Gareth Taylor press conference: Verdict on LFC Women defeat by Everton

On his reflections on the game and why the result transpired...

Because games can just get away from you really, really quickly. My feelings are strange really because I felt in the first half – particularly in the first 40 minutes – we were pretty good. Probably better than pretty good. I think the control we had in the game was very good. Then it’s just the four minutes either side of half-time, you can see how quickly the game can get away from you. Disappointing, obviously, to concede the [first] goal when we were so dominant, but I felt that the players still then got a grip of the game.

We could’ve been easily better than 1-0, even at 1-1 it could’ve probably been the scoreline that you’ve seen at the end quite easily. We hit the bar once, post twice, maybe Marie [Höbinger] has had a really good chance. [We had] lots of opportunities. There are a lot of things to improve, and we need to get better and we need to get fitter. The messaging to the players has been really positive. But we’ve got to really stick to what we do, and I think coming off it like we did either side of half-time has been our undoing.

On the fine margins of the result after hitting the woodwork several times...

Obviously the goal we scored goes in off the underside [of the bar] so it falls the right side of it. Football is funny sometimes where you can have games like that where you feel, particularly in that first 40 minutes, or first half, where you’re so superior and dominant but come in at 2-1. That’s football and it will always do that to you. We’ve probably felt a little bit aggrieved today. But I think the second half was probably a more even affair where Everton have started to come into it a lot more, feeling that confidence. When you’re 4-1 [down] that’s obviously quite a difficult environment to play in.

On Faye Kirby starting in goal and facing a ‘difficult’ day...

I don’t think it was a difficult day for her. I think she’ll feel that way. I thought she was exceptional and very, very good with everything she did with her build-up. Again, when you look at the goals; deflection, going in off the bar and post. They were kind of one-in-a-million goals. The first goal, she can’t do anything with but obviously we can be better with defending the corner. But Faye was never a moment where I hesitated because she’s very, very good and you’ve seen that today.

On how he can ensure the result doesn’t have a knock-on effect...

You just continue to work hard and be really honest in your appraisals. Focus on the positives today, and there were a lot of positives, although it won’t feel that way for the players at this moment. I think it’s working hard. We knew that we weren’t going to be able to come in and affect things really, really quickly. I was actually probably more surprised in the first half at how well we did play.

I probably didn’t expect us to play that well in the first half and control the game the way we did. We know this is not a short-term project. We don’t want to receive scorelines like that. But like I said before, sometimes in football you can have that type of situation happen, where the opposition has four attempts and they score four goals.

On the contrast between the first-half and second-half performances…

I feel they were actually better than I anticipated [in the first half], to be honest – the way we controlled the game, the way we showed real composure, the way we seemed to carve open a lot of opportunities, particularly down the right for Ceri [Holland]. I know obviously Kappy [Kapocs] scores from the other side. We looked pretty relentless in that.

Then, we understand at some point there’s going to be a little bit of give because players tend to go back to their old habits a little bit and obviously fitness levels are important as well, we need to try to drive those to be able to repeatedly do what we’re asking them to do. There’s a lot of stuff out there today that was really, really good. It doesn’t feel like that at this moment in time but I think we really need to turn our attentions to that.

On if more time to work with the team in pre-season would have been helpful…

Yeah, it would have been nice. You always want more time as a head coach. But the signs have been good. We are just where we are – we’ll deal with that, we’ll improve and we’ll get better. That’s the exciting part.

On having success down Liverpool’s right-hand side with Sam Kerr and Holland…

They [Everton] actually set up a little bit differently in the first half to what we anticipated. We thought they’d come at a diamond press; they were more 4-4-2. Every time you get that, it gives you different spaces. So, sometimes the space is either side of their one midfielder at the bottom of the diamond, which we anticipated and worked on. But the players worked it out pretty quickly that there was quite a lot of space down the sides and obviously in behind, and Sam and Ceri maximised that for sure.

On whether the first-half display is what he wants Liverpool to be this season…

Yeah, that’s where we want to get to. Are we going to be able to achieve that all the time? Probably not, because it takes time, it takes confidence and it takes belief. Which you’ve got to build on those levels as much as you can. The biggest challenge for me obviously when you face a scoreline like we face today is: keep the faith. Actually, the half-time team-talk for me at 2-1 down, I told the players we were outstanding for 43, 44 minutes. It was the extra four minutes they put up is where we had the issue. We were outstanding [until then].

On the importance of adapting until the team can play that way for 90 minutes…

We are adapting, we are, but it’s tough. We’re making compromises to what we do and how we want to see the game. I’m fine with that, I’m not crazy enough to think that this style that I believe in is going to be magic straight away. It takes time and belief and making errors is all part of it, unfortunately.

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