By Georgia Garnett
IN the club’s inaugural WSL season, Crystal Palace Women manager Laura Kaminski is happy with the team’s start but knows they have lots more to learn.
With one win, two draws and four losses in seven games, the Eagles find themselves tenth in the current standings.
However, the team has already faced major tests this season, with games against the current top three teams, Manchester City, Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion.
Speaking after Palace’s 1-1 draw against Everton on Sunday, Kaminski said: “We need to stick on the journey that we’re on.
“We believe that we can get points out of every game and that’s the attitude and mindset that I want the players to keep.
“We’re only seven games into the WSL so it’s still early days for us.”
After a historic 2023-24 season that saw the club earn their first league title at any level since 2016, Crystal Palace entered the WSL as the outsiders in their first season in top-flight women’s football, having only become a professional outfit in 2023.
The club brought in nine players, including two of the three goal-scorers so far this season, Indiah-Paige Riley and Katie Stengel.
While the season got off to a poor start, with 4-0 and 7-0 defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea respectively, the club rebounded to secure a 2-0 win over Leicester City in early October.
Speaking to Palace TV after that match, Kaminski said: “I’m so proud of the group. I’m proud of everyone involved with the club.
“We’ve been through a bit of a rough start in the WSL, so I thought the players really deserved that after everything they’ve been through in terms of pre-season and the first few games.”
Following Palace’s first-ever WSL victory, the team had two close games, a 1-0 loss to Brighton and a 1-1 draw at Liverpool, before a tough 3-0 defeat against league-leading Manchester City.
The Eagles largely controlled Sunday’s match against Everton after Riley’s goal less than 30 seconds in – their first at home in the WSL – though they could not secure the three points after the visitors scored a late header.
Kaminski praised her team but acknowledged that they still have much to learn, citing the differences between top-flight and second-tier football.
She said: “It was obviously positive for us to get after it and score in the manner we did, we worked on pressing in the week and then capitalised in that moment.
“We’ve never been in a position where we’ve scored so early. It’s a learning curve for the players in the group to have that to hold on to or whether to go after [another goal].
“There’s lots of game states that we haven’t experienced yet. There’s lots of formations, there’s lots of substitutions. There are all sorts of things in the game that we haven’t had.
“There are many firsts for us in this adventure that is in front of us.”
Looking ahead, Palace’s upcoming games on either side of the international break present two intriguing match-ups. They travel to Aston Villa on November 17 and to West Ham United on December 8.
Both teams lie either side of Palace in the current WSL standings. Villa have yet to win a game this season, while West Ham earned their first victory last Sunday against Leicester.
Regardless of the outcome of those games, Kaminski’s squad will look to continue the journey, continuing to learn and grow throughout this maiden WSL season.
