LFC WomenMatt Beard column: No need for any panic, I have confidence in this group

It was a frustrating day for us last weekend at Tottenham when we lost 1-0 and unfortunately for us again it was a game of two halves.

We started slowly. Our ball retention wasn’t what it should be and the way the players trained and had prepared for this game, that was frustrating.

You have to give Tottenham credit and they put us under a lot of pressure and forced us into so many errors, but we just needed to be a bit more composed in those situations.

It was a frustrating goal to concede with the ball taking a deflection off Niamh Fahey and unfortunately Lawsy couldn’t keep it out.

I felt the last 10 to 15 minutes of the first half we started to grow into the game and got into better positions on the pitch.

We were lucky to only go in 1-0 down at the break but we were excellent in the second half. We were unlucky in the end on the second-half performance alone not to get a point, and it was frustrating, that’s for sure.

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We are missing Leanne Kiernan and Shanice van de Sanden so we are hurting in that top end of the pitch at the moment, but we’ve got three very good players there and Carla Humphrey can also play up there as well.

It’s not ideal losing Leanne, who got a lot of goals and assists last season and any team would miss a player like that.

Shanice was one of our key signings in the summer, but that’s part and parcel of the game and we have to get on with it.

If I reflect on the start of last season, we started that one slowly and then we found our rhythm, and we have only played three WSL games so far this season.

We are not going to panic, we just need to keep our feet on the ground and keep working hard, and I’ve got every confidence in this group that we will definitely be OK.

We’ve got a tough run of games coming up against Arsenal and Manchester City, two of the favourites for a title challenge this year, and then we’ve got a really good run of games against a group of teams that will be in and around where we are going into Christmas.

Like I said before, for us it’s about consistency from the first whistle until the last and it’s about believing in ourselves and believing that we can play the way we can.

We have proved it against Chelsea, the second half at Tottenham and the second half in patches against Everton.

Sometimes the transition takes a little bit of time but I’m confident that we will be OK in this division, and I’m confident we will achieve what we set out to do at the start of the campaign for another successful year.

Arsenal have quality all over their team. We know what quality they have and they have got players like Beth Mead, [Vivianne] Miedema, [Stina] Blackstenius, goals all over the team, and Katie McCabe scores goals as well.

We know this is going to be tough, we are not stupid, but we knew that before we played Chelsea in the first game and nobody gave us a chance.

I felt we competed well against Arsenal in the FA Cup last season even though we lost 4-0, and the Arsenal manager said to me post-match and when I saw him at the LMA awards that scoreline wasn’t a fair reflection of the game.

That’s the top level and what we need to make sure is we need to have the same commitment level that we did against Chelsea with and without the ball.

We are at home at Prenton Park and with the brilliant support of our fans we can be a match for anybody, we showed that against Chelsea.

If I look back on the second half against Tottenham, especially with the amount of chances we did create, on another day we probably could have scored a few, but it wasn’t to be.

The most important thing for us is that we remain competitive, we remain resolute and we keep believing in ourselves.

I said to the girls after the Tottenham game that in as much as it was a frustrating afternoon there were plenty of positives to take and there were plenty of learnings.

I’m not going to get carried away after only playing three WSL games.

We had a great performance against Chelsea, Everton was uncharacteristic and maybe the occasion got the better of us, I don’t know, and the second half we were excellent at Tottenham.

I think we are in a good place and really, when we get to Christmas and get to that break, that’s when we will assess how that first part of the season has gone for us.

I would like to say how impressed I have been with Gilly Flaherty since her move here in the summer from West Ham United and she has been excellent for us.

Gilly has settled in, she’s an experienced player who has played for Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham in the WSL.

She had a tough role at West Ham when she was captain and what you get from Gilly is she wears her heart on her sleeve, technically she is a very good player, a good defender, and like anything, it takes players time to settle in.

Another of our new signings, Emma Koivisto, is settling in with us and it takes time sometimes to readjust. This is the first time Gilly has played outside of London.

Gilly has been fantastic for us, fantastic in the dressing room, and I know she will have a fantastic season and do well for us, no doubt at all in my mind.

I would like to give all my best to the Chelsea manager Emma Hayes, who is recovering at home after having an emergency hysterectomy.

I sent Emma a text to say that I was thinking of her. Emma is a big character in women’s football and she will be missed on the touchline but we are all thinking of her and wish her all the best in her recovery.

She’s got her boy as well with her so sometimes there is more important things than football.

I wish her all the best for a full recovery and look forward to seeing her back in the dugout when she’s fit and able to do so.

Thank you for your continued support as always.

YNWA,

Matt

Matt Beard was speaking to Liverpoolfc.com's Steve Hunter

Kick-off against Arsenal at Prenton Park is at 12pm BST on Sunday. Buy tickets here.