Beard Talk: Thoughts On Birmingham Friendly Loss and Melwood Move

The WSL doesn’t kick off until the first of October, but pre-season has begun for the Reds who aren’t on break after the World Cup. They played their first friendly on Sunday against Birmingham City, which they lost 1-0.

Matt Beard, speaking for his column on the official site, saw some good signs in the performance.

“For the most part of the Birmingham game I thought we did OK and there was lots of key learnings for us,” Beard said. “I feel we are probably in a position now where we can tweak one or two things. The players have got that first game under their belts as well, so I think from that side of things it was a great exercise, and we have made lots of progress.”

The other big news for the women is that they are moving their training into the superior facilities of Melwood. The men moved to the AXA Training Centre years ago. It took a while, but someone at the club finally realized that they had a whole senior squad that might benefit from all of that empty space.

“It goes without saying we can’t wait to get to our new home at Melwood. I think it’s game-changing for us when it comes down to the facilities. I know the history behind Melwood too,” Beard said.

“When I was here in my first spell back in 2013, Brendan Rodgers invited us to train at Melwood and when we won the league that year we were invited back and had breakfast with the team.”

Does the way that’s worded sound like when a winning Little League team gets a tour of their local baseball stadium and all the elementary kids leave with a signed ball? Yeah, a bit, but the good news is that, vague condescension aside, the women will get to take advantage of the equipment and amenities going forward.