Vicky Jepson: “Winning is Absolutely Key For Confidence and Team Morale”

Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

The boss discusses going to the top of the table and the upcoming Continental Cup game against United.

Liverpool Women have had an excellent start to their season, even if it has been in the Championship and thus not entirely available to us all to watch. The team is sitting pretty at the top of the table and after yet another victory under their belt, this time against Coventry United, the team is ready to take on FAWSL team Manchester United in the Continental Cup today. Coach Vicky Jepson wrote about how good it feels to win and what she’s watching out for today in her column at LFC.com.

“We are back at Prenton Park when we face Manchester United in the group stage of the Continental Cup,” Jepson wrote. “We had a good game against them in pre-season which ended in a draw and we lost marginally away to them in the league last season. It’s always been a tough game and we are well aware of the type of signings that [former Liverpool star] Casey Stoney has brought into their squad and the calibre of players that they have. On top of that, we played 90 minutes on Sunday on a different type of surface, in turf as opposed to grass. All these challenges creep in, but we can’t control that and we have to make sure we recover well and be ready for Wednesday.”

While Prenton Park has come under fire for its conditions before, it is still a grass pitch which is far preferable to turf for most (if not all) football players. Last Sunday’s game was away at Butts Park Arena, and the victory against Coventry United was a hard fought one.

“Winning momentum is absolutely key for confidence and team morale,” Jepson added. “Our purpose every game is three points and it doesn’t matter how we get them, but obviously we would prefer a perfect performance. There were areas of our game against Coventry that we need to reflect on and be better at, but as a whole it was a well-earned three points. Coventry, certainly towards the end of the game, made us earn those three points but there were still many positives for us. Lucy Parry made her debut and became our youngest ever player, aged just 16 years and 150 days, which is incredible. Becky Jane returned for us, Amalie Thestrup got her first goal, so it was a good day overall.”

Hopefully the morale boost from the win this weekend carries forward today for a decidedly difficult match.

“There’s always motivation when you play against United,” Jepson said. “We’ve got utmost respect for Casey, who used to play here, and her team, but there’s nothing better than these type of games to give you that extra motivation. We have motivation anyway playing against a team from the Women’s Super League because that is the league we want to be back in as soon as possible, so we’ll give it our best on Wednesday and see where it takes us.”

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com