NewsGareth Taylor column: LFC Women's loss at Arsenal and a testing week in the WSL
While it was so frustrating to lose to such a late goal at Arsenal, I can’t fault the effort of the players because I felt they gave their absolute maximum.
I think they executed the game plan pretty much 95 per cent of the time. A team like Arsenal with the quality that they have and the substitutions they are able to make, we knew there would be times that we would suffer.
But we rode that and I felt for large parts of the second half we did well. But their late goal came from a piece of action that I felt previously we had dealt with quite easily. It became our undoing, which was frustrating.
It was great to see Beata [Olsson] scoring again as she became the only player ever in the WSL to score in four of her first five starts in the division.
She has been doing well for us and it’s great to see her get the rewards of her hard work.
I was just so frustrated for the girls because we are really limited in our options at the moment – especially with Grace Fisk, Ceri Holland and Gemma Bonner not available – and gaining something from that game would have been a real boost.
I gave an opportunity to Lucy Parry and Hannah Silcock, and I think they both did well. After a shaky start, they reset themselves pretty well.
We knew Lucy couldn’t play the full 90 minutes. So when Hannah had to go off as well, it wasn’t ideal because Jenna Clark – who I thought for 90 per cent of the game was excellent – we had to move her out of that central position and play Kappy [Cornelia Kapocs] at right-back.
The resilience of the players is there to see. They are fighting for every single thing and we are trying to adapt to the situation that we are in and make it really difficult for these teams to beat us.
The belief is still there and we just need a bit of help and support, which hopefully is coming soon.
I don’t see things massively changing with the squad going into this week’s two games and we are just going to have to make the best of it as we can.
This will be one of the most physical challenges we have had this season, coming on the back of Arsenal away.
It’s not ideal where this game on Thursday at Aston Villa sits. I’ve said my views on this but we’ve just got to get on with it.
It doesn’t give us much recovery time before travelling away again to London on Sunday [to face West Ham], a game that is really tight with both of us down the bottom end of the table.
It’s another challenge for us but, as always, it’s one we will embrace and give it everything we have got.
Like ourselves this week, our fantastic fans face a lot of travelling and we appreciate their support so much and know they will be with us, as always.
We went to see the wonderful children at Alder Hey Hospital on Monday as part of our annual visit.
It is always a really humbling experience and we want to spread some Christmas cheer and send our love and best wishes to them. It’s something everybody at this football club really enjoys doing.
Thank you for your continued support.
YNWA,
Gareth
Gareth Taylor was speaking to Liverpoolfc.com’s Steve Hunter