Beard Report: “On Sunday We Get a Chance to Put Things Right”

After winning their first two league games of the FAWSL season, Liverpool Women were unfortunate to come away with nothing against Everton in the Derby last weekend but as many fans were, manager Matt Beard was impressed by the performance.

If they can deliver similarly when they take on West Ham on Sunday, hope and expectation will be high for them to continue their hot start in the league where they currently sit level with fourth-place Tottenham on six points and are just one off the leading pack of Man City, Leicester, and Chelsea.

“I thought we dominated the game in the second half but we just lacked that composure in the final third,” Beard said, reflecting on their 1-0 defeat last weekend. We snatched at shots and crosses, gave the ball away in good areas and made rash decisions.

“Things like that happen. Whether that’s because we are playing at Anfield and not at Prenton Park and we were trying too hard, I’m not sure, but maybe that did have an effect on some of the decision-making. But I can’t fault the efforts of the players.”

Opponents West Ham sit ninth on three points, with one win to go with a pair of losses in the early going, and while expectations around the Hammers weren’t especially high this season, Beard thinks they could surprise a few people before the year is done so his side will need to be at their best.

“On Sunday we get a chance to try to put things right again when we head to West Ham United before the international break,” he added. “With Rehanne [Skinner] and Rick [Passmoor] on board I think I think West Ham could be a surprise package this year.

“From our perspective we want to go into the international break with a positive result. We’ve had a great start to the season in the sense of points-wise. I think if we could get seven or nine points going into this international break from our first four games then we would snap your hand off.”