West Ham United women's team manager Rehanne Skinner insisted the goals her side scored against Southampton in midweek will stand us in good stead for Sunday's Barclays Women's Super League encounter with Everton.
Headers, long-range volleys, instinctive finishes and flowing team moves, all five goals against the Saints in Wednesday night's Subway® Women's League Cup success were well taken, and Skinner has encouraged her side to continue to think less and be braver in front of goal this weekend.
One of the goalscorers in Dagenham was Shekiera Martinez, who is now the WSL's leading scorer in 2025 with eleven, following her strike against Leicester City last Sunday.
Our No19, who has already scored five goals across all competitions this season, notched her first-ever goal for the Club against Everton in January, and Skinner was asked about her striker and how oppositions deal with her in her pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.
Our manager was also quizzed on the visit of the Toffees, the team news heading into the weekend and the rise in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries when adressing the media at Chadwell Heath training ground.
Here are the main talking points from the presser...
Team news
Seraina Piubel is still coming back into training, so she's not going to be available for this weekend, but everybody else is looking positive for the weekend.
Confidence from scoring five
The goals were fantastic [against Southampton], they were quite high on the difficulty scale to score. I think that shows the quality with the individuals that we have. The confidence that's brought to them and the team is really important.
Players work really hard and they're trying everything to make sure that what we do in training transitions onto the pitch. Sometimes it's just about being persistent with that and sticking to the positive side of things, the things that we are doing well.
Part of the challenge is to be a little bit braver in front of goal. When we get that right, we know we can score goals. We just have to keep chipping away at ensuring we turn that over into the league games.
You don't want to over-focus because it just creates more stress and pressure. It's just about increasing the opportunities that we have in the final third and being a little bit more composed when we get them. The biggest thing is knowing that they (the players) can [do it], and not overthinking.
Opponents marking Martinez
I think that's (other teams targeting Martinez) inevitable when you've got someone playing well. We would do it to anybody else. If they're doing a really good job, you have to think about how you minimise their strengths. Last year's success will definitely have put a target on Shekiera’s back for sure. That's the nature of the game.
I think the biggest thing is being able to find your feet and continuing to do the things that she's good at. But equally across the board, all of our forwards have got points to prove.
Sticking to the gameplan
He's (Everton boss Brian Sørensen) got very good quality players and the style of play is quite clear in what he's trying to do. They’ve had situations like us where they've been unlucky not to get points.
It's just going to be a case of sticking to the gameplan, being focused on that and us executing what we want to do. And like we were saying before, just a little bit more confidence in front of goal. And I'm sure he's probably telling his players the same thing.
The last ten minutes [against Leicester], we didn't stick to the gameplan in the same way that we had for the time period prior to that. That's the message, we have to stick to what's working for us and maintain that for the duration of the game.
ACL injuries
When you pass a certain age, and I mean that in a positive way, you've got a lived experience of being a professional footballer, seasoned, that understands how to recover properly, understands nutritional elements, and is actively putting those things in place. They know what they need in those moments. I think with younger players, you're trying to educate, improve and build up tolerance.
I certainly have conversations with players here. Some players will get two days of post-game recovery because of where they're at. That's a really important part of the conversation for every manager with their own players. It's a trust piece.
When you add international travel and fatigue, you're trying to protect the players in the best possible way. They want to play all the time, so if they're telling you that they feel a little bit tired or something's not working for them, there's a reason for that.
