ReactionMatt Beard: A frustrating day that we have to learn from

Sophie Roman Haug’s header gave the Reds a share of the spoils in the Barclays Women’s Super League clash at Prenton Park soon after Amalie Thestrup had put the visitors ahead in the 50th minute.

Afterwards, Beard spoke to Liverpoolfc.com to provide his assessment of the afternoon…

On his initial emotions following the game…

We were off it today. [There were] too many touches on the ball, [we] didn’t move off the ball quick enough, and I think we were lucky to get a point, to be honest. I should have changed it to the 4-3-3 at half-time. We had a lot of space in the build-up and there was a lot of space in behind, but we just didn’t move the ball quick enough up the pitch. I think Bristol deserved something from that today, definitely.

It’s disappointing for us, because these games are tough sometimes. It was a different game to Brighton. We just weren’t at the races, but we need to make sure we learn from that. We said to them at the end that you don’t have a divine right to win football matches, you have to earn the right, and unfortunately for us today we got outworked – first balls, second balls, tackles, crosses going into the box, not stopping them. That’s their threat: set-plays, crosses, shots from distance. And we just didn’t do it well enough.

On the impact of his second-half changes…

Yeah, definitely. If you can’t win it, you need to make sure you get a point. We can learn a lot from today. I think Mel [Lawley] made a great impact in the game. She’s a different type of winger because she can get into the pockets, she can drop, she can turn with the ball. I was pleased with the changes, but disappointed with the overall performance.

On not getting the team’s midfielders on the ball enough on the day…

It was the extra touch that killed us. Especially when it went wide, it could have gone in first time. We were having three touches and then that pass is gone. Listen, we have a set structure of playing and we say to the players ‘you have freedom’, because pictures change.

They [Bristol City] have been in a 5-4-1 for most of the season, they’ve been in a diamond out of possession on goal-kicks, and when we changed it we dropped Fuka [Nagano] deeper to try to get the No.10s on [the ball], but we just weren’t brave enough with the passes, I think, getting it into the midfield players. Sometimes you have to credit the opposition, but we just let ourselves down in little moments today.

On the lack of chances created by his team…

We kept going into numbers rather than playing around [Bristol City]. If we play on the outside of them, we would get bodies into the box. In the first half, we didn’t have enough bodies in the box. We showed a clip at half-time where we have broken their press, ended up getting it wide in four passes, and had two bodies in the box. I think that sort of summed up our performance today. But look what happens when we do get bodies in the box and we get into crossing positions. We didn’t do it well enough today, and we just have to take that one on the chin and learn from it.

On why he brought on Melissa Lawley early in the second half…

I should have done it at half-time, to be honest. We felt we’d give it five more minutes but it killed us because they scored! The width was where we were going to beat them today. They are vulnerable defending crosses, but even when we made the changes we did it well for a five- or 10-minute period and then we started forcing it or we started going back. But yeah, it was just to try to stretch them, and especially with players like Mel and Leanne [Kiernan], get them into the wide areas, they’re very good one-v-one.

On Liverpool’s attempts to find a winning goal…

For me, it’s the extra touch. That’s what’s killed us today. We showed a clip where [Gemma] Bonner was driving out with the ball, and it could have gone in to Fuka on the second touch, but she drove out and then we’ve not reacted to that, we’ve stayed in the same positions. It was those little things, which we have been really good at this year. Look at the Brighton game, look at the Arsenal game when we were brave with our movement. We could have got [Grace] Fisky up higher, we could have pushed Taylor [Hinds] up higher, but communication has been a bit of an issue at times, and the extra touch killed it.

On the upcoming schedule, with the Continental League Cup game away at Everton to come on Wednesday…

It’s been a frustrating schedule, November and December. Six games in 22 days, four international games and then you get another three games in seven days. It’s tough, but we will utilise the squad again on Wednesday, get minutes into players in the cup game.

I have always said this year that the league is our priority. We want to try to break into that top five and I think we’ve got a great chance of doing it this year. That’s why today was so frustrating, because we could have kept in touch with that top three, top four, especially with [Manchester] United and Tottenham playing each other. But look, it was one of those things today. We’ve got to regroup and continue doing what we’re doing.