Trailblazer | Part 11 | Everton’s Big Day At Wembley

Freja Holm led Everton Women to a strong 4th-place finish in the Women’s Super League in 2031, but her team was still well behind the invincible Arsenal and very strong Chelsea. And, realistically, Holm knew they had no chance of catching that pair.

Everton’s hopes weren’t helped by losing star centre back Andisiwe Mbane, who decided she wanted to move to a bigger club and joined one with the exact same reputation as she joined US side Bay FC for a club record £775k. Three more players were moved on for an additional £150k, and a host of youngsters went on loan to WSL 2 sides.

Holm strengthened the midfield with France international Maéline Mendy on a free transfer from Lyon. She also beat Barcelona to the signing of promising Chilean centre back Gabriela Heyermann, and promoted attacker Simona Requirez, midfielder Lilly Bischof and full back Cristiane to the first team.

Holm stuck with the 5-3-2 approach that worked well last season, with youngster Ellie Cruttwell coming into the backline and Andrea Baekellund coming in as a deep lying playmaker.

A Brutal Start To WSL

The bookies still didn’t fancy Everton’s chances, predicting them to finish 8th with title odds of 150/1. Arsenal, who haven’t lost for three years, are 10/11 favourites, followed by Chelsea (7/4), Man United (14/1) and Man City (20/1).

Everton began the season with a tough test at home to Man City and dominated the first half, before Mendy finally laid on the opener for striker Casey Phair. Her strike partner and club captain Inma Gabarro doubled the tally by exploiting FM26’s lack of marking from short corners and they eased to a 2-0 win. That was followed by the toughest test away to Arsenal. Wing back Nadine Riesen was denied an early goal by a stunning save and held their own for about 55 minutes. But they fell behind to a counterattack and, just as Holm tried to go for it, they conceded a second. A brutal start continued with the visit of Chelsea, and they got a flyer as Mendy volleyed in her first goal for the club only to concede the visitors’ first shot. But they got battered from there, conceded to the ridiculous Barbra Banda and an absolute screamer, gave up 25 shots, and the match confirmed Holm’s suspicion that they just couldn’t compete with these sides.

Holm decided to tweak the tactic by moving Gabarro up front as a deep-lying forward, which worked as she scored the opener in a 3-1 domination of city rivals Liverpool. They nicked a draw at Villa before Gaborro and left back Patrizia Baldorini downed London City Lionesses 2-1, a Phair brace led a 3-1 win at home to Brighton and Phair and Gabarro earned a 2-2 at Spurs. That solid run ended with a disappointing 2-1 defeat at West Ham, but Phair got them back on track with the only goal at home to Leicester.

2032 began with heavy defeats at City and Chelsea before Phair and a late Gabarro penalty edged a 2-1 win over Villa, which summed up the position Everton found themselves in. However, they lost Phair for the rest of the season with a hip injury in late February. And without her, they struggled in a 2-1 defeat at London City then got thumped 4-1 at home to Spurs but picked up towards the end of the season.

Everton came home in a solid 5th place, largely thanks to City having a terrible end to the season. They finished on 39 points (14 fewer than last season) after 11 wins, 6 draws and 9 defeats, scoring 30 and conceding 41 (26 fewer and 11 more than last season). Shockingly, Arsenal lost their first game in three seasons, against Chelsea, but won their fourth successive title by 3 points.

Finally A Cup Run!

Everton had bad cup draws in Holm’s previous seasons, and she’d also had poor ones in Sweden. The draw didn’t get much better this season, but they edged past Liverpool and Man City on penalties before a Woodham brace inspired a 4-1 thumping of Spurs to reach the semis. Up next was Brighton, and goals by Telma Hallgrímsdóttir and Gabarro earned their place in Holm’s first cup final.

And guess who they faced there? Obviously Arsenal. They had four weeks between the end of the league campaign and the cup final, which clearly wasn’t ideal, but did allow Phair to be just about back fit. And for the big game at Wembley, Holm lined up:

Everton kept things tight for 20 minutes… only to concede Arsenal’s first shot. Obviously. And they scored a second just after Holm had the audacity to make a tactical switch. Everton only lost 2-0, but it should have been four or five, and further portrayed the gulf between the clubs.

Time For A New Challenge?

Holm was very proud of the progress that Everton had made, again overperforming in WSL and making it to her first cup final. Gabarro was Everton’s best player this season, scoring a strong 16 in 33 with 4 assists, while Lily Woodham impressed with 8 goals and 10 assists and Phair chipped in with 9 goals before her four-month injury.

However, Holm was very much aware that she’d probably taken the club as far as she could, given the riches and ridiculous talent available to Arsenal and Chelsea. Additionally, the little financial niggles struck again, with the club reducing its youth level and dropping into the red given the ongoing debts. And, with that in mind, Holm kept her mind open to new possibilities, should they arise.

And, interestingly, an opportunity did arise at the end of June. Italian side Fiorentina, who were second favourites for the title, sacked their manager, Holm put her name in the ring and was swiftly offered an interview. A few days later, she was offered the vacant role and, after being promised a transfer budget of more than £1m, felt this was the right move for her career.

Holm departs Everton after 113 games, of which she won 56, drew 23 and lost 34, with a win ratio of 49%, scoring 197 goals and conceding 174. But the move to Italy was one that she had to take, given that seven years into her career, she hadn’t really come close to ticking a title off her Trailblazer challenge.

Would the move to Italy be a good choice for Holm’s career? Join us on Monday to find out!