seemed to be unaffected by this ball to the face and carried on without complaint. The hosts almost went further behind in the 25th minute when a cross from the left this time was headed into the keeper’s arms from 10 yards out.

Then Everton did something half decent for once in the match by closing down Bright in her own box and forcing her to toe-poke her clearance into the stands. That clearance whizzed by my left ear and I was extremely grateful Bright was unable to get more distance on the ball. This moment was not enough to gain Everton any momentum in the match though as in the 29th minute they conceded another free header in the box that the hosts were grateful to see fizz past the right hand post off the head of Niamh Charles.

Missing that gilt-edged chance did not delay Chelsea’s 3rd goal for long though as they got it in the minute of all the 3’s (the 33rd). This one came from a rare cleared cross that bounced out to the feet of Erin Cuthbert 25yards out with no Everton player within 10 yards of her. She has far too much quality to be left in all that space and she punished the hosts by volleying the ball into the top right postage stamp of the net. It was an incredible show of Skill by Cuthbert, but also an awful error from Everton to grant her the freedom of the Park to pick her spot.

With Chelsea now 3 goals to the good and barely half an hour of the match played I was seriously considering the possibility that they could return to London with a double digit victory in their back pockets. Everton are threatened with relegation in the Men’s game, but having seen both of the Toffee’s teams in action this season it is unquestionably the Women who have played the worse football. I have never seen a team this unsure of how to complete basic skills and simple passes in my life, it was insane just how awful they ere this half.

They were given a respite from the torture in the 35th minute as Cuthbert required treatment after being caught by a stray boot in midfield. She was fine to continue after her physio appointment, but I’m sure the hosts would’ve preferred a longer break than the couple of minutes they got.

The hosts night almost got even worse in the 37th minute when Chelsea had 4 players running free in the centre with just 2 of the host’s defenders back covering. The cross those Chelsea players needed never came though as the winger who was looking to send in the cross was flagged off for offside in the build-up. That was a huge let off for the hosts and they would get another one just 2 minutes later when a point back tap-in at the back post, off a tempting corner whipped in from the left, could only be turned behind by Charles.

The rampant visitors were just shooting from everywhere now and although none of these resulted in a deserved 4th for them it was clear to everyone in the stadium that their 4th was coming. Everton were clinging on and praying to holy relics to make it to half-time without suffering further damage. The hosts did manage their first chance of the match in the final minute of the half though to give themselves something to hang onto at half-time. This chance fell to Hanna Bennison on the edge of the box, but she was only able to send it soaring over the bar.

Leading 3-0 at half-time is normally a great position to be in and leaves the team in that position grinning from ear to ear as they head down the tunnel, but I doubt that was the case this time. The visitors had been so dominant all half that they should have been disappointed to only have the paltry 3-0 advantage, it could easily have been double that.

Half-time lasted 30 minutes in all as the restart was delayed by an injury in the team of officials. It was originally announced to delay the restart by 5 minutes but things clearly took more time to sort out than they originally anticipated. I spent the extra time moving to my left and eventually ending up behind the goal at the far end of the pitch from the exit. Chelsea were shooting towards that end in the second half and I wanted the best view of the avalanche of goals I was expecting.

Roberts had seen how awful his team had been in the and launched into action to try and fix it with a long overdue change of personnel. He removed Nathalie Bjorn from the fray and sent on Lucy Graham to try and change the game and provide his interim charges with a foothold of a way back into the match. Graham almost provided that foothold in the first minute of the second half as she took a pot-shot from 18 yards out, but could only screw it wide of the right-hand post.

That was at least a signal of intent from the hosts though and they seemed to be seeing the ball a bit early on in this half, as they had finally found a way to gain possession for the first prolonged period of the match. They were asking questions of the visitor’s defence now at least but they then tried to shoot themselves in their feet. This foot shooting situation occurred in the 50th minute when a deep cross from the Chelsea right was sitting up for an easy clearance by Megan Finnigan. Instead of clearing it she slipped and the ball was able to sneak through to Kerr with her back to goal. Luckily for the hosts Kerr was unable to turn and shoot or lay it off before Finnigan can recover and clear the ball to save her blushes.

Chelsea used this incident as an initiative gainer in the grand scale of the match and were back threatening the Everton net in the 53rd minute. Goal scorers Reiten and Kerr looked to combine, but the former’s cross was agonisingly behind her teammate. The ball was then recycled by the visitors before the shot from 15 yards was deflected behind for a corner that was thumped over the bar from the same distance as the previous shot with Brosnan in no man’s land.

The match devolved into a midfield battle at this point and Emma Hayes decided that this wouldn’t do for her Chelsea team, who had spent so much of the game on top, and decided to switch things up with a double substitution. She removed Charles and Cuthbert from the action to rest them for tougher challenges coming up in the run-in for the title. The replacements were Drew Spence and Magdalena Eriksson, so hardly much of a step down in quality for the visitors despite the undoubted quality of those coming off.

