While our attacking play is as one-dimensional as ever, we played more positively than usual and saw Noemie Mouchon return to get a late equaliser after an Everton goal from Ornella Vignola just after half time. We saw Ruby Mace and Yuka Momiki return to the King Power in Everton colours and a slightly different front three with Jutta Rantala in for Hlin Eiriksdottir.
Everton are only a rung above us. Lots of new signings and not quite gelling, we looked well-gelled in comparison.
Leicester set up the same as usual, with a 5-2-1-2, but in this case it really felt like an actual back three, like when bigger teams do it. Asmita Ale and Janice Cayman were really pushing on and even Julie Thibaud was stepping well up out of the back line and into Everton’s half to help recycle the ball. We were very much on the front foot and looked every part the home side in a way we don’t always manage to.
Both sides were chasing long balls and not quite creating clear cut chances, it wasn’t quite cagey, but it wasn’t free flowing football. There was a nice pass from deep in the midfield by Sam Tierney that Hannah Cain got on the end of. Really nice stuff, but it didn’t quite come to anything. Former Fox Ruby Mace intercepted a Rantala pass with her face. It looked a painful one and brought the doctors on the pitch but she was fine to carry on.
One noticeable change from previous games is that we’re looking to do things more quickly. It may be part of an idea to grab that first goal and hold on. It feels like we’re always 1-0 down. We’ve been great when on the back foot, but it would be nice to grab one and dig our heels in. The higher tempo is not so much passing the ball more quickly, it’s quick throw ins, quick, short free kicks and just making sure we’re running at Everton for as long as possible. It was refreshing to see and the King Power crowd certainly enjoyed it. The front three of Cain, Emily Van Egmond and Rantala seemed to be taking in turns to step up and press Everton’s defenders, a contrast to how we’ve tended to only start pressing in our own half recently.
On thirty minutes, Everton seemed frustrated. They have some injuries and a lot of new players and they certainly looked like a team who aren’t quite clicking. Leicester were confident and tough in their play and Everton were running all their play through Katie Robinson, making it easier for Leicester to defend the width of the goal, like we do so well. Thibaud did get a harsh yellow card for a tough tackle on Robinson, but that didn’t stop her getting in behind Leicester’s defence not long after. She got behind on the blindside of Chantelle Swaby, who was busy holding off Vignola. She was being chased by Ale but still managed to get her shot off. Janina Leitzig saved well and Robinson blamed it on a non-existent shirt pull by Ale. It was steady, if unspectacular stuff from Leicester, with that chance as a little reminder of what can go wrong as we went into half time without a goal.
Five minutes into the second half Vignola got on the end of a pinpoint Hikaru Kitagawa pass forward from left back. After getting the ball at her feet, Vignola flicked it over Swaby’s head and found space and time to smash it past Leitzig. It was a good pass, a nice bit of skill from Vignola and a good shot. It felt against the run of play. But as ever, we were 1-0 down and as sometimes, it felt like we may be able to still secure a point here.
From then on, we kept calm and carried on in the way that we do. Chasing long balls, packing the box with defenders and occasionally managing to cross the ball in when going forward. Our options up front are limited and there’s no clear goalscorer, just a lot of people who could occasionally score a goal. It sometimes feels like we’re playing three 6 goal a season strikers, hoping it will add up to 18 goals and losing out on more support out wide for Ale and Cayman.
Everton’s keeper, Emily Ramsey, is their second choice so it felt worth having the forwards take a few speculative pot shots at her. But is there anyone in the team who has that in them? Possibly Van Egmond, but it didn’t feel like anyone had been asked to do this and it felt like an opportunity lost. Likewise, we had a few corners and free kicks in decent positions and we never felt particularly dangerous from any of them. To get goals with these players, in this system, we need to be making everything we can of every set piece we get.
On the hour, Rantala and Swaby came off for Shannon O’Brien and Heather Payne. O’Brien especially caused some excitement in the crowd when she was on the ball and going forward. Everton had a few decent chances over the next twenty minutes and Leicester started to run out of ideas. By the 80th minute, Mouchon and Eiriksdottir came on for Cain and Van Egmond. It was a forward-thinking substitution from Rick Passmoor and resulted in a equaliser within barely a minute.
Mouchon, on her WSL return almost a year to the date of her ACL injury last season, got the ball out just to the right hand side of the centre circle within Everton’s half. She dribbled forward and had the attention of former team-mate Ruby Mace the entire way. The run was more of a steamroller than a mazy run. She was pushed out wide in the box and managed to get a shot away that almost unbelievably sneaked in on the near side past Ramsey in the Everton goal. Take a few wild shots at a relatively inexperienced goalkeeper and you just might get something.
It’s a goal this team and this player deserved after all their hard work. After this, Leicester looked zippy going forward and had an air of confidence. It felt like we could push on and grab that winner, but unfortunately, that never quite came.
1-1 was a fair result and we still looked like the most put together team here. Swaby looked imperious at the heart of the back three, Ale was again a bright spark going both ways on the left wing and Mouchon looks like she could be that real goalscorer that we need. This leaves us sat at 10th in the league, 4 points ahead of Liverpool and West Ham in the bottom two spots with zero points. If we can carry on grabbing draws here and there and keeping ourselves in games, there is a good chance we may even be able to avoid the play-off with a WSL 2 team.