Beth England endures nightmare return as Tottenham Women routed by Manchester United
Tottenham Women supporters would have been thrilled to see Bethany England back in action against Manchester United Women on Sunday 10 December, but her performance left a lot to be desired.
It has been a tough few weeks for Robert Vilahamn and his Tottenham Women squad. After a largely positive start to their WSL campaign, they are now without a league win since October and have tasted heavy defeats in their past two matches.
Following a 7-0 loss against Manchester City Women before the international break, Spurs supporters would have been hoping for a response against the red side of Manchester on Sunday evening.
Instead, they watched on as their side shipped four without reply on what proved to be another sobering evening for the club.
What will be even more disappointing for fans is the underwhelming return of England. The striker was Spurs’ Player of the Season last year, scoring 12 goals in 12 WSL games following her January switch from Chelsea Women.
She was named club captain before the season began but was sidelined with an injury shortly after, revealing that she would need surgery on her hip. Having returned to action with four goals against Gibraltar Women’s national team in a friendly at Hotspur Way on Friday 1 December, expectations would have been high for her competitive return to action and first start under Vilahamn.
The prospect of England lining up alongside summer signing Martha Thomas, this season’s joint-second WSL top scorer with six goals, made for a mouth-watering prospect, on paper.
In reality, both players struggled, with Thomas managing just one shot on target while completing just 61 per cent of her passes (Sofascore) against her former side. However, it was England’s struggles which were particularly disappointing.
Throughout her 56 minutes on the pitch, she missed one big chance and completed just 50 per cent of her passes, while she failed with her one dribble attempt.
She also struggled to make any meaningful impact off the ball. Where Thomas won two of her three ground duels and four of her five aerial duels, England failed to win any of her three ground duels and only managed to win two of her five in the air.
Spurs’ supporters will be keen to cut England some slack considering this was her first Tottenham start in almost half a year, but with the club’s declining form and poor run of results to take into consideration, everyone associated with the north London side will be hoping that England can find her groove again sooner rather than later.
In other Tottenham news, ex-Spurs scout Bryan King has detailed five things he learned from Spurs’ 4-1 win against Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon.