By Alyce Collett (29/03/2025)
Above: Brian Sorensen in training. Photo: Everton Women.
Following the highs of a big win over Crystal Palace last weekend, Brian Sorensen’s Everton face a different challenge on Sunday as they face third-placed Manchester United.
After picking up the win last weekend, Sorensen said that his side “are all in good spirits” at the moment. He added that “we gave them two days off after that game because it was a Saturday game and now we play Sunday, so I think they also enjoyed that.”
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s match against Manchester United, Sorensen highlighted the squad that United manager Marc Skinner has at his disposal: “[Manchester United] have a very good team…some really good young players in it, but also some really experienced ones.”
Speaking further about his opponent, Sorensen picked out keeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce for particular praise, admitting that he believes the Reds’ American goalkeeper “has done exceptionally well”.
Everton have been able to match top teams fairly well this season, however Sorensen reiterated that because his side is now better resourced than they were earlier in the year, the team is now “in a different place in terms of how we can approach the game.”
“For example the game plan, but also what does it look like in the last 30 minutes or 15 minutes of the game, depending on different scenarios and so on. So we feel more prepared to take the teams above us on.”
As much as all the talk around Everton recently has been the new signings in attack, one of the side’s best players in their win over Crystal Palace was defender Sara Holmgaard.
“I think Sara’s just been consistent now for a long period of time, which wasn’t the case in the beginning with the injuries she had,” Sorensen said.“We know her qualities. She has a good engine. She can go up and down and she has a really good left foot, but in the box, she’s a threat on the header. So yeah, I would like to have her delivery, but I also want to have her in the box. But she showed both last weekend, so that’s good.”
One thing that has been much talked about with the Everton side this season is its ability to adapt, but Sorensen was very adamant that “It’s not going to be any different from us in terms of we have a game plan and we see opportunities where we also can hurt them.”
“Of course we know our defence have to be at our best and we have to be very concentrated for the full 90 minutes because if we give them a bit, they will take advantage of it.”
Everton make the short journey to Manchester on Sunday. Kick off is at 12pm at Leigh Sports Village, and the match will be televised on BBC iPlayer in the UK.
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