Liverpool FC Women Midseason Review

This was always going to be a season of transition for the Liverpool FC Women. The club parted ways with former manager Matt Beard last March after he struggled for consistent results and made continued pleas in the media for more funding for the squad. It was uncertain if many of the club stalwarts, including midfielders Ceri Holland and Fuka Nagano, would stick around for a regime change. Many players did end up staying, but the club decided it could not turn down a then world record transfer fee from Arsenal for their talismanic attacker Olivia Smith.

The delay in securing the services of new manager Gareth Taylor also saw the club slow to make moves for incoming players during the summer transfer window. There was a flurry of activity late, but it certainly impacted the start of the season with so little training time together as a unit. That unfamiliarity and uncertainty translated into a disastrous start of the season as Liverpool did not pick up their first point of the season until their 7th match. The club finished the first half of the season bottom of the table on just three points, and have still yet to record a win in the WSL.

Below I’ll delve into a couple of the bright lights for the first half of the season, as well as a lot of the things that have gone wrong.

What Went Right

Beata Olsson Goes On A Tear

There were very few positives to take away from the first half of the season. One of the bright spots was striker Beata Olsson. The Swede took a few matches to get settled, but she hit a purple patch after earning a starting spot after several injuries to others. Olsson scored in four straight WSL matches, and finished with five goals and an assist over the six league matches to close out the year. She has had a hand in every goal Liverpool have scored in their three league draws. She is averaging a goal or assist every 110 minutes for the Reds despite having very few chances per match. She has converted 5 of her 10 shots, and is overperforming her expected goals by almost 2.5.

Lily WoodhamNails Down Left Back Role

There were a lot of concerns about both fullback roles after Taylor Hinds departed the club this summer. Liverpool never really addressed the departure of Emma Koivisto two summers ago and were left with no real starting level fullbacks midway through the summer. The right back spot is still an area of need, but Lily Woodham has done well to nail down the left back spot.

The Welsh defender has missed some time with injury, but in the 8 matches she has played, she has been solid on both ends of the pitch. She is averaging just under 2 shot creating actions per 90 minutes, sitting just behind Ceri Holland at the top of the regular starters. She is tied for top of the team with 3 goal creating actions, and leads the team with 2 assists in the league. Woodham is also near the top of the list of defenders for tackle percentage (57%), and she has not had a defensive error thus far.

Committed Supporters

The league has made life difficult for supporters as they have tried to nail down TV spots. That has led to 9 of Liverpool’s 11 matches kicking off around lunchtime (11:55 am GMT – 12:15 pm GMT). That has meant a lot of very early mornings for the committed supporters who have made trek after trek to away matches despite the club’s on-field struggles. A special shout out to the traveling Kop, who have often been louder than the home support at those away matches.

What Didn’t Go Right

While there were a couple of positives, it’s hard to think of the first half of the season as anything short of an unmitigated disaster. Things were off from early in the summer, and it hasn’t gotten much better along the way. Below I’ll focus on a few of the main culprits.

Delayed Start

As mentioned in the intro, the delay in getting Gareth Taylor in the fold created cascading effects. Due to complications with Taylor’s gardening leave from Manchester City, he was not named Liverpool’s manager until August 7, over a month after the club started preseason. This meant that there was very little time for Taylor to try and implement his system before the season started. And while the club made a few moves in the transfer marked prior to Taylor’s introduction, it seemed clear they were holding off on fully building out the squad until they had their manager. This meant there was again not much time to get deals done to fill out the squad. A flurry of moves on deadline day saw four players come in to get the squad up to almost acceptable levels, but it was another case of players needing to get integrated as the season was starting. This all led to some very disjointed and error-filled matches to start the season.

Club Tragedies

The difficulties getting things going on the pitch were exacerbated by tragedies off the pitch. Diogo Jota’s car crash in July was a gut punch to both the men’s and women’s clubs. Jota was a big supporter of the LFC Women and women’s sports in general.

Then in September the team were hit with the news of the passing of former manager Matt Beard the night before a match. Many of the players had been extremely close with Beard, and shared grief was again brought to the fore. I can’t even imaging how difficult it has been for the players mentally to deal with two devastating losses like this.

Injuries and Suspensions

To top everything off, the club has had to deal with a bevy of major injuries early in the season. Three players have been lost for the season with ACL injuries. The first to go down was talented young midfielder Zara Shaw. This is Shaw’s second ACL injury of her career. Then, over a weeks span in November, both Marie Höbinger and Sophie Roman Haug sustained ACL injuries. Höbinger in particular is a big miss as she has been depended upon as one of the main creators in the squad during her Liverpool tenure.

