Interview'It's good to be back – and it was really special to captain the team'
Ceri Holland’s swift return from injury was extra-special as the midfielder wore the captain’s armband for Liverpool FC Women on Wednesday.
An issue sustained on international duty last month sidelined Holland for last weekend’s 2-1 win over Leicester City Women, but she was back on the pitch in midweek.
What’s more, the No.18 skippered the Reds as they tackled Manchester City Women in a thrilling Continental League Cup tie that ended 4-3 to the opposition.
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Watch on YouTubeMatt Beard’s squad will nevertheless carry positives from that contest into their next match, which comes on the road at Tottenham Hotspur Women on Sunday.
Liverpoolfc.com caught up with Holland ahead of the 12.30pm GMT kick-off in the Barclays Women’s Super League – read the pre-match chat below…
On it being a positive start to the season for the team…
It’s obviously been a really positive start and I think we’ve built up some momentum in the past few games, especially after the performance on Sunday and then on Wednesday night. We didn’t get the result on Wednesday but I think the performance was very, very good at times. There’s positives and some stuff we can work on out of the game.
It’s been a good start in terms of where we are in the league and we’re happy with that, but there’s always things you can work on. There is a couple of games where we could have probably got more points out of. Now it’s about going to Tottenham this weekend, making sure we put in a strong performance first and foremost and hopefully coming back with all three points.
On strength in depth within the squad being shown on Wednesday, when Gemma Bonner set a WSL-era appearance record for the club…
Yes, completely. I think congratulations firstly to Gemma on her record because that’s an unbelievable achievement. I think there’s really good, high competition for places at the moment within the squad and that’s what we want. It really pushes you as a player and means you have to turn up to training every single day and bring your best. I think that’s what we need and we’ve got that this year with players that offer different things. We have got the ability to adapt to different things in games so it’s a really exciting time right now.
On how special it was to see Leanne Kiernan come off the bench against City after long-term injury…
I have been with her the whole way. She’s had one of the toughest rehabilitation programmes I have ever seen. She’s worked incredibly hard and that takes a lot of resilience as well as a strong mindset to keep coming back from the knocks she’s had along the way. It was an unbelievable night for her. It was the biggest positive for me from the night that she got back on the pitch and you could see the whole squad were so, so happy to have her back.
You could see she was a little bit emotional at the end and I think the whole squad were because we’ve all been with her on the journey, too. I thought she was really good and looked really sharp. It’s exciting to have her back, have her personality back – and that in our house we’re both back on the pitch!
On the spirit and camaraderie that exists among the players, and how the summer signings have complemented it…
First and foremost, the people that came in over the summer are good people. That’s testament to the recruitment here as it enables us to maintain that atmosphere we always have in terms of it being a family environment. We’re very close off the pitch and that helps with the connections you now start to see forming on it even more. We’ll continue to build on that throughout the season and it’s only going to get stronger, so it’s enjoyable to be a part of.
On getting minutes in midweek and captaining the side on the night…
It was a really special moment to lead the team out and one I won’t forget in a hurry – especially in front of our fans. It was good to get back on the pitch after a little injury. It was frustrating to get injured during the international break but to be back out there and get 45 minutes under my belt before the weekend bodes well.
On what Liverpool are expecting against Tottenham on Sunday…
I think it’ll be a really tough game. Both teams will play good, attacking football and it’ll be an exciting one to watch. We’ll cause them problems and they’ll cause us a couple of problems as well, but we’ll be going down there focused on ourselves and with full confidence that we can win it.
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