Matt Beard: “Everton Were Better Over the Game”

Losing at Anfield is always a blow. Losing at Anfield to an Everton side that was clearly better in every way is even worse. But this is (not this specifically, but playing against really good teams) what we knew would happen when we were promoted to the WSL. There’s a lot to work on and Matt Beard spoke about exactly what went wrong after the game.

“We were a little bit too slow; passing, movement, extra touch, playing ourselves into trouble,” Beard told Sky Sports after the match. “We knew we were going to be under a press, we prepared for it all week. And sometimes it just happens. If you look at the chances we had tonight, we just didn’t convert the chances we had – we had three or four really good ones. And the difference is they did.”

“I thought they were the better team over the game. Second half we were better but at this level it’s too late, you can’t wait until half-time to get going again.” Everton defended really well. But we’ve just let ourselves down in key moments; possession, movement, little reactions. But we’ll learn from it.”

On what he told the players after the game ended:

“I said to them then, we took the plaudits last week, tonight is going to be a massive, massive learning curve for us. Especially the goals we gave away, [they] came from our own turnovers and that’s frustrating, and a set play.”

“At the top level you get punished. We’ll learn from that and move on.”

Liverpool Women will take on Sunderland next weekend.