Several other players have missed significant action in the first half of the season as well. Newly minted captain Grace Fisk, Gemma Bonner, Sam Kerr, Leanne Kiernan, Rachael Laws, and Risa Shimizu have all missed at least 3 matches through injury. Alejandre Berabe also joined the club this summer while carrying an injury and has only gotten back to fitness in December.

On a non-injury front, there has been the curious case of Rafaela Borggräfe. The German goalkeeper was expected to take over the starting gloves, but was curiously left out of the first two matches. It was announced that she was under investigation by the FA for making racial remarks during the club’s training camp. Borggräfe did start the next three matches, seeming to signal she had been cleared of charges, but then she disappeared from the starting lineup, and later the matchday squad. The investigation appears to still be unresolved despite occurring some four months ago. She has been involved with training, but has not featured as Faye Kirby has unexpectedly ended with the starting role.

Possession Without Intent

I have spilled a lot of digital ink before we even get to the “what has happened on the pitch” section. While there are many reasons as to why Liverpool have not been as good as they could or should be, they have still been well below par on the pitch. Offensively, the Reds have struggled to adapt to Gareth Taylor’s preferred possession-based style. While the squad have done a decent job keeping the ball at times, they have done very little to turn possession into legitimate attacks.

For possession, the Reds are 6th in the league total touches, but rank 10th for touches in the attacking 1/3 of the pitch, and dead last for touches in the attacking penalty area (11.4 touches per 90 minutes). Those paltry totals have also translated into being last in the league with 70 shots through 11 matches, falling 10 shots behind the next lowest total.

Way too often, especially in the opening couple months of the season, Liverpool players would move the ball forward into the attacking third, and then immediately recycle possession all the way back to the goalkeeper rather than make any sort of pass into or around the box. The attacking intent has improved a bit, but there is still been not nearly enough effort to get the ball into dangerous attacking areas.

When Liverpool have gotten the ball into decent areas, they have often been let down by individual play. Mia Enderby is not creating at nearly a high enough level for a starting attacker, despite finally managing to notch her first league goal and an assist of her career. She has the third most minutes on the team this season, but is 13th on the team in shot creating actions per 90 minutes. There has also failed to have any regular attacking threat from the right fullback position. Lucy Parry, Grace Fisk, and Risa Shimizu have combined for 0 goal contributions from the right back spot this season.

Defensive Errors and Conceding Late

Liverpool have been in a position to earn a win or a draw late in a match a multitude of times, only to see a late dagger sink them. In four matches, the Reds have conceded a goal in the 86th minute or later to drop points. Three of those goals resulted in a loss, with one taking a win to a draw.

While some of the goals can be contributed to bad luck, and there has been plenty of that to go around with dubious calls and big deflections, Liverpool also lead the league with 12 defensive errors. It’s hard to win games if you give away the ball in bad areas. Liverpool’s goalkeepers have led the way with 3 errors by Faye Kirby and 2 errors by Rafaela Borggräfe respectively.

Lack of Leadership

This may be a harsh one, but is has been a very odd transition to Grace Fisk as the club captain. While previous captain Taylor Hinds (acting while Niamh Fahey was out) was not a very vocal leader on the pitch, she at least was usually one of the players to represent the club to the media. Fisk is not a very vocal player on the pitch, and has done none of the media duties as well. She may be a fantastic club captain behind the scenes, but it has been players like Gemma Bonner, Ceri Holland, and Jenna Clark who have taken up the mantle on the pitch and in front of the media.

What To Expect In The Second Half

Surely the second half of the season can’t be as bad as the first half, right? RIGHT?!?!?!

I honestly do expect Liverpool to get better over the second half of the season. The club has already made one signing this January, with more reinforcements expected as Gareth Taylor looks to build the squad out to try and work their way out of the WSL basement. Right-sided player Alice Bergstrom has already joined the squad, and seems earmarked as a contender at right back. There is still a desperate need in an attacking role on the left side, as well as an engine player in midfield. Ceri Holland was that player for a long time, but Gareth Taylor prefers to deploy her as the right-sided attacker.

In general, there have been improvements over the start of the season, and I would expect continued growth as the squad gets more settled with the style and patterns of play. Taylor needs to implement ways to get players on the ball in and around the opponents box and to be more decisive in opportunities to create or take shots. It’s hard to score when you don’t take shots.

The biggest question, however, is if Liverpool can get themselves out of the relegation spot by the end of the season. The Reds are two points behind West Ham, and five points behind Everton. Gareth Taylor’s side will need to start stacking up results if they want to ensure they stay in the WSL and can hopefully continue to rebuild the squad as the league enters a new era that is expected to see explosive growth in revenue and spending.