ColumnMatt Beard on Man City cup tie, Tottenham trip and injury update
In his latest column, Liverpool FC Women manager Matt Beard reflects on the win over Leicester City Women and looks ahead to a busy week of cup and league football.
That was a great win for us against Leicester City on Sunday, a deserved win and I was really pleased.
It was a tough game but we put in a good performance and I felt we really matched Leicester’s aggression, we unsettled them and didn’t allow them to get into any rhythm. We restricted them to set-plays and shots from distance so I was really pleased with that.
Overall, it was a really good team performance, we scored two good goals and we could have scored more but to be fair to their goalkeeper she made two great saves off Sophie [Roman Haug] and one off Marie [Höbinger].
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Watch on YouTubeI thought in the final third at times our delivery of the crosses needed to be a little bit better when we got into some good positions, but I was really pleased with the three points and the overall performance.
At half-time we spoke about the frustration because it was a frustrating game to play in, but I felt it was more about us trying to unsettle them and trying to hit them on the counter-attack. It was about staying patient and getting into the positions that we needed to in order to threaten their backline, so we were really pleased with how we executed the game plan.
Melissa Lawley showed her undoubted quality with a fantastic strike. I spoke with Mel earlier in the week and told her she had a good chance of starting against Leicester. She trained really well and she said it’s the best her body has felt as well, so from that perspective that’s great news for us.
There is more to come from her because Mel is an unpredictable player and if we are to play the 3-5-2 with Mel in the front line then for any centre-back playing against her she is going to be a defender’s nightmare.
Mel was excellent, she deserved her goal and she nearly scored to make it 2-0 just after that as well so I was really pleased with her performance.
When Leicester got back into the game they were leaving a lot of space in behind and we just felt that with Mia [Enderby] and Shanice [van de Sanden]’s pace we could exploit that. I thought Mia had a fantastic impact into the game and she provided the assist for Marie’s goal.
If you look at Mia’s assist for the goal it was a little check of the movement off the defender’s shoulder, which was fantastic because if you looking at the picture she has gone off the eyeline of the defender and gone in behind her. It was great vision from Jas [Matthews] to pick her out and Jas was excellent as well on Sunday.
We needed a great save from Lawsy [Rachael Laws] in stoppage time to deny Leicester an equaliser. Lawsy has been very good this season and when called upon she stood up to the plate.
I also want to say congratulations to Gemma Bonner, who equalled the club appearance record against Leicester in the WSL era. Gemma is a fantastic player, she is a leader and a great person. Here’s to many more appearances in a red shirt.
It’s a busy week for us with the games coming thick and fast and we host Manchester City in the group stage of the Continental League Cup tonight at Prenton Park (kick-off 7pm GMT).
I see it as a great opportunity to rotate. We need to rotate the players who have been away on international duty. I think you could see on Sunday the likes of Marie and Sophie started to tire towards the end of the game.
That was Mel’s first start in the WSL since returning from her hip operation. So we need to rotate. We need to give minutes to the other players who need that and it’s also an opportunity for them to stake a claim.
We are looking forward to it and I’m looking forward to seeing players step in. We should have Ceri Holland back in the squad for this game and we will also have Leanne Kiernan back, who will be available from the bench, which is fantastic for her and for us.
Leanne has had a tough time, I think she is still a couple of weeks away from playing WSL football but I’m hoping to give her 15 or 20 minutes against City. We have an academy game the week after at Blackburn when we can hopefully build her minutes up and then she will be available for selection for the first team on a regular basis.
It’s been a long, hard road for Leanne but I believe in her and she is a big player for us. If you look at when Shanice came off the bench against Leicester it just gave the whole ground a lift because they know how frightening she can be when she gets going. Her personality is infectious on the team and it’s just great for me that I’ve got these options and headaches.
We had good news on Emma Koivisto. She will be back running this week, thankfully it was only a minor strain in her hamstring so she should be available potentially for this weekend, but if not then definitely the week after.
On Sunday we head to Tottenham Hotspur at Leyton Orient FC (kick-off 12.30pm) and I’ve been impressed with them. If I look at Tottenham’s front line, Martha Thomas was a great signing for them. They are dangerous and they have players who can change games.
They are still learning how their new manager Robert Vilahamn wants to play but I’ve been really impressed with the start they have made to this season. They are a good side so this will be an interesting game for sure.
For us, and that is my only concern, we are in a good place. We feel we can compete with anyone. We feel we’ve got absolutely everything with this group of players. If you look at Shanice coming off the bench, for example, and we changed to a 4-3-3, we’ve got everything in this team.
I’ve still got Niamh Fahey to come back into this team, Ceri is back now and Emma to come back in with Leanne so this is what I want with competition for places. Everyone is having an impact this season, whether that’s helping the team to prepare for the games or playing in the Conti Cup games, everyone is having an impact.
My message is we’ve just got to keep our feet on the ground, keep working hard and we’ve got to make sure we continue in the form that we are going on.
The pleasing thing is we hadn’t won in three games and then we turned that around on Sunday and it was a great win against Leicester, so we are pleased with what we are doing and where we are going.
Last Friday we announced the return of Scott Rogers as assistant manager alongside Amber [Whiteley]. People have said it’s the band back together with Pottsy [Joe Potts] here with me as well.
We had some good applicants, but we wanted someone with experience with women’s football. Scott is very qualified, he has got his pro licence and for me the important thing is we get the balance right within the coaching team.
I feel Scott really does just complement myself, Amber, Pottsy, and it’s important that we have that and we are delighted to see him return.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support.
YNWA,
Matt
Matt Beard was speaking to Liverpoolfc.com's Steve Hunter