Tottenham Women must demand more from Bethany England when WSL resumes
Tottenham Women star Bethany England has not made the return to action she would have dreamed of.
From a club perspective, Tottenham Women are on an incredible high at this moment in time.
In their last outing, they scored arguably their biggest-ever win, beating Arsenal Women for the first time, recording a 1-0 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 16 December.
It was the perfect tonic after back-to-back thrashings at the hands of Manchester City Women and Manchester United Women and arrived just a few days after an impressive cup draw with the Gunners, with the two rivals battling out a six-goal thriller in the FA Women’s League Cup on 13 December.
After two huge results against their north London neighbours in the space of a week, Spurs’ ladies will be full of confidence when they return to action in the Women’s FA Cup against Sheffield United Women on 14 January.
However, one player who is perhaps not on such a personal high at the moment is club captain, England.
After arriving at Hotspur Way from Chelsea Women last January, England made a phenomenal start to life in a Spurs shirt, scoring 13 goals in 13 WSL games to help steer her side to safety after a season threatened by the prospect of relegation.
As a result, she was named both the Adult and Junior Supporters’ Player of the Season for the 2022/23 campaign (Tottenham Hotspur Official Website). Unfortunately, she was unable to build on that momentum at the beginning of the 2023/24 campaign after being ruled out with injury.
The England international returned to action in the 4-0 defeat against Manchester United Women on 10 December but struggled in her first competitive appearance since the World Cup final in August.
As per Sofascore, she managed just one shot on target, missed one big chance, was unsuccessful with her one attempted dribble and completed just 50 per cent of her passes. In addition, she lost all three of the ground duels she contested and gave the ball away 13 times before being hooked off in the 56th minute.
Once again, the 29-year-old struggled to make an impact in the north London derby. Having been rested for the cup tie during the week, England only managed 45 minutes against the Gunners, failing with her one dribble attempt, completing just 75 per cent of her passes and losing three of her four ground duels as well as four of her six in the air.
Of course, England has just come back from an extended spell on the sidelines and perhaps just needs some time to get back up to speed, with the winter break offering her a perfect opportunity to rediscover her rhythm.
However, when the club returns to action in January, Robert Vilahamn will be hoping to see much more from his star striker.
Martha Thomas has seven league goals this season, tied joint-second in the WSL standings with Chelsea’s Lauren James and Brighton Women’s Elisabeth Terland, and if England can find her feet again, the pair could form a deadly strike partnership.
In other Tottenham news, both Real Madrid and Barcelona have set their sights on signing one of the club’s most important defenders.