“We cannot be surprised that there is a gulf starting out in the WSL” - Jocelyn Precheur previews London City Lionesses’ clash with Everton

London City Lionesses Manager, Jocelyn Precheur spoke to the media ahead of their sides trip to Goodison Park to face Everton on Friday Night. 

📸via skysports.com

In a welcome boost for the Frenchman and fans of his side, Freya Godfrey’s injury return is now down to two weeks, with the rest of the absentees looking at 2 months, to ten weeks before making any sort of impact on the pitch. “Freya will join us, but we have exactly the same group and players available at the moment”, Precheur added. 

One of the main, noticeable things surrounding the LCL squad, is the sheer size of the playing group with 28 players on their books at present and only 18 allowed in a matchday squad. With this, each player has their own set of skills, values and needs that require managing, something which the Frenchman admits hasn't been easy.

“It’s not been easy so far, if you look at the squad from the game against Manchester United, some players arrived more than two weeks ago. We are still spending a lot of time to build as a team, our way of playing and understanding the project.

“We are not ready yet, it's why we struggle at the moment to be where we want to compete. Offensively speaking we were much better against (Manchester) United, but our plan is to be more efficient across the board.” 

Patience is often a key watchword in football, with any team that gets promoted to a new division looking to harness a potential level of new patience, especially if losing hadn’t been something that was often experienced the year before.

For LCL, before this season, you had to go all the way back to November 2024 for their last league defeat, a 3-2 at the hands of Durham, with two losses from two so far, it’s brought everyone with the club close to their hearts crashing back down to earth with a bump.

“If we look at the last two seasons, we can’t be surprised to have a gulf at the beginning of the WSL, this is normal. We bring many new players, which doesn’t always give us an advantage in terms of cohesion, management and adaptation.” 

Their opponents on Friday, Everton have a win and a defeat under their belt so far this term, after also being active heavily in the transfer market, with Precheur expecting yet another tough encounter, something which he figured would happen often when he moved to these shores just a year ago.

“When I arrived here, I noticed that even in the WSL2, I will not have one easy game, not even one. So now that we are in the WSL, the quality will be even better. For me, we are in the best league in the world, the game will be tough of course. 

“I see a team (Everton) that are already strong, organised, don’t struggle with adaptation problems or anything. I expect a tough game, as every game will be.” 

Finally, one thing that has been common in both of London City’s outings thus far, is being hit in double quick time on the scoresheet, to more or less take the game away from them. 

On opening weekend against Arsenal and at just 2-1, ‘The Pride’ conceded in the 83’ and 84th minutes respectively, with a almost mirror image happening in the United game, when Melvine Malard struck a brilliant double, two minutes apart at the start of the second half to all but seal the points for Manchester United. 

📸via GettyImages [Justin Setterfield]

“If you lose momentum, you need to have strong cohesion and a team that is fighting for everyone, which means an easier way to gain momentum. 

“We lose our self confidence in two or three players which has an impact. We can solve it in the short term, working one more day together. They will understand more and more the way I want them to play, we will have less hesitant moments when everything is understood and a stronger dynamic.”