Reaction'Learning curves' - Matt Beard's verdict on LFC Women defeat by Arsenal
Read Matt Beard’s post-match assessment of Liverpool’s 2-0 defeat against Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League.
The Reds were undone by a pair of second-half goals on Sunday, with Vivianne Miedema breaking the deadlock at Prenton Park and Caitlin Foord quickly adding a second.
LFC Women boss Beard dissected the key moments and lessons to be learned from the contest in an interview with Sky Sports after the final whistle.
Read the Q&A below…
On Liverpool’s performance…
Yeah, I think the [first] goal changed the game for us today. It was a good strike. There’s positives we can take. The last two games were always going to be challenging and testing. I think the performance of the team was a lot better [than last week]. I felt we could have been braver going forward, we got in good positions and maybe break the press and then we go back. They’re learning curves for us. First half, we made the better chances or the more clear-cut chances to maybe score. Against these types of teams you need to take them. There’s positives we can take. The frustrating thing is that we’ve lost the game. We need to make sure we focus on a run of games now where we feel we can pick points up.
On the chances his team created, including one for Yana Daniels at 0-0…
Definitely, Mia [Enderby] had a chance at the end as well. Obviously Miedema scored a worldie; we should have shut it down quicker, we can’t let her face up. Once that happens, you’ve just got to get tight and block the shot. Obviously we were a little bit too open when we were trying to get back into the game, but that sometimes happens.
On taking a next step as a club, and part of that being more composed and braver…
There was an attack at the end where I’ve got five in a line and we’ve gone: pass out, gone in front, gone back and we’re still in that line. It’s [about] getting forward and stretching the opposition to create the spaces for midfield players or the front players, getting behind them. If you look at how well we defended in the first half, when we forced Arsenal to keep having to go round, we were just a little bit too open in that back end of the second half when we were chasing it.
On the players’ commitment to keeping going and putting a shift in…
Yeah, I thought Niamh Fahey was outstanding. She has been very, very patient to get back into the team, I thought she was excellent today. We couldn’t have a repeat of last week. Sometimes you have uncharacteristic performances, like we did against Manchester United last year. One thing we demand is that if it’s not going well, you’ve just got to have that work ethic and keep doing the right things. Because you never know what happens in a game – if Mia scores that, it’s an interesting last five minutes. There’s plenty of positives we can take from today, we’ve just got to make sure we keep improving on it.
- LFC Women are next in WSL action against Tottenham Hotspur on February 4. Get your tickets for the Prenton Park encounter here