“What’s going on?” – Everton is more worried after a string of injuries and a harsh decision after the game

“You have to question what is happening.” That’s how Toni Duggan saw things for Everton Women after their 5-0 loss to Chelsea at Goodison Park on Sunday night.

During her great senior career, Duggan went through their academy and enjoyed two different stays at the club before leaving in the summer. She was on the last Everton team to win a big trophy, the FA Cup in 2009–10. Because of this, she is better than most people to give her opinion on how things are going at Walton Hall Park right now.

In light of this, her words on Sky Sports following the embarrassing loss over the weekend are very upsetting. “I do think sometimes things can be overlooked when (Everton) have bigger problems on the men’s side,” she said.

“We all know that I’ve been going to the club for a long time.” We work in the same building and are close to each other, so when things go badly with the men’s team, they affect the women’s team as well. I’m still hopeful that the hierarchy cares about the women’s team and is still interested in their performance.

In the past, Everton was relegated, which was very upsetting. I’ve played for Everton since I was a kid, and we’ve always been the best at this level of football. We used to be in a race with Arsenal for the title. The goal just three years ago was to be in the Champions League.

With this record, Brian Sorensen’s team will probably never play in Europe. After six games, Everton has only earned two points, putting them at the bottom of the Women’s Super League (WSL) table.

West Ham United and Aston Villa are both tied with them for 12th place with the same number of points, which is a small comfort. That’s how close the WSL is—one win could put them in ninth place. If they win two games, they’ll be in seventh place, just behind the teams in first and second place.

It’s also important to note that Everton’s sluggish start to the season isn’t entirely their fault. Premierinjuries.com says that the Blues have the third-most injured players in the WSL right now.

Aurora Galli, Inma Gabarro, and Kenzie Weir are three of those who have been out for a long time because they tore their anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs) this year. In September, two of those ACL injuries happened just eight days apart. This shows how bad luck Everton has had in the first few months of the season.

Then there is the important issue of player change to think about. Everton finished sixth in the league in Sorensen’s first season as manager, with 21 senior players playing for the team. Only 10 of those players are still at Walton Hall Park.

Due to the high-profile losses of several key players, such as Gabby George to Manchester United in 2023 and club record signing Hanna Bennison to Juventus this summer, Sorensen now has a much weaker team to work with.

All but two of Chelsea’s 20-player team that played at Goodison Park on Sunday night have played for their country at the top level, but only 10 of Everton’s 19-player team have. At 3-0, visiting manager Sonia Bompastor was able to bring off the bench France’s Eve Perisset, Sweden’s Nathalie Bjorn, and the Netherlands’ Wieke Kaptein. Mayra Ramirez, who set a British record for adding players, did not play.

In a stark way, it showed how far apart these two clubs are from each other right now. Sorensen said after the game, “Every game, I go in with the players I have available and try to set up the team to win.”

“That wasn’t good enough what we did today.” Chelsea is also one of the best teams in the world. When I think back on our season, I think we were better against Leicester and should have won, but we couldn’t score. We couldn’t score, so West Ham should have won but didn’t.

“For 80 minutes, Man United played better than United but didn’t score.” As far as performance goes, I think it’s been fine. When we had the knife to the throat, I think this group will be there. We tried it last season. I’m not scared.

It’s good that Sorensen wants everyone to be calm. There are still more than two thirds of the games left in the season, and five of Everton’s next seven WSL games are against teams that are currently in the bottom half of the table. The January transfer window is also coming up quickly, which means that some much-needed replacements will be able to be brought in.

When asked if the Blues would be making any transfers, Sorensen said, “I hope so, otherwise it’s going to be a long season.” “They are hurt for the season, so we won’t be getting them back.” To find the right people, we are looking.

In addition, the takeover has to happen. That’s not something I can change. I am only thinking about the players we have access to and the goals I want to reach. We have already planned them out and they are ready, so hopefully we’ll get more faces in during the winter window.

Of course, some people see the Friedkin Group’s planned takeover of Farhad Moshiri’s 94% stake in the club as the light at the end of a very long tunnel for Everton. The takeover is still subject to regulatory approval. Like his male peers, Sorensen has had a tough time with money issues over the last few seasons, which has made it hard for him to make moves in the transfer market.

There have, of course, been calls for the Danish manager to change his possession-based style of play to fit his current team. These calls will only get louder if Everton doesn’t start picking up points soon, but overall, everyone agrees that he has done a great job in very tough conditions.

With players coming back from injuries and possible new players coming in January, Everton should be in a better position going into the new year. At the moment, though, next weekend’s game against ninth-placed Crystal Palace, who were just promoted, looks like it could be the most important of the season.

“We need to focus on getting numbers back and make sure that we’re still in contention for everything when we get to Christmas,” he said. That is the important point. Palace is a game that everyone says is very important, but we try to get three points in every game. “If we lose there, it will make things even worse for them.”

Unfortunately, losing to Palace would not be fatal, but it would make Everton’s job a lot harder. It’s not good for Sorensen and his players that the heat keeps building after that tough loss to Chelsea.