Everton Women enjoyed a massive improvement in Swedish manager Freja Holm’s first full season at Goodison Park. But, despite having plenty of exciting young talent at her fingertips, not everything was quite so rosy at Everton.
The biggest issue was financial as, out of nowhere, the club was revealed to be in around £2m of debt, which forced the youth level to be cut from Category 1 to 3. Holm did her bit to address that, selling attacker Ornella Vignola to Inter for £350k, midfielders Ruby Mace, who only delivered 4 assists and wanted to leave, to Chelsea for £325k and Macy Settle to Leicester for £225k. And a few youngsters moved on for an additional profit of £200k.
In their place, Holm made the loan deal of attacker Simona Requirez permanent for £53k, then sent her on loan to Sunderland, and signed Japanese centre back Minori Hasuwa for £105k. She also brought in midfielders Lilly Bischof, who went on loan to Mainz, and Noemie Mulot, attacker Naiara Valderas and right back Cristiane, who went to Ipswich on loan, from Palmeiras. She also snapped up promising striker Freya Hirons on loan from Man City, and promoted recent academy graduate midfielder Kamara Samoura.
Holm slightly tweaked the Everton approach, moving to an odd looking take on a 3-5-2 with star player Inma Gaborro playing in behind Casey Phair. She also made the wing backs, Lily Woodham and Nadine Riesen, more aggressive, putting both on advanced wing back roles.
Quietly Optimistic for 2nd Season at Everton
The bookies didn’t love Everton’s chances, predicting them to finish 10th at 150/1, along with promoted rivals Liverpool. Chelsea are 5/4 favourites ahead of holders Arsenal (8/5), Man City (11/1), Man United (18/1) and London City Lionesses (20/1). But, just to reiterate, there was zero chance of anyone usurping Chelsea and especially Arsenal, who’d lost four games in four seasons!
Everton kicked off Holm’s second full season at home to Leicester, who scored their first shot. But the decision to use AWBs instantly looked wise as the hosts pegged them back with a brilliant Woodham finish before a first half Riesen brace. Leicester undeservedly got one back, but Everton held on to win 3-2. Woodham scored again to earn a point at Villa, before Riesen scored the only goal in the Merseyside Derby, which meant Everton had scored 5 goals, all by the AWBs!
The wing backs finally allowed someone else to score a goal as midfielder Telma Hallgrímsdottir score the opener at London City, before Phair’s brace earned a 3-1 win. Next up was a huge test against the mighty Arsenal, who are so good they’re leaving Alessia Russo on the bench. But Everton caused a shock as Woodham curled in the opener after 9 minutes, before Riesen had a goal oddly disallowed from a corner and Phair’s brilliant effort hit the inside of the post. And they were punished as Arsenal scored straight after halftime, then scored a second from a freekick that was never a foul. But Everton kept plugging away and Holm’s attacking changes worked as Mulot teed up attacker Inma Gabarro for a late equaliser.
Phair and Gabarro earned a 2-2 in an entertaining clash at Man United that kept them unbeaten but 7 points off top spot after 6 games. The good start continued as Phair scored twice in a 3-0 win at home to West Ham, earning her the WSL Player of the Week, and Hasuwa’s first senior goal nicked a 1-0 at Birmingham. And Everton further portrayed their mental strength as another late Gabarro strike earned another deserved 2-2 at home to Man City.
Phair and Gaborro, who’d switched to a role cutting in from the right, earned a 3-1 win at Crystal Palace and a 4-2 thumping of Brighton, before Woodham reclaimed the spotlight with a late winner at Spurs. That took Everton to 12 games unbeaten, one short of half the season, but the latter game was overshadowed by a hip injury ruling Riesen out for three months.
Aiming to Maintain a Strong Start
Everton came into 2031 with another youngster winning a major honour as Mulot succeeded Andisiwe Mbane as European Golden Girl. Holm moved on a few more players for another £300k of profit, including her former Alingsås defender Kolseth Skeide to Denver for £225k, which left them a little short on numbers heading into the new year. And, on the topic of Alingsås, the club sadly but unsurprisingly got relegated the season after Holm’s departure.
