Gareth Taylor Looks Ahead To Everton, Reflects On Chelsea Loss
Liverpool Women get a break from league action this weekend, hosting long time rivals Everton at St. Helen’s Stadium on Sunday in the next round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup. Their last outing in the competition in late January was a particularly successful one, beating the London Bees with six goals on their home turf. The win contributed to the confidence that has carried the women well through the season since then, although they are currently dealing with the speed bump that was the loss to Chelsea last weekend.
Gareth Taylor looked ahead to the Merseyside Derby, stressing the importance of the win and moving forward within the competition, before reflecting on the loss and the squad’s current injuries in his weekly column.
“It’s a really important week for us as a squad as we build up to a clash with Everton in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup,” the manager wrote
“A quarter-final place awaits the winner so we’ll be giving it everything we can to try to progress and go on a run in the cup. I know how much this game will mean for our supporters and it would be great to give them something to cheer about on Sunday, prior to the upcoming international break. They travelled in numbers again last weekend to Chelsea and we could hear them throughout, just as we have so often this season.”
Liverpool’s last outing in the league ended in a 2-0 loss to Chelsea at Kingsmeadow, with a goal scored in each half. On paper a loss is a loss, but for a team that has been struggling to control games and opponents, a 2-0 loss against the reigning champions is not something to be overly disappointed with.
“On the pitch we weren’t able to deliver the result for them at Kingsmeadow, though I felt there were lots of positives for us to take from the game,” Taylor continued.
“There were large periods where we had decent control, which is difficult to do against a team of Chelsea’s quality, and I said after the game it felt much better than, say, the game against Manchester United because I felt we tried to play our way.
“It was probably in both boxes where we needed to be a little better because, as we know, that is where football matches are usually decided.
“Their goals came at tough times as well and were sucker-punches so there is definitely plenty to work on, but overalI I felt it was a step forward. We showed far more courage and bravery on and off the ball and the identity we want to have was much more on display.”
In addition to all of the off-pitch turmoil the club has gone through, there has also been an inordinate number of injuries to the squad, exacerbated by the loss of new signing Alice Bergstrom. Taylor touched on availability going into the weekend, noting the bad news about Bergstrom, and the upcoming losses of Fuka Nagano and Risa Shimizu to the Asian Cup.
“One negative was the injury to Alice Bergstrom just before the first Chelsea goal. She will need to have a scan this week but I think it’s unlikely she will be available for us for this weekend,” the manager explained.
“As you know, Sofie Lundgaard had successful surgery on her injury last week and we will all be here to support her as it is going to be a fairly lengthy battle back to fitness for her, something which is really tough as she had worked so hard to overcome previous setbacks.
“With Fuka Nagano joining Risa Shimizu in the Japan squad for the Asian Cup – well done to both of them – midfield will be an area we have to manage carefully while they are away.
“Anna Josendal is getting closer and closer every day. We’ll see if she can play some part against Everton but, if she doesn’t make it, we should certainly have her back for the Leicester City game on our return after the long international break.”
Circling back to Everton, Taylor acknowledges that while the Blues may be flying high, and they beat us at Anfield at the start of the season, we’ve made enough progress to hopefully give them a challenge on Sunday.
“In terms of our FA Cup opponents, Everton have enjoyed a run of three straight victories in the WSL so will arrive in St Helens in good spirits,” Taylor continued.
“We started our league season against them way back in September at Anfield and things didn’t go our way, but we’re a different team now and we’re looking forward to having our fans being right behind us at St Helens Stadium.
“We’ll be giving everything to make sure our name is in the hat for the draw for the next round after the weekend.”
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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