Lisa Evans is hoping that West Ham United Women can take the success and improvements that they had last season into the upcoming Barclays Women’s Super League campaign.
The Scottish international signed a permanent contract with the Irons last week, having thoroughly enjoyed her time in East London last season – where she spent the campaign on loan from London neighbours Arsenal.
Evans was a crucial part of the side that achieved a sixth-place finish in the table, their highest ever in the top division, whilst also registering their record points total since joining the WSL in 2018.
And now the forward is hoping that the Club can continue on its upward trajectory under new manager and former West Ham United full-back, Paul Konchesky.
“It was an easy decision to sign on the dotted line and come back here, Evans admitted to whufc.com. I had a fantastic year here with the girls, the staff, everyone around the training ground.
“I wanted to come back and be part of this project going forward, because it’s an exciting one.”
The 30-year-old scored three goals in 22 appearances for the Irons last season, bagging against Reading in the WSL, and goals in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup against Ipswich Town and Manchester City.
But Evans sets her standards high, and although she isn’t setting any specific targets for the upcoming season at this stage, she wants to improve on her goal contributions next season.
“If I’m honest, I’m still processing last season. I want to look back on the season as a whole, switch off, and then come back with some targets. For sure, I’ll have my own personal targets, but the most important target will be what the team wants to achieve.
“I think there’s no doubt that I want to be creating goals and scoring for the team, I want to improve on that from last season. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself, I just want to take it game-by-game.
“There’s going to be a lot of changes from last season, we will have new players, some new staff members – so it will take some time to adjust. I want to come back in and not put too much pressure on, I want to work hard and enjoy the experience of being back here.”
Evans was announced as the Irons’ first signing of the 2022-23 campaign, followed closely by another former Arsenal midfielder, Halle Houssein.
Konchesky moved quickly to make sure that both were plying their trade back in East London ahead of the upcoming campaign, and Evans is looking forward to working under the new manager.
“We obviously know what a great guy Konch is having worked with him last season when he was the Assistant Manager. I think we’ll see a different side to him, one that we haven’t really seen so far.
“I’m really looking forward to working with him, he’s a really great guy on and off the pitch – and working with him was one of the reasons why I wanted to commit my future to West Ham.”
Three of West Ham United’s pre-season fixtures have already been confirmed, with the Hammers staying local towards the end of July. The midfielder is looking forward to getting back out there in Claret & Blue after having a well-earned break during the off-season.
“I’m just looking forward to being back and having that shirt on again,” Evans smiled.
“We want to have a positive pre-season, and I know the backroom team are working hard behind the scenes to make sure that we’re in the best possible position come the beginning of the campaign when we return at the beginning of July.”
You can watch Lisa back in the Claret & Blue next season by purchasing a season ticket!
