ColumnMatt Beard on international pride, Aston Villa clash and January transfer window plans

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We’ll regroup this week after a good international break for our players with some really positive stories.

Ceri Holland of course got a dramatic winner for Wales on Tuesday night, what a moment that was for her. And it was great to see each of our players secure progress in their Women’s Euros qualifiers.

Zara Shaw scored the winning penalty for England on Sunday against Japan in the Women’s U17 World Cup to reach the semi-final. I was delighted for Zara and proud of all our players.

Taylor Hinds also made her Jamaica debut during this international break, though it was obviously a tough result against France. But I think for her to have that first camp under her belt, meeting the staff and the players will be good for her. I’m delighted for her because I think it will help her go to the next level.

We are hopeful that Teagan Micah will be back in the squad for Sunday’s trip to Villa Park in the Barclays Women’s Super League (4.30pm GMT kick-off).

She has started to do some striking of the ball, so I’m hopeful with last week and this week she should be available for selection. But we will continue to assess her at the AXA Melwood Training Centre.

The game against Aston Villa last time we played at Villa Park was certainly entertaining when we ended up drawing 3-3.

I think the international break came at the right time for us. If I look at how the first five games have gone, we should have more points on the board, that’s obviously a given. But if you look at the injury problems we have had, we’ve had to tweak the system, which doesn’t help the players with the consistency and doesn’t help us with the consistency.

We have reviewed the first part of the season and we should be scoring a lot more goals than what we have done so far. We are third in the expected-goals list. But that’s obviously the hardest thing to do – score goals.

We’ve only lost one game in 10, so we are not a million miles away from that top three, but we just need a bit of a break on the injury front and that little bit of consistency. So as much as it has been frustrating, there are still positives that we can take.

We went behind against Crystal Palace and it wasn’t our best performance but we came back, we got into it and could have won it. But there are no easy games – every single club has invested in their playing staff, the coaching staff.

You’ve only got to look at Aston Villa with the players they have signed: of course Bo [Missy Bo Kearns]; the Brazilian, Gabi Nunes. They have spent a lot of money on some quality players.

I always say it’s not about the money, it’s the consistency. If I look at the systems I’ve played this season already – 3-4-3, 4-3-3 and 5-3-2 in six games.

The 5-3-2 served us really well last season from a defensive standpoint but we have given up more chances than what we did last year. Obviously that comes down to having to tweak the systems.

That’s what pre-season was like for us because we weren’t able to play what we wanted to do consistently due to the injuries we had.

There’s a few things that have had an impact on results. Paz [Lucy Parry] missed most of the pre-season, Hannah Silcock missed pre-season, Fisky [Grace Fisk] was injured, as were some of the international players. So, it was a little bit disjointed.

This has meant us having to play catch-up and I think the girls deserve credit because they adapted and still put performances in and created chances.

I know we have got a tough period of games coming up but if you look at our record against the top teams, it has been good since we came back into the WSL. We hope that continues.

I’m sure we will turn the corner and we’ve got one eye on the January window already. We are working hard behind the scenes to improve the team for January that will create more depth and more competition.

I don’t think we are in a bad position but there is still plenty for us to do.

Aston Villa have a new manager this season in Robert de Pauw and they have made a lot of signings.

This is a tough league and if you look at the history of a manager from overseas coming into the WSL, it takes them a while to adjust to the standard and week in, week out. It is tough.

If I look at their performances, I think their level has been good. But with making a lot of changes, it takes time.

Villa have got a great squad with some top players at the front end of the pitch. It’s going to be an entertaining game that’s for sure.

Of course we will be up against our friend in Bo. I’ve had a bit of a text exchange with her this week with her being away with England.

We didn’t want Bo to go, we miss her and it will be great to see her and her family, but it’s part and parcel of the game and we wish her well after this game!

Thank you for your continued support.

YNWA,

Matt

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

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