Everton’s interim manager Chris Roberts says that this weekend’s opponents Aston Villa are improving every week and their results don’t always reflect their performances.
Just two points separate the two sides ahead of this weekend’s meeting at Walton Hall Park with Aston Villa in ninth position in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table and Everton being in 10th.
When speaking in his pre-match press conference, Everton’s interim boss Roberts said that he is expecting a tough match against an Aston Villa side who so often perform better than their results suggest.
“Their run definitely doesn’t reflect their continued level of performance that they’ve put in,” Roberts said. “They are improving every week and Carla’s (Ward) doing a great job there, they’ve recruited very well, particularly given the addition of Jill Scott in January.
“Their run of form can be misleading, I’ve watched their games and their performance levels are improving continuously. They were very unlucky with the result against West Ham, they controlled large parts of the game with and without the ball and they will be looking at how clinical they are in both boxes going into the game against us.
“We have a lot of respect for them, we know that it is going to be a tough challenge but we will prepare well and make sure that we are ready.”
With Everton still looking to shake off their confidence issues and Aston Villa failing to convert performances into wins, this weekend’s fixture could be a tight encounter. Roberts believes that having the right mentality will play a huge part.
He said “Mental toughness, resilience, managing the difficult moments in the game, staying on top when you have momentum are all really important parts of every game. We have focused hard on these areas over the past couple of weeks to make sure that we can deal with the difficult moments well with clarity and a plan. When we do have the momentum to keep our foot on it and really stay on the front foot, we try to have as much territory as possible and put as much pressure on the opposition as possible.
“It is about managing games well, knowing when you are on top, knowing when there are difficult moments and having a clear plan on how we deal with it. It’s easy to talk about mental toughness but it’s important to have a really strong plan in every part of the game and players who can adapt within the plan.”
Everton’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture against Aston Villa kicks-off at 1pm on Sunday.
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