LFC WomenMatt Beard column: Leicester test, a hectic schedule and Ceri Holland update
In his latest column, Matt Beard looks ahead to Sunday’s Barclays Women’s Super League clash with Leicester City and also brings us an injury update.
As always when it’s an international break, you are keeping your fingers crossed that all of the players come back injury-free and raring to go again.
Ceri Holland picked up a calf injury playing for Wales. We had an MRI scan on Monday and we have had some good news. Whether Ceri will be available for Sunday I’m not sure at this moment, but the good news is there is no long-term damage so we will just be careful with her because Ceri is such an influential player for us.
It’s been a mad schedule for all of our international players and with all the games we have had on top of that, it’s a lot of football.
It’s good as well that everyone has got minutes. Teagan Micah played for Australia, Jenna Clark featured for Scotland against the Netherlands, Marie Höbinger played for Austria and got assists, Missy Bo Kearns captained England U23s, so they all got minutes, which is great because it shows the work they are doing at club level for that to happen.
Mia Enderby scored three goals for England U19s and she is flying! It’s great for her because she has had a stop-start beginning to her career for us with regards to picking up a calf injury, then a quad injury and a shoulder problem, so it’s been a bit stop-start for her.
But in the minutes she has got for us so far I think you can see what we see in the recruitment why we decided to bring her in. So, at our level it is a massive learning curve for her but at her level you can see how good she is. Once she gets her first Liverpool goal I think that will be her set and she is very good at scoring goals. She is an unbelievable talent and a funny character to go with it as well.
On the injury front, Leanne Kiernan and Shanice van de Sanden completed their first full week of training last week without being modified. So, last week was their first full one back in training so that’s positive.
We just need to make sure we load them with their minutes accordingly over the next week, but in saying that we are still probably looking at them needing at least three or four weeks of full training before I can consider them for the first team.
I am also going to look at our U21s fixture schedule to see whether we can build up their fitness in a few of those games but at the moment it’s about making sure we keep them both fit, able to train and be ready for the demands of the game, but it’s all positive.
Our captain Niamh Fahey is also back on the pitch now but I think either this week or next week we can integrate her with the group again for some training, but because it’s the third time she’s had an issue with the calf we are not rushing her back and we need to make sure she is right and ready before she can be considered again for first-team duty.
The good news for me is to have those three players on their way back into an already talented squad is a great headache for us and creates competition for places.
It also allows us tactically to be a little bit more flexible, so whether we go 4-3-3 or 3-4-3, we’ve got a bit more flexibility now. That is a great headache for me to have and if we can have a full squad to select from it will enable us to get minutes into everyone, keep everyone fit and healthy and utilise the depth of the squad we’ve got.
We’ve just confirmed our Continental Cup group fixtures and it is a tough schedule between now and Christmas, and three or four years ago we might have struggled with it, but I think if you look at it with the depth of squad I have in the group I feel we have the players to cope with it.
Also during this international break I have brought three of our youngsters in to train with the squad so we are looking at our academy system and getting some of these young players exposed to the first team.
In turn, they can then drive that back down to the academy once they step up to see the difference in that intensity and the demands of being a first-team player.
We now have competition for places and that’s what I want here. Miri Taylor and Missy Bo Kearns did a fantastic job playing up front for us at the start of the season. We know that is not their natural position but they both did a great job when we needed them.
We spoke with Missy Bo at the start of the season because she wasn’t starting in midfield in our first game at Arsenal because of the way Fuka [Nagano], Ceri and Marie had done in pre-season.
With the amount of games we've got in such a short space of time Missy Bo will get her opportunity in the midfield. We’ve spoken with her about the consistency from the first whistle to the last whistle. I know Bo can do that because I’ve seen it, but it’s an opportunity now.
We needed that competition and we needed that depth because last season we lost key players, like when we lost Ceri and we lost at home to Aston Villa. It caused us problems, but now we’ve got quality players within the squad depth.
From my end, that is exactly what I wanted to try to build. It will cause selection headaches when everyone is available but players have to earn that right to be on the football pitch, it’s as simple as that.
On Sunday we are back at Prenton Park in the WSL when we welcome Leicester City (kick-off 2pm GMT), a tough game this one as they recently beat us in the Continental Cup.
I was really impressed with Leicester’s display against Manchester City. City could have been out of sight in the first 15 minutes but Leicester dug it out and I felt they were really unlucky not to get a point, never mind all three.
I really like the way Willie Kirk has got them playing, it’s different. They get at you player for player and they cause you problems and don’t let teams get into a rhythm. We also played them in pre-season so we’ve had a bit of an example of what to expect on Sunday.
Willie has done a great job at Leicester and he has not just done that overnight. He had a pre-season with the group and we saw when we lost 4-0 to them at the King Power Stadium last season what he was trying to get his players to do.
As always, we know we will have fantastic support from our fans and we want to put a performance on they can be proud of on Sunday.
We’ve got some really talented players in this team and we are really looking forward to playing at home again, so hopefully we can pick up the three points.
The only thing missing from our last performance against West Ham was being clinical with our chances. I’ve no doubt whatsoever that will change.
Sophie Roman Haug had to play with a mask and that has had an impact into what she can see to the side of her, so now she doesn’t have to wear that anymore so that will be great for her and for us.
You have to accept cookies in order to view this content on our site.
Watch on YouTubeIf I look back at West Ham, I felt that was our most dominant performance of the season. We controlled the game, we knew when to go forward, when to recycle and when to keep the ball.
For me, that has been our biggest thing we need to make sure we get right because if we are going to be a top team then we can’t turn the ball over like we did in that 20-minute period against Everton at Anfield.
Of course, we were desperately disappointed not to see the game out and concede an equaliser so late into stoppage time, but there were lots of positives for me to take going forward, and we can’t wait to see all of you again on Sunday at Prenton Park.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support.
YNWA,
Matt
Matt Beard was speaking to Liverpoolfc.com's Steve Hunter