These changes from the visitors didn’t seem to be the smartest calls soon after that though as Everton went on the attack, in the 63rd minute, for the first time in a while. A powerful shot from the Everton left was punched out by Zecira Musovic in the Chelsea goal, taking this long to mention the Chelsea keeper hopefully tells you how little the hosts had offered in the match so far. The punch was not the best example of the technique though as it landed at Emslie’s feet 20 yards from goal. Thankfully for the visitor’s clean sheet the resultant shot was nothing less than abysmal and it missed the goal by at least twice the width of the goal to the left of it.

In the next minute there was an audible comment from one of the player’s calling an opponent a “fucking dickhead”. I was not able to work out which player made that comment, but I know it was someone on the host’s side as it occurred just after Chelsea had been given a freekick in the middle of the pitch. The ref mentioned to Christiansen that there was “no need for that comment”, but this may just have been as a warning to get her teammates to watch their language in her role as Everton’s captain for the match.

The 65th minute brought a gilt-edged chance for the embattled hosts as they curled in a freekick from the right that was begging to be headed home from just 6 yards out, but none of the Everton players could get the decisive touch to nab the goal they never looked like deserving. This lack of ability to turn home such a simple chance triggered a double change from Roberts on the host’s bench. He went about adding a cutting edge to his team in a strange manner though, with Bennison and Magill being taken off (a midfielder and a striker) and replaced by Leonie Maier and Valerie Gauvin (a defender and a striker).

These changes by the hosts triggered changes by the visitors. Hayes shuffled her pack by resting the goal-scoring Reiten and Pernille Harder and bringing on Alsu Abdullina and Bethany England in their place. Both of these new arrivals on the pitch combined with Kerr in a gorgeous team move down the right to bamboozle the Everton defenders facing them. They advanced a little too far up the pitch though as the angle had closed down too much for England to unleash a shot and her cut back was blocked behind for a corner. Abdullina’s corner missed everyone in the centre and the game continued with the score unchanged into the final 10 minutes of the match.

Both managers made further changes to their team as the final 10 minutes got underway. Roberts made a double change for the hosts, replacing Aurora Galli and his captain Izzy Christiansen with Kenza Dali and the long overdue introduction of Toni Duggan. The captaincy of the team was passed from Christiansen to Danielle Turner, who had done the captain’s programme notes anyway. Hayes only made 1 change to her Chelsea team replacing Aniek Nouwen with Maren Mjelde. The announcer on the PA would have preferred other players to be involved in the visitor’s substitution though as he couldn’t pronounce the surname of either of the players being switched.

Chelsea got a little complacent in the 85th minute as they sauntered towards the victory. The gave Turner way too much space on the right hand side and she was able to whip the ball right across the face of goal from 25 yards out. Fading towards the goal it looked like it was going to sneak inside the post for a consolation goal, but it didn’t fade quite enough and flew inches wide of the left post. It was the closest the hosts had come to scoring a goal all match.

By this point of the match Chelsea had taken their foot completely off the gas and looked to be settling for the 3-0 win that they had more than earnt by now. Everton faded more towards the final few minutes though as the visitors created 3 more presentable chances before the end of the match. The first of these was a cross from the right that was headed back across the 12 yard line by Kerr, but none of her teammates were following up to stroke it home. The second was a skied shot from the boot of Spence in the 90th minute.

Then Kerr took it on herself to create the visitor’s final chance as the 3 minutes of injury times elapsed. She collected the ball 25 yards from goal and proceeded to weave her way through the home defence to get into a 1on1 position against Brosnan. Rather than simply slotting in Chelsea’s 4th she attempted to get sweaty with it and roll it across for her supporting teammate to tap home. This was a step too far though as an Everton defender was able to intercept this pass and hoof the ball upfield.

The ref took this clearance as the cue to whistle up for fulltime and Chelsea had to settle for just a 3-0 victory over their hapless hosts. It really should have been even more emphatic for the visitors, but they’ll still be satisfied with the 3 points and perhaps I cursed them by moving into position behind the goal in the second half ready to celebrate the expected deluge that never arrived.

The hosts for their part posted a truly disgraceful performance in the first half and though they improved massively in the second half they never looked like creating enough to deserve anything from the match. They had two matches against Man City between this match and my next game watching them, which they lost by 4-0 each time so they didn’t appear to have improved much as I made my way to Old Trafford this past weekend to see them take on the Red team of that City.

My experiences at that game, including whether Everton had improved at all in the intervening 11 days is a story for my next blog, but heading to that one I was sure of one thing. At the very least they can’t get any worse that they were at this Chelsea match.