LFC WomenPress conference: Matt Beard on Spurs, injury update and striving for consistency

The Reds face Spurs in the Barclays Women's Super League at Leyton Orient FC, with kick-off set for 2pm BST.

Beard sat down with the media to discuss a range of topics ahead of the fixture, including the game itself and Liverpool's latest team news.

Read on for a summary below…

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On the squad's fitness after the international break and any further update on Shanice van de Sanden...

Everyone has come back fit from international duty. Obviously we'll assess how Ceri Holland and Razza [Rhiannon Roberts] are, especially after playing 240 minutes for Wales over the course of the week.

With Shanice, it's just week by week at the moment and we are not going to put a timeframe on it. She has improved a lot this week so that is a good step forward, but we've had good days and bad days with it. We'll just see how she progresses week by week.

We know what it is, it's just about loading it accordingly and getting through the pain barrier for Shanice. We are making slow progress but we are doing what we can to get her back fit and she is doing all she can as well. We are pleased with the progress over the course of this week especially, so as I say, I don't want to put a timeframe on it and I don't want to put her under any pressure. She is working hard and so are our medical team to get her back on the pitch for us.

On managing the contrasting emotions of the players who were involved in World Cup play-offs...

I've not seen any of them yet as this will be the first time we'll have them all together. I've messaged them all individually, the group have messaged them as well. Obviously I'm delighted for Niamh [Fahey] and Megan [Campbell] to get to the World Cup. The Wales one was a tough one, especially the minute of the goal etc, but unfortunately it's part and parcel of football, isn't it? You have highs, you have lows, and we will be there to rally round Razza and Ceri especially, and Eartha with Scotland as well. We will rally round them and the one thing we do have here is we do have a fantastic group. We'll all stick together and we'll help them through that tough moment, but now they can come back and concentrate on their club football.

On Sunday's opponents Tottenham...

They are going through a bit of a transition. They have played numerous different systems against different teams, which for us is tough to guess what they are going to do, so we have to prepare for all eventualities and we have only got two training sessions before it with the whole group to do that. They made great progress last season, they have improved the team this year, I know they've had a few injuries and like us have had a lot of players away on international duty playing in high-pressure games. So, we are pretty much in the same boat when it comes down to that. I don't think you have seen the true Tottenham yet. They had a great season last year and year on year they continue to improve.

On the importance of the victory at Sunderland before the international break...

It was important to bounce back from the disappointing night at Anfield [against Everton]. It was great for me to give an opportunity to players who hadn't played in those first couple of games, and to show that they can fight for a place in the team. The performance was good, we controlled the game from start to finish, could have scored more goals, but the pleasing thing was we were creating chances throughout the 90 minutes. It has given me, I wouldn't say a few headaches, as they are good headaches to have as a manager, but it keeps everyone honest on the training pitch and good selection headaches.

On both teams being determined to win three points on Sunday after losing derbies last time out in the league…

Definitely. It was an uncharacteristic performance from us at Anfield. I think the key thing for me now is we find consistency in the Barclays Women's Super League. That's going to be the toughest thing because there are no easy games. For us to be at that level week in, week out like we were against Chelsea, we've got to find that. It's going to take us a little bit of time. We are going through that process of being back in the WSL. I understand that but we need to find that consistency and we need to find it quickly.

On being excited about a run of WSL games against Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City...

Of course and that's why we wanted to get back in the WSL. We want to be testing ourselves against the best teams, the best players in the country. From our perspective they are tough games but as I've said all along, we had a good pre-season and we tested ourselves against a lot of WSL teams. We've had some good learnings and harsh learnings already this season in a short space of time. As I say, it's about finding consistency in our performance level. We do have a talented team here and it's just about getting that consistency and seeing where it takes us into the Christmas break.

On what a win this weekend would do for the team's belief...

Similar to Chelsea. Nobody expected us to beat Chelsea and we were written off. We are set up to win every game but like I said after the Everton game, I got one or two things wrong on that night. We have learned from that. We want to win on Sunday, of course. We know it's going to be a tough game but there's no reason why we can't do that. Whenever we win we stay humble and whenever we lose we stay humble. Consistency is the key thing.

On the development of Hannah Silcock, who recently signed her first professional deal...

She is a fantastic player. She is going to be a very talented player in the future. She trained with us a lot last season, balancing her education and training. Physically, she has come on leaps and bounds. What I like about Hannah is she is so comfortable on the ball, she can drive out with it and I would say she is a modern centre-back who can play out. She's got a big year this season with her education and signing her pro contract so we have to get that right for Hannah, but we are really pleased she's committed her future to Liverpool.