We may have had an idea of how tough this season was going to be, but it has proven to be a lot harder than maybe anyone expected. Liverpool FC Women notched another loss into their season with a loss to Manchester United on Sunday. The loss left them currently sitting with no points on the table, and even tougher opponents on the horizon. This after a surprisingly fun win during the midweek League Cup match, only added to the disappointment of their WSL performances.
“We were very flat in the first half. I thought that we didn’t start the game well, we didn’t end the half well,” Gareth Taylor said in his post-match press conference.
“We had an upshot in the second half of energy and a bit more quality, a lot of chances which, if we’d have taken one, it looks a little bit different. But I think the disappointing part for me was that energy in the first half. I’ve always spoken about having to earn the right to win games and that’s the same in any sport you go into.
“You’ve got to be there in the duels, we were getting beaten too easily on one-twos on the sides and effectively handed the game to them in the first half. Obviously we fought well in the second half and did some good things but gave ourselves an uphill battle.”
Slow starts seem to be a common problem throughout the club as a whole, unfortunately, and Taylor didn’t exactly sound optimistic about how to remedy that problem in their area. Not encouraging from a new manager, honestly.
“I think it’s the impossible thing to know and what to do because we have a responsibility when we cross the white line to know that we’re going to be in a tough game today, we’re going to have to do a lot to win the game because United are ahead of us in where they are at in terms of level,” Taylor began.
“So, the minimum we should be getting in order to give ourselves the best chance of winning the game would be those basics I talk about.”
As always, there are some positives to take away because we try not to be all doom and gloom here at Liverpool, even when things do look pretty grim (especially at the Women’s level). There were various chances made by the Reds but unfortunately none that any of them were able to finish for a goal. The real problem was unfortunately also creating chances for United to score and their abilities outshone those of our own in putting the ball in the back of the net.
“I don’t think we’ll start too many games like that. Of course, sometimes you can concede in the first five minutes but I think the manner of the goals were really disappointing,” the coach explained.
“In all fairness I think United could probably have been away with the game in the first half but they weren’t and ideally we would have liked to go in at half-time at 1-0 [down], that would give us a much better opportunity, but I still felt the game was there in the second half.
“They never really capitalised on their 2-0 lead and we were probably the team a little bit in the ascendancy and causing more goalmouth action at their end. But there’s plenty to work on for sure.”
It appeared that the second half went a little better following some tactical changes in the first half, and Taylor does point out that the only half-time talk he gave was reminding them about the basics of football. We weren’t there, but his retelling of it is not exactly inspiring.
“I didn’t speak tactically at half-time. We had already changed the way we were pressing – more jumping with our midfielders rather than the asymmetrical press that we had and that we’d worked on – and I felt we were better for that,” Taylor said of the changes.
“But that took place in the middle of the first half and I think tactically at half-time there wasn’t much said and I actually mentioned that to the players: ‘This is not about tactics, this is about the basics of football – duels, the one-twos, the competing, the sprinting.’
“It’s going to take us a while to get that physical capacity that we need to be able to press in the way I want to press, but we stepped it up in the second half and I think that was [due to] a little bit more belief, a little bit more, ‘OK, let’s go after the game,’ and they fought well in the second half and probably should have got a little bit more for their efforts.”
Liverpool Women next travel south to face London City Lionesses, who are also in the unenviable position of having lost three of their four matches in the WSL, sitting 9th to Liverpool’s 11th. They at least have a win their column. Taylor was asked if an opponent such as London City and their record might be a helpful trip of the Women, and how he’s approaching facing the also struggling club.
“I don’t really look at it like that,” Taylor said.
“They’re obviously a team that is trying to do big things but so are we and I think their head coach would probably be saying the same things as myself at the moment, that it’s going to take time, it’s going to take a bit more time. They have spent heavily in the window for sure, but again, to just expect it to happen like that [immediately] is not the reality.”
So long as we don’t get relegated again, maybe we just call this season a wash.