Beard Report: “If You Give Them Opportunities Like We Did, You Are Going To Get Punished”
Liverpool Women suffered another loss at home, only this time to the reigning champions in Chelsea.
While results elsewhere swung Liverpool’s way, the Women had a rough time of it on Sunday when they hosted the current champions Chelsea. Two goals in five minutes just before the halftime break left the visitors leading and the Reds reeling, before Chelsea were able to score a third in the later parts of the second half.
“I think there’s positives to take. We’ve got to cut out the little errors, that’s led to their goals today. There’s plenty of positives we can take,” manager Matt Beard optimistically told the press following the match.
“Second half, we pressed them well and caused them a few problems. I thought we started the game brightly as well.The biggest thing is, you don’t get many chances against top, top sides and what you need to do is get your strikes off. I think we had Smithy [Olivia Smith] and Leanne Kiernan in twice in the first half, they tried to cut back in on their right foot when they could have hit it with their left foot.
“But they are a top, top side and if you give them opportunities like we did, especially the second goal today, then you are going to get punished.”
That refrain of “going to get punished” has been unfortunately all too common this season as Liverpool sit 6th on the table with two wins out of their last five league matches. The Red Women may have been able to rally a bit more in the second half and keep the goal leaking to a minimum, they were still punished by Aggie Beever-Jones and a sly tap in from the six yard box.
“[I felt hard done by because of] what the girls put into the second half,” Beard continued.
“It’s a full-pitch recovery. I just feel it’s harsh on us for the effort we’ve put into the second half. We’ve tried to recover back in but she has got a tap-in obviously on the edge of the six-yard box. It’s frustrating from that point. If I look at both goal one and goal three, they’re scrappy goals for us to concede.”
One of the ways that the squad are looking to improve is on set pieces, and while their corners are already dangerous, Beard pointed out the efforts they’re making to improve form on free kicks and make themselves more dangerous in that area.
“You score one in 18, that’s the league average from free-kicks going into the box. We’ve been looking at something slightly different. If you look at the free-kick where we moved it across and stuck it up to the far post,” the manager explained.
“It’s just making the right decisions in those situations. If you’re looking at Ceri Holland one-v-one, we could have slotted the ball down the side for a one-v-one situation. We just need to make better decisions.
“The data and the numbers back up not sticking it in the box, to be honest with you. Corners, we’re dangerous from. But we just need to get that right on free-kicks.”
The next match for Liverpool Women is the (possibly last women’s) Merseyside Derby against Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday, November 17.
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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