Liverpool Women’s trip to Brighton on Sunday was only slightly more successful, with the match ending in a goalless draw after both sides had some crucial goal line clearances to maintain the deadlock. Denise O’Sullivan was fit enough to rejoin the starting XI, as well as Mia Enderby after that injury scare before the international break, but it wasn’t enough to get the Red Women a little more ahead on the table.
Gareth Taylor seemed to accept the result in his post-match press conference, telling
journalists they were happy with the point, and that he knew exactly where they could improve to hopefully build on this momentum of gaining points.
“Yeah, it felt like quite an intense game today, it was a physical game because both teams wanted to put each other under pressure so therefore what happens is, there’s more longer balls so the game gets really stretched between both boxes and it becomes really physically challenging for the players,” Taylor began.
“I think we’re pleased to take a point but we know if we can improve certainly our calmness when we have the ball and make better decisions and play through them a little bit more then we have a really good chance of winning those games. But all in all, Brighton are a good team, there’s no doubt. When you look at their game against Chelsea the other night, I think we didn’t give them as much as what Chelsea did in terms of attempts at goal. A few corners here and there, which we could avoid.
“But I thought we stepped up in the second half quite a bit and we had a period of about 15 minutes where we maintained control around the edge of their box. At the end, they have two corners, we obviously have the chance with Aurélie [Csillag]. That’s football. Today, the gods have decided it’s not going in.”
Converting chances seems to be a club wide problem at the moment, but the Women also seem to be on a more consistent track of improvement. They had won 3 of their last four in all competitions, and sit in tenth with four points separating them and ninth place Brighton. With only five matches left in the season (an insane number here in March), they may be able to avoid the drop.
“I think there’s real positives, clean sheets have become a bit of the norm for us. I don’t think we were shipping loads of goals before the break at Christmas but Jen Falk has come in and brings a steady and calm influence,” the manager continued.
“I think it’s a real good, solid platform for us to build on and we know we’ll only get better. We have more players coming back, injured players coming back, the Asian Cup girls – obviously that was the same for Brighton today. It’s a positive for us.”
For another season Ceri Holland has been one of the most dependable, hard working, and efficient midfielders in the squad and is still young enough to continue getting better. Taylor recognized Holland’s performance on the day, and gave some praise to players like Alexandra Bernabe as well.
“I think [Holland]’s really raised her levels, particularly with the set-plays, they have been really, really good. She works so tirelessly for the team,” Taylor explained.
“A lot of the time I keep telling her she doesn’t have to run, because she’s in the wrong position! But you can’t fault her energy levels and her commitment to the team. We are very much about the team here, we all work hard, tremendously hard for the team. Ceri is certainly right up there when it comes to the endeavour.
“She is improving a lot, she really is. I think she has given a lot of defensive help to Alejandra [Bernabe] as well. Alejandra, I thought was excellent today. She worked so hard and physically looked really, really fit. We made some changes in the second half, we brought on the presence of Aurélie and Martha and Beata [Olsson] did a good job for us on the right. We looked at potentially Alice Bergstrom coming on for the last five minutes of the game to see if she could make an impact, or Anna Josendal.
“The good thing is that we have these options now. It’s always a balance trying to get those decisions right. But we’re relatively pleased taking a point. In the future we want to come here and win those games, and I feel the way we are improving we will be able to do that.”
There is no doubt that this has been a tough season for the women, with all the off-season upheaval and grief that came with it. To survive without suffering another relegation would be a blessing, and Taylor was sure to mention that he’s rather looking at how to climb rather than focusing on not falling behind.
“I’m not really looking at that, in the sense of I’m looking up rather than down. I am disappointed today because I wanted to go a point behind them, I wanted to go a point behind [Aston] Villa, who are playing this afternoon,” Taylor said.
“We really are looking up and we want to try to finish as high as we possibly can. Really looking forward to the break in the summer and getting ready for the following season, where I’m expecting us to be much improved.”