A long winter break also served up the standard injury crisis, this time to the attack with both Phair and Hirons sidelined for a few weeks. And that wasn’t ideal as they entertained Chelsea and their ridiculous 3-2-4-1 to start the new year. Everton had more early shots but zero highlights, while Chelsea rained in good efforts on the hosts’ goal. Gabarro hit the post with a decent chance from a corner after an hour and Ella-Maria Ervasti made a wonderful save to tip Baltimore’s shot onto her bar. And, after going super defensive with a depleted squad, Everton earned a highly creditable 0-0 – which meant they’d earned home draws with Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City and at Man U this season.
At the halfway point of the season, Everton were still undefeated with 8 wins and 5 draws and were level on points with 3rd-place Chelsea – with Arsenal obviously miles ahead, having only dropped points in that draw at Everton. However, they still had to play the big three away.
Gabarro’s brace inspired a big win over Villa to move Everton 12 points clear of West Ham in 5th and young striker Misaki Nebu earned a 1-1 at Leicester, which lifted them into 3rd as Chelsea lost at Villa. A Merseyside derby followed at Anfield and Phair put Everton in front with a towering backpost header, before Mulot and wingback Eva Gray both hit the bar with long-range efforts. But Phair wrapped up the win with a sumptuous curling 25-yarder.
Phair was at it again a week later, scoring twice before Woodham wrapped up a 3-0 win at home to London City. But now things got tough as they faced the ultimate test in WSL, away to Arsenal and, of course, they lost Mbane to injury. A conservative approach kept Arsenal quiet until the third minute of first half injury time, when the ridiculous Sehitler headed the opener and she doubled the lead with a rebound from a freekick – despite being marked by two players. But this Arsenal team is literally invincible. Another big game followed a week later as Everton hosted Man United. The visitors bossed most of the game, but midfielder Telma Hallgrímsdóttir missed a huge late chance to nick it and they settled for a 0-0.
Everton bounced back with a crucial away win with Woodham opening the scoring before a Phair double wrapped up a 3-1 win at West Ham. A two-week break followed, during which other teams played and won their games in hand to leapfrog Everton. But, with six games remaining, Everton had almost locked down 4th place and only trailed 2nd-place Man U by 2 points.
At least 4th place was secured as Gabarro’s penalty and centre backs Momoko Kawasumi and Megan Finnigan downed Birmingham 2-1. A big game at City followed and two goals in four minutes, thanks to FM26’s love of non-existent marking in the six-yard box, saw the hosts win 2-1. But Everton were really unlucky as Gabarro missed a huge late chance before Riesen hit the bar with the last kick of the game.
They bounced back with Gabarro and Phair goals condemning Palace to relegation, before Riesen and Phair earned a point at Brighton. But they got dominated 4-1 at Chelsea before a final-day thriller, with Phair and Riesen braces leading an uncharacteristic 6-2 hammering of Spurs.
That secured Everton in 4th place on 53 points after 15 wins, 8 draws and just 3 defeats, scoring 56 and conceding 32. They trailed Man U by 2 points and Chelsea by 9, but the ridiculous Arsenal completed back-to-back invincible seasons, only dropping 4 points in the last two seasons. That’s just ludicrous! Phair was the 4th top scorer in the league with 18 in 23, some 11 behind Barbra Banda at Chelsea, with Gabarro 11th on 12 goals. And the impressive Riesen was the 3rd top scorer with 12, only 3 behind Chelsea’s Sandy Baltimore.
Another Season of Improvement
Everton were continuing to improve under Holm but, realistically, there was no way they or any other team in England was usurping the unstoppable Arsenal anytime soon. For context, they have the last four winners of the World Female Player of the Year (Smith, Rodman, Sehitler, Wilson) in an attack along with Russo.
Phair led the way with a new club record 19 goals in 25 games, followed by Gabarro (13), Riesen and Woodham (7) and Hallgrímsdóttir. And Riesen topped the assists with 12, ahead of Gabarro and Woodham (10).
There was plenty of potential at the club, including several players who’d done well out on loan. And that was boosted by a decent intake led by the brilliantly named midfielder Lara Gascoigne, as well as striker Ruby Burrell and wingers Summer Rai and also brilliantly named 4’11 Layla Lightfoot.
While the potential was exciting, Holm couldn’t help but think about her future. Realistically, even with the best possible season at Everton, they didn’t have the personnel or the finances to beat Arsenal. So was there really any point in staying? She had to be open to new opportunities should any arise, which at this point was irrelevant, as there were no big jobs popping up.
Could Holm continue building Everton to get closer to Arsenal and Chelsea? Join us on Friday to find out!
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