Rehanne: “We want to give a better account of ourselves”

Following Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to West Ham United in the Women’s Super League, we return to Brisbane Road this evening for a chance to bounce back against Everton (7pm KO).

“As a collective, we were a bit disappointed with the result,” Head Coach Rehanne Skinner said, reflecting on the weekend. “We thought that the performance in the first half in particular was very good. We would’ve hoped to capitalise on some goalscoring opportunities in that time. Unfortunately we didn’t, but we felt we played really good football and made life really difficult for West Ham. 

“There were certainly positives to take, but we were disappointed with the way we played in the second half and we probably didn’t give the best account of ourselves. 

“Moving forward into the next game, we’re all determined to get back on the pitch and we want to rectify that. Players have been excellent in training since the weekend and just focused on making sure that we put things right really from what we felt we should’ve got more out of.

“When we’ve progressed and played straight through the middle of West Ham on a number of occasions or created opportunities going round the outside and good goalscoring opportunities, all those bits are real positives and we want to keep doing that. Like we showed in the Brighton game, the goals will come, we just have to be confident in what we’re trying to do and keep working towards that. We’d definitely be more concerned if we weren’t creating those chances.”

We’re hungry to show a response and haven’t had to wait long for the opportunity to do so.

“Every game’s important to us and we want to do the best we can in every game. Having the next opportunity to move forward really quickly is important. I don’t see the point of dwelling on things when we know there are areas we felt we could’ve done better in. We all know that together and the opportunity to try to fix that straight away is really good to have with this midweek game. 

“It’s important in general to be able to move on, let alone before the break. Collectively, we want to go out there and give a better account of ourselves on Wednesday night, similar to what we did in the first half but hopefully get the result out of this one that we were looking for at the weekend.”

Everton appointed Brian Sørensen in April 2022 and are currently placed eighth in the WSL, having had their game against Brighton on the weekend postponed due to a frozen pitch.

“They’ve changed their style a little bit this year and we played them in pre-season,” Rehanne said. “We were due to play them a few weeks ago and, with the players that are there, there’s a lot of talent in the squad and they’ll definitely make life difficult for us. Coming together on the night, each of us will have the opportunity to make life difficult for the other one and we just want to make sure that we do our best job to make that as hard as possible for them, coming to us midweek in particular.”

We were originally scheduled to play Everton in early November, so how has the postponement effected preparations for this game?

“For players, you have to recap those things that you spoke about previously, because there’s been a lot of games in between that we’ve focused on to compete in. We continue to analyse teams up until the point that we play them. In terms of how they’re playing and their style of things, we look for different trends and things that might have adjusted, but ultimately we were ready with what we needed to do going into this game before the last game, in terms of coaching staff. It’s just about continuing to play to our principles with some slight tactical tweaks, based on how the other team plays. Whoever it is, you want to exploit the other team, so we’re ready for those bits from the training prep that we’ve done.”

One positive to take from Sunday’s match was Angharad James making her 150th WSL appearance. 

“It’s credit to Haz,” Rehanne said. “The volume of games she’s played in the WSL, being at 150 is just a massive achievement. If you consider that she’s played abroad in that time as well, it just sums up how influential she’s been within the WSL and how much experience she’s gained over the years. From our side of things, we’re in a great position to be able to benefit from all of that experience that she brings into the team on and off the pitch. 

“She’s a dedicated professional who wants to work hard. She’s constantly thinking of where to learn and improve her game. That’s the reason why players like her stay in the game and are able to compete in the WSL for as long as she has and she still has a lot of years left. By the end of her career, that number will no doubt be phenomenal because of the way she approaches things. It’s a huge credit to her and the way she goes about her every day to day application towards being the best footballer she possibly can.”