Beard Report: “We Have Changed The System, I Take Responsibility For That”

Times seem tough again for Liverpool FC Women. Hit an unfair amount with the injury hammer, they were only able to name five subs to the bench on Wednesday against Arsenal. Then of course, they get beat 2-0 by the home side, which is never fun. While it seemed the Reds came into the game a little more in the second half, it was once again too little too late.

“We’ve had a bit of an issue with the injuries – every player that was on the bench was on restricted minutes,” manager Matt Beard told Sky Sports following the match.

“We have changed the system, I have to take responsibility for that, with the personnel we had available. We have done a lot of work on it but we looked disjointed, so we went back to something we’ve played with a lot this year and I thought we looked a lot better second half.

“So from that perspective the first half is on me, but my hands were tied a little bit when it comes down to obviously team selection and minutes of players.

“The pleasing thing is everyone got through that OK, so that’s a big, big positive.”

The lack of goal scoring ability has been a problem all season, with Leanne Kiernan and Shanice Van De Sanden having been injured more often than they’ve been able to play - even January signing Natasha Dowie is a doubt for the weekend match against Tottenham Hotspur. As Liverpool hover over relegation, every match counts extra as they try to stay in the FA Women’s Super League.

“Definitely, it’s a big game, we know that.

“We’ll give them as long as we can with the other ones but most are probably a couple of weeks away, apart from Natasha [Dowie],” Beard continued.

“Everyone is working hard to get back fit, in the gym, so fingers crossed we’ll have a couple more bodies back for the weekend.

“The main thing was to get everyone through; everyone that was restricted will now be fully available, so that’s good. We’ve got to make sure we’re prepared for Sunday now.”

Fingers and toes crossed that no new injuries pop up and surely someone who can score goals is able to make some sort of appearance and uh, do the thing.