ReactionMatt Beard reflects on 'frustrating' defeat at Man City

In their first Barclays Women’s Super League outing of 2024, the Reds took a 15th-minute lead at Joie Stadium on Sunday courtesy of Taylor Hinds’ excellent 20-yard chip.

But City were immediately back on terms via a Gemma Bonner own goal and pressed ahead on the scoresheet as Khadija Shaw scored three and Chloe Kelly converted a late penalty.

Read Beard’s post-match reaction, speaking to Sky Sports, below…

On whether Liverpool were the architects of their own mistakes on the day…

You’ve taken the words out of my mouth. We were the architects of our own downfall today. We get in front. The second and fourth [City] goals shouldn’t happen. It’s just frustrating, because we’ve set ourselves a high standard this year. We said it after last week against Bristol City, we didn’t perform to the best of our ability and we said if we perform like that and make mistakes like we did, you get punished against these types of teams. It’s a frustrating afternoon.

On what he said to the players after full-time…

There’s not really much I can say at the moment, we obviously need to review the game back. We’ll obviously go through clips of the players. I just think more than anything, we need to make sure we bounce back from it. We had a similar defeat against Chelsea and we bounced back really well. We just need to make sure we bounce back from it and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again.

On the importance of keeping the belief and momentum the team previously had…

Of course it is [important]. Look, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea are in a different league to everyone else in the Super League. We’re frustrated with the result today but the gap is big. We have bridged that gap over the course of this season. We need to learn from today and make sure we don’t allow that to happen again.

On trying to keep in touch with the teams at the top of the division…

I said before the game, it’s important that we try to stay in touch. We’re already in a much better position compared to this time last year. We just want to keep improving week on week. You’re going to win some, you’re going to lose some. We make sure we learn from it and make sure we don’t let it happen again.

On his frustration with the amount of time being added on at the end of halves in the WSL…

I think there were numerous decisions – look, the result was our fault, not the officials’ fault. But there were numerous decisions; I don’t know where the extra two minutes [at the end of first-half stoppage time] came from. But we still need to defend the corner. It needs to be looked at because Gareth [Taylor, City manager] even said to me on the touchline it’s just getting worse every week. But it is what it is – the result is our fault and no-one else’s.