Women's football talking points: Fran Kirby scores hat-trick while Euro 2021 qualifiers pit Wales against Northern Ireland
Mid-week Women's Super League action saw Manchester City tested by a rejuvenated Everton while Fran Kirby makes an impact for Chelsea. Elsewhere, Telegraph Sport wraps up the biggest talking points of the Euro 2021 qualifying draw and the week so far.
Everton are finding their identity under Willie Kirk
It is rare to see Manchester City looking so rattled in their own back garden, but Everton’s gutsy pressing and early goal gave, for a time, the league leaders their biggest scare of the season so far. City’s search for a foothold stretched on for 47 minutes: thereafter they were clinical, winning 3-1, but for Everton boss Willie Kirk this was arguably his greatest statement of intent since taking charge in December.
Kirk firmly believes that Everton “will be a top six team next season” but recognises that he must first eradicate the mental frailties stemming from his side’s lowly league position. They are second from bottom and prior to Kirk’s arrival had won none of their WSL games. This, Kirk believes, is why his side lasted only 120 seconds into the second half before they surrendered their lead.
“That’s where we are just now,” he said afterwards. “We’re at the start of a long journey. I’ve come into a changing room with not that much confidence but a lot of ability. We’ve stepped onto the pitch in the second half and you can see them almost being fearful of being ahead, because suddenly they’ve got something to lose. If we’d have come out here 1-0 down, we’d have probably been OK - but you can see the players were scared to lose what they had. That’s what we need to just slowly work out.
“I always want to attack, always want to press. It’s not always possible - but I think with this squad, it is, in the main. We’ve been working on a lot of defensive principles, on defending up high. We’ve tried to embed those in. Players are still a little bit scared of getting too high up the park, but that’ll come. We had them on the ropes and deserved the lead at half time.
“For me, that was easily a top six performance and we’ll be a top six team next year. It’s just continuing to lay those foundations for the rest of the season.”
Chelsea’s Fran Kirby returns to form with a bang
Chelsea’s squad depth is the envy of the entire WSL - and nowhere better was this illustrated than in their 6-0 demolishing of Bristol City in a game that saw hat-tricks from Fran Kirby and Bethany England.
The fate of the match ball remains unknown but Chelsea were merciless from the off and reigning player of the year Kirby took just two minutes to open her account. England took six and had her third - and Chelsea’s sixth - by the 89th minute for her 17th of the season.
Kirby has flitted in and out of form in a season blighted by her hamstring injury and in which Chelsea have often posed an anxious presence in front of goal - yet she was cool from the spot to hit her third of the game on 82 minutes.
“We’ve been building for a while, and I said there was going to come a point where one team was going to get a hiding and we were going to be clinical,” Hayes said. “I think it could have been more than six, to be honest with you. Both the hat-trick players complemented each other well and caused problems all evening.
“I thought going 2-0 up so early meant that it was comfortable and it became sloppy, so I wasn’t happy, and I told them that at half time. We have standards and it’s important that we respect that, that you have to do the fundamentals well enough.”
Qualifying groups for Women’s Euros 2021 revealed
The draw for the Women’s Euros in 2021 has matched Wales and Northern Ireland with Norway, Belarus and the Faroe Islands in Group C. As tournament hosts, England, of course, qualify automatically and a record 47 teams will try and join them in two summers’ time.
The qualifying matches run from 28 August 2019 until 22 September 2020. The group winners and the three runners-up with the best record against the sides first, third, fourth and fifth in their sections will reach the final tournament.
The other six runners-up will play off in October 2020 for the remaining three berths in the 16-team finals.
Good day for…
Reading, who attracted a crowd of 2,148 to the Madejski for their game against West Ham last night. Reading Women play their home games at Wycombe’s Adams Park, 26.3 miles from the Madejski, and are actually the worst offenders in the WSL when it comes to distance from a club’s main stadium - but they will return to the Madjeski on Saturday 20th April 2019 to face Brighton.
Bad day for…
London Bees, whose new manager, the former England centurion Rachel Yankey, must be beginning to realise the scale of the challenge ahead as her side lost 3-1 to Millwall Lionesses, bottom of the Championship and without a league win until yesterday.
