It was a turbulent first season for Natalie Bjorn and Hannah Benison at Everton.
The club talked about its place in the Champions League. Instead, there was a dispute over the contract.
“I don’t think we’ll be fighting for survival this year,” says Natalie Bjorn.
When Everton face Leicester in the opening match this weekend, it is in many ways a new team compared to last year. With new coach Brian Sorensen, Merseyside club has become somewhat of a Scandinavian colony.
– Yes, we say Danish FC now. Joking aside, it feels good. Brian is a very good coach. He says he’s very tactical and focuses on how he wants to play Natalie Bjorn.
The Swedish defender, along with Anna Invigaard and Hana Bennisson, left Rosengard for a tough investment at Everton before last season.
But the project didn’t pay off and it wasn’t long before coach Willie Kirk had to leave.
– We changed coaches three times, so we didn’t get any identity in principle, says Bjorn.
“It is clear”
It’s not just the new coach this season. A lot happened on the team, too. Nine players, including Anna Invegaard, and eight in.
It will be like last year when we brought in a lot of players. But the biggest difference now is that we got a new management staff and a coach who put the team in order. At least that’s how I felt during pre-season, says Bjorn.
Identity is a word that is constantly repeated. The two Swedes who remained at the club believe Sörensen started building it in a good way during pre-season.
He is clear in the way he wants to play and doesn’t want to change much whether we play against Chelsea or Villa. Bjorn says he has his principles of how we want to push ourselves, build and shape ourselves in certain situations, and we didn’t have that before.
It feels like we’re playing a little bit more now and we’ve been able to do a little bit better. So, I hope we play better football and win more matches, says Bennison.
“I wish I had more playing time”
The 19-year-old from Loma started 10 league games last year and was substituted in 12.
– I wish more playing time. Right now I’ve been playing a lot like a ten or a wing so I feel comfortable. I like to be offensive and creative there, so I’m hoping for more playing time this season.
Natalie Bjorn hardly knows what to hope for or expect from Everton this season.
– You can’t say now that we will play in the Champions League when we were about to leave the league last year. You just have to take it match by match, and see the first matches and how you feel. Where might we end up? We could say maybe set an inner goal, but don’t fight to survive.
The 25-year-old said, as a joke, that one of the lessons of his first year in England was learning to lose. Now you hope it’s different.
– Yes, you don’t lose much anyway. I think we can play good football this year, that’s the belief. I think we are going to play fun and good football that will put us in a higher order. I don’t think we will be fighting for survival this year.
Everton start away against West Ham on Sunday.