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2 hours ago
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Both arms raised in the air, clenched fists, a roar of “yes!” and an embrace with his technical team; Jocelyn Prêcheur’s elation was audible for everyone in the main stand at Goodison Park as the final whistle sounded and London City Lionesses clinched their first win as a Women’s Super League club. Maybe more significantly, with their performance on Friday, the Frenchman’s team showed they can not simply survive, but thrive at this level.
There will have been an element of relief too after beginning their season with nine goals conceded in two games. Yet, as a promoted club starting with an away trip to face the European champions and then playing the side that finished third in the WSL last term, it should probably not have been a surprise to see them come away from those opening two games without any points.
There was plenty of hype – perhaps an unrealistic level – surrounding the Bromley-based club during pre-season, understandably to a degree because of the amount of money they were spending, but regardless, games against Arsenal and Manchester United are not the opponents London City Lionesses will be judged by this term. Everton, on the other hand, offered a more realistic opportunity to assess the prospects of the division’s newest name, and they more than passed the test.
It should not be forgotten that the promoted team has been relegated straight back down again in the past two WSL seasons, so even with one of the wealthiest owners in all of women’s sport signing the cheques in Michele Kang, the gap between WSL 2 and the top tier should not be underestimated. Adding to that for Prêcheur is the intriguing task of trying to build cohesion between a swathe of new faces.
The club made no fewer than 17 summer signings so there was perhaps a slight sense of irony that it was one of the players who helped them win promotion last season who was pivotal to their first top-flight victory. Isobel Goodwin, the top scorer in the second tier last term, not only scored both of her team’s goals at Goodison Park on Friday night but demonstrated so many strong elements to her game, whether with her ability to act as a target player and hold the ball up, her ability to spin her marker and accelerate down the flank with more pace than you might naturally expect for such a relatively tall striker, or with her intelligent movement in the channels to help her team get the ball in behind the Everton defence.
The 22-year-old is improving, game by game, and perhaps over the course of this campaign she will start to catch the eye of Sarina Wiegman for senior England consideration. “C’est magnifique,” was the shout from London City’s analysts sitting directly behind the press seats in the stands, as Goodwin got her second of the night to put her team 2-0 up.
There was plenty more for their travelling supporters to take optimism from, not least the visitors’ control of the possession in the early stages of the game, and eventually the way they managed the game late on under increasing pressure from an Everton side who fought back after making a quadruple substitution with about 25 minutes remaining. Prêcheur said of the win: “When you try to breed confidence and you want to build cohesion into the team, it is important. It’s good to have this victory to keep pushing them to stay in the same state of mind and keep improving. I’m satisfied also because, even if there are a lot of areas we still need to improve, for sure, it’s better than last week, it’s better than yesterday. Now it’s about keeping on improving.
“For me, Isobel is a perfect example of what I explained at the beginning of the season; we know the biggest challenge for us will be to adapt to the intensity and rhythm of this league. We have the capacity to do it, the players are talented enough to adapt to this league, it’s just a matter of time. We can see that she has started to adapt. Some players have started to do it. I felt also more cohesion, especially defensively speaking, more organised and so a lot of things were satisfying, but I’m also fully aware we have many things to work on, so we need to keep improving. But when you have three points, you win time, so it’s OK.”
after newsletter promotion
Whatever this team achieve this season, they will almost certainly divide opinion. Some will see them as simply a team with no history buying success and grow to dislike them for that, whether through jealousy or through a yearning for a level playing field in terms of budgets. Others will simply be fond of them because they are a club investing in women’s sport in ways that men’s Premier League-affiliated clubs have spurned the opportunity to invest in for many years. Regardless of which viewpoint you take, they are undoubtedly a compelling case study and the journey they are trying to undertake will be fascinating to observe.
Critically, Prêcheur is also evidently trying to get there by playing an attractive style of football too, which will aid their search for supporters. Some of their defending remains a work in progress, to put it mildly, but the team are improving and they look likely to upset a few more established WSL teams in the coming months.
