Matt Beard shares Liverpool Women’s verdict after Crystal Palace draw
Matt Beard has ripped into the mentality of his Liverpool Women’s side after the 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace on Sunday 20 October.
The Reds salvaged a draw at the St Helens Stadium after Cornelia Kapocs cancelled Katie Stengel’s opener, falling to sixth place in the Women’s Super League.
Beard has managed one victory from his opening five WSL matches and held nothing back in his brutal assessment of the draw on Sunday, questioning his side’s mentality in his post-match interview.
He said: “I feel Palace wanted it more, we were lucky to get a point to be blunt and honest. I think Palace deserved to take all three.
“I just said to the team after the game, we were pulling out of tackles. I can forgive misplaced passes, I can forgive mistakes but what I can’t forgive is obviously the work-rate and that’s something that if you’re going to win any football match, you’ve got to have that in abundance and we just didn’t have that today.
“We just weren’t brave enough and I think we were lucky in the end.”
Liverpool Women are in trouble in the WSL
Liverpool have performed far below expectations in the WSL this season and now sit seven points adrift of league leaders Manchester City.
While the Reds are not considered genuine title contenders, Beard was expected to mount a challenge to Chelsea, Manchester City, and Arsenal after last season’s fourth-placed finish.
The boss has not been shy about publicly letting his side know his thoughts and has already torn into his players in the press on several occasions this term.
Beard has struggled to find consistent form from his players and, with only a small influx of top-quality talent in Olivia Smith, Gemma Evans, and Kapocs, there is the fear last year’s incredible finish was merely a fluke.
Kapocs improved drastically from the 2-1 loss against Manchester City, opening her Reds account on the weekend whereas, Smith scored a fantastic long-range strike in the loss to the WSL leaders.
There are glimpses of quality within this Liverpool side but three draws from five matches is not good enough and Beard will be feeling the pressure ahead of what could prove to be a must-win match against Aston Villa next.
In other Liverpool news, three players could be missing for the Reds against RB Leipzig.
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