Everton Women head coach Scott Phelan is demanding a reaction from his players after the team suffered their first defeat at Anfield. Liverpool Women scored in each half to end their six-game losing streak to the Blues in Women's Super League (WSL) Merseyside derbies at the ground.
Early goal undermines belief
Phelan cut a disappointed figure after the match, saying his side lacked belief after Beata Olsson's third-minute opener. Olsson headed in from an early corner to set Liverpool on their way to a 2-0 win that was more comfortable than the scoreline suggested.
Courtney Brosnan made a string of good saves and Ruby Mace made several key interventions to keep Everton in the contest until Cornelia Kapocs' late second.
Phelan's assessment
“Conceding an early goal didn’t help, which is disappointing. We know this Liverpool team are a threat from set-pieces and it's something that we planned for and prepared for, but to concede so early had an impact on our belief, because I think in the first half we did lack a bit of belief, which was unexpected,” Phelan said.
“We were obviously coming off the back of some decent form so for us not to show that belief was the biggest disappointment in the first half. I thought we showed a response for 20 minutes or so of the second half, the game became a little bit more even, and then the last part was a little bit messy - we were chasing the game and spaces appeared.”
Looking ahead
The Blues entered the match off the back of three wins - two in the league before Wednesday's cup win over Birmingham City. But they ended it having still failed to score in the league across their four WSL games this season - the wins over Charlton Athletic and West Ham United having been secured through own goals.
“We're getting into some decent moments. I think they're not very memorable at the moment because the final action is not as decisive as it used to be, and that's something that we need to improve on and work on, which we've already spoken about and we'll just continue to work on that,” Phelan added. “Heading into Birmingham next week, hopefully we can finish positively before the international break.”
Taylor's delight
Liverpool head coach Gareth Taylor, in contrast, was delighted with what he had witnessed. “We were good value in the first half. We changed a couple of things at half-time and then Everton changed so we had to change back to what was getting us success,” he said.
“I felt in the second period we didn’t get to grips with the movement of Everton as well as we did in the first half, certainly in our pressing, therefore we didn’t necessarily lose opportunities for them to attack our goal but certainly territory. But still we created a lot of opportunities – I think Natalia [Ramos] could have had four goals today, certainly a hat-trick!”
“Fantastic for the girls because they really deserved that, the confidence that goes with winning a derby [and] we get rid of the so-called ‘Anfield hoodoo’ against Everton. But I’m just really proud of the performance and the way that the players stuck at it – and we needed the supporters today, I thought the supporters were fantastic.”
