ColumnMatt Beard on derby defeat, Silcock selection and changes for Newcastle cup tie
I thought we did more than enough to win the game against Everton.
They don’t concede many goals so when you get your chances you need to take them and we’ve had two clear-cut chances, not taken them, and had 17 shots.
We can’t get away from the incident in the 40th minute, which changed the whole complexion of the game.
We should never have been put in that position we were put in. I feel let down for the players because they put so much into that game, we had a good week of preparation and I think you could see the commitment from the players right to the end.
As I said after the match, I just don’t know what to say because it changed the game and I think they had six touches in our penalty box the whole game, but I can’t change it.
I’m just desperately disappointed for our supporters, we wanted to win that for them and we had spoken about it all week.
I just feel we are not getting the luck so far in certain situations. If I look back at the draw with West Ham, we should have had a penalty on Fuka Nagano, on Sunday I feel they shouldn’t have got one and we should have had two with the fouls on Olivia Smith and Ceri Holland.
In saying that, we’ve got to do better in the final third and it’s costing us at this moment. We’ve got to start making better decisions, whether it’s the type of strike – as a lot of our efforts against Everton were hit straight at Courtney Brosnan – or our final ball.
We are hurting. We also need to get to the bottom of our injury situation because in the build-up to the Everton game I lost two more players in Rachael Laws and Jas Matthews.
We haven’t got that consistency of selection we had last season, and I need to look at that. It does have an effect on the field as I’ve got players trying to build relationships, we’ve had numerous injuries and being without Sophie Roman Haug is a big loss because she plays a massive part in both boxes.
We’ve got to find a way to win games without Sophie and I think the Everton game summed up the season for us really for how it has been so far.
I gave Hannah Silcock an opportunity against Everton and she deserved it. She has come on in previous games and done well, and I felt she did well on Sunday.
I’m pleased for her because she missed most of pre-season with the injury she picked up on loan at Blackburn, and she has been finding her feet again.
In terms of our season so far, we know we should be better off points-wise. I do feel the league has got stronger this year and we are playing catch-up at the moment.
On Sunday we play our last game before the international break when we face Newcastle United in the Women’s League Cup (kick-off 2pm GMT, at Kingston Park).
I will be making one or two changes but my hands will be tied with the injuries and we need to go into the international break with a win before a big game with Manchester United on December 8.
Ceri Holland might need to be rested ahead of playing for Wales so I might give Zara Shaw an opportunity now she is back from the World Cup.
Niamh Fahey will come back in, so there will be a couple of changes but not many. We need to win this game so we can go away in a good frame of mind, then turning our attention to getting players back fit and hoping everyone comes back fit from international duty.
Thank you for your continued support, as always.
YNWA,
Matt
Matt Beard was speaking to Liverpoolfc.com's Steve Hunter