“We know it’s big shoes to fill, but we already made Anfield our training pitch so we’re looking forward to it.” That tongue-in-cheek remark was made by the Everton Women manager, Brian Sorensen, when addressing the Everton men’s fans last season after it emerged that Goodison Park was to become his team’s new home ground.
It was clearly just a joke, but the message was clear. Everton’s women have played five Merseyside derbies at Anfield and have won them all without conceding a goal. Three have come during Sorensen’s tenure and his side begin the new season there on Sunday.
Liverpool are winless in their past seven WSL meetings with Everton, losing five, and that record was is something bothering the Liverpool midfielder Marie Höbinger. “It’s due, isn’t it? It’s about time,” she said of her club’s desire to end that run. “Everton are a tough team to play against. I feel like they step up their game every time they play against us. It’s about time we make them lose at Anfield. We’re all super motivated for that.”
The fixture already carries extra significancefor Liverpool as it will be Gareth Taylor’s first competitive game in charge and Sorensen stressed that past success at Anfield will mean little: “It always gives you confidence, but it’s water under the bridge. It’s history.
“We have quite a new team; they have a new manager. We feel we’re ready and we’re really looking forward to a repeat and hopefully history continues in our favour, but we know it’s going to be a hard game.”
Sorensen spent much of last season with a thin squad hampered by injuries, but this summer, boosted by the club’s new owners, The Friedkin Group, Everton have broken their club record to sign the England midfielder Ruby Mace from Leicester as well as bringing in three Japan internationals – Yuka Momiki, Hikaru Kitagawa and Rion Ishikawa. The contrast to last term is such that Sorensen said: “It’s a bit nice as a coach now, I actually have a headache in team selections because of the quality we have.”
Liverpool were also active in the transfer market, signing four players on deadline day, including the Swedish striker Beata Olsson. Höbinger feels that starting the campaign at Anfield speaks volumes about the trajectory of the women’s game.
“It’s just amazing to play in the big stadiums, especially to see how big women’s football is in England,” she says. “Being a part of that is really special. Feeling that is special for me, coming from Austria, where it’s not like that.”
“It couldn’t have been any better for us, playing Everton here at Anfield. It gives us the best possible chance to start the season really well and it’s going to give us a massive push and motivation to do well for the fans.”
Last season. Liverpool finished seventh in the WSL, one point ahead of eighth-placed Everton, and will gain confidence by the fact that Taylor, the former Manchester City manager, has won eight of his nine previous league meetings with Everton. A derby victory would be a good way to quickly endear himself to his new club’s supporters.
