‘I want to see my team score first’ – First goal is crucial for Everton at West Ham says Vasseur | OneFootball

Everton manager Jean-Luc Vasseur says that it is important that his side strike first at West Ham United on Sunday.

The Blue Girls have won just three of their eight games since new boss Vasseur took charge of the club at the start of November while they have scored more than once on just one occasion in those matches.

Everton and West Ham United met in the reverse fixture at Walton Hall Park before Christmas. The Blue Girls were made to chase the game after conceding the first goal. Ahead of this weekend’s meeting at The Chigwell Construction Stadium, Vasseur highlighted the huge importance of scoring first.

“I think that we need to score the first goal because it changes the face of my team,” Vasseur said. “I know that my team are short of confidence so we need a good result.

“I want to see my team score first and manage the situation. We can look to either climb up the table or stay like this, we need to score first and make sure that we score one goal more than our opponents.”

Vasseur went on to express his desire to create a free-scoring Everton team. While goals and entertainment are in short supply at the minute, the long term vision is to give his players a licence to thrill.

He said “If you know me, I like my teams to score goals. I’d rather draw a game 4-4, lose 5-4 or win 6-3, I like to score. We need to create a better state of mind to score with the vision of going forwards, not going back. When the players are short on confidence, there can be some hesitation to go forward, sometimes you make the wrong decisions or move into the wrong space.

“It is important to score and to win. We need to rediscover the confidence of the players and expect more from our performances. It doesn’t matter whether it is from open play or set pieces, we need to score goals.”

Everton’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture at West Ham United kicks-off at 3pm on Sunday afternoon.