ColumnMatt Beard's review of 2023-24, special thank-yous and summer plans
In his final column of 2023-24, Liverpool FC Women manager Matt Beard reflects on the 4-0 win at Leicester City and sealing a top-four finish in the Barclays Women’s Super League.
It was a great way to end our season at King Power Stadium and it was a great performance from start to finish.
I was really, really pleased and we could have scored more on the day, should have had the game won by half-time. But it was a great send-off for the supporters and a perfect way to round off the season.
Our supporters have been magnificent all season and it was fantastic we could celebrate with them at the end of the game. Time and time again whenever we’ve had a bit of a low point we have always responded, recovered and done well.
If you look at April and May alone, what an end to the season with three clean sheets, 10 goals scored, three conceded. A really great way to end the season.
It was a fantastic day for Leanne Kiernan to get her hat-trick and she deserved that. Obviously Mia Enderby has been doing well alongside Sophie Roman Haug and deserved her starts, but Leanne has come off the bench and had a massive impact in the games as well.
I guess if you are a centre-half and you see Mia go off, only to then see Leanne come on, that is not an enjoyable experience playing against them. It has been a great headache for me to have this year, especially since Leanne came back.
She deserved that hat-trick and what a well-taken treble it was, especially her second and third goal.
I want to give a special mention to Rachael Laws because we had a problem coming into this game.
Teagan Micah was injured and it has been tough trying to find an emergency goalkeeper. Lawsy played with a numb finger and kept a clean sheet. It was a great performance from her.
It probably sums up the spirit and desire of this team in what Lawsy did. If you look at this last day of the season and you saw the work ethic we put in, we were 3-0 up and we were blocking shots in our box, blocking crosses, blocking shots. We worked so hard to keep that clean sheet.
I know people will try to make it a big thing that we finished six points ahead of Manchester United in the WSL table, but I don’t make a big thing of finishing above them. We just concentrate on ourselves. I think we finished where we did on merit.
I actually think we could have got a few more points but obviously every manager will look over the course of the season and think, ‘We shouldn’t have dropped points there.’
But it has been a fantastic season for us. We just have to make sure we improve next year.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank each and every single one of my backroom staff. I trust every single one of them with my life, to be honest with you. They are all fantastic and so good at what they do.
They are great people who are very good at their job and they have had a massive impact and input into the success we’ve had this season, because without them we wouldn’t have done it.
We finish for the season this week and the squad will officially be back at the AXA Melwood Training Centre for training on July 22. We will be doing our usual testing in the week before.
It’s time to recharge the batteries now. I didn’t get much of a break last summer because we were planning to start our pre-season at the Academy before we could move into Melwood.
We also had a big turnaround with the playing squad last summer. There won’t be as many incomings this summer compared to what we had last year.
It’s time to spend some time with the family, get refreshed and be ready to go again in July.
Thank you for your continued support and have a wonderful summer.
YNWA,
Matt
Matt Beard was speaking to Liverpoolfc.com's Steve Hunter
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