Gareth Taylor: “We Defended Well When We Needed To”

Liverpool Women earned a much needed point towards the table on Sunday when they played out a goalless draw against London City Lionesses at home. The first game back after the winter break, and with the addition of some new signings gave the listing Red Women hopefully some optimism as the season resumes. It was the first run out for new signings Jennifer Falk and Alice Bergstrom, with Anna Josendal’s arrival coming a little too close to this one for her to make an appearance.

Manager Gareth Taylor seemed uncharacteristically pleased with the result and the performance in his post match presser, mentioning many factors that impressed him.

“It’s a first clean sheet in the league, which I think is really important. It’s easy to say it’s no coincidence that obviously Jennifer [Falk] brings a wealth of experience and calmness,” Taylor began.

“I didn’t think she had a lot to do within the game, but what she did, she did really well. Coupled with the players in front of her [who] I thought were very good. We defended well when we needed to and felt like we dominated the first half of the game and needed to be better in the final action.

It’s obviously difficult with the players we’re missing at the front end of the pitch. Alice [Bergstrom] did well considering she’s a full-back. She can play in the wide position but it’s needs must a little bit. We didn’t want to do that on her debut. We want to try and give her a bit more familiarity at right-back but that’s the situation we’re in and hopefully we can get some players back fit. If Beata [Olsson] comes back that’s going to help us and obviously we’re still active in the market.“

The season resumes in high gear now, with their next fixture being the next round of the Women’s FA Cup against London Bees on Sunday January 18th. Taylor had his own thoughts about the turnaround and the switch being from the FA Cup opening the second half of the season but didn’t seem too fussed about it.

“This game came around really quick. I know the TV take the rights and they did the men’s FA Cup this weekend, but normal practice has been FA Cup as the first game after [the winter break],” the manager explained.

“It gives you a little bit more time to get prepared. It’s come quite quickly but I have to say the girls were first class today. I felt that they gave everything and left everything out there on the pitch. We look a lot fitter now and look like we’re able to repeatedly press at the top end of the pitch and I have to say they gave everything, the girls.”

The switch did allow for the return of captain Grace Fisk from injury, and her presence in the squad did not go unnoticed by Taylor or the rest of the women. The defender had been out since early December with a calf injury and was thankfully able to start over on Sunday as normal.

“[Fisk] brings leadership back there and brings a quality and with and without the ball she gets it right the majority of the time. I think it’s really good to have her back. She’s our skipper and, of course, we have a couple of new players in the team today,” Taylor said.

“She had a new goalkeeper playing behind her and I think that’s something to be really positive about. Grace has done well when she’s played for us this season. It’s not easy playing on that left side. We know that her best position is on the right side, but we’ve only been able to field her there one game this season. We’re hoping as that improves and players come back and we start to bring more to the club, we can really see the best version of her.”

Not every injured player was able to come back fit after the break, with Hannah Silcock, Leanne Kiernan, and Sam Kerr still unable to make the squad, but Taylor was confident that the break was a good time to reset and attack the rest of the season with a new mindset. A chance to reevaluate the season and more than just identify issues but work on fixing them.

“We always review what we do. We had a lot of tough things to deal with at the beginning of the season,” Taylor explained.

“Not just results but things on and off the pitch. Injuries too and adding to that we came into the building really late. We lost good players and didn’t replace them so that’s been really tough and then when the injuries come as well [it’s difficult].

“I think you’d probably struggle to find anything else to chuck at us to deal with. But I have to say the players… the proudest thing for me has been the way they have behaved in those moments. In the good moments and the difficult moments, they really stuck together. You can see a team really united there today and one that was really determined and one that was prepared to leave everything out there.

“That’s the standard we have to set now in every game. We’ve not had that in every game for one reason or another and it takes some time to build that resilience as a team and to think that we might not be at our best and not be able to find the goal that we need, but the opposition are going to have to do a lot to take anything.”

Naturally, we’re barely halfway into January, and one of the main things that can fix some problems would be adding to the squad. Liverpool have already signed three new players to the roster, and are looking to add some more to fill out the squad and keep things from running as leanly as they have been.

“It would be nice,” the manager agreed.

“We’ve got two weeks now until the next league game so it gives us a little bit of time, but it also doesn’t because I think any head coach would tell you that getting players in before the end of January is great, but you want them in now to be integrated and training with the team. Jennifer had two training sessions and Alice had three. When you look at it like that, it’s not a lot when you’re coming to a new club and a new country with new teammates. The good thing with those two is they played in their previous team together.”

Liverpool Women next play in the FA Cup on Sunday January 18th, visiting London Bees.