Matt Beard Reflects on Dropped Points Vs. Everton in Resurgent Season

Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Liverpool Women are likely out of the running to finish in the European places but deserve praise for being in the conversation deep into March.

A draw on Sunday against Everton at Goodison came as something of a blow to Liverpool Women’s hopes of finishing in the European places, with the Reds dropping two points against bottom half opposition in a game where they were the better side.

For manager Matt Beard, though, context matters. The context of a resurgent season; of competing for a finish few truly expected at its start; of winning three games in a row heading into last Sunday to even put themselves in the thick of the top three fight.

“It’s a tough game to play in because of what’s at stake,” Beard said after having had time to digest the result. “But that’s 10 points out of a possible 12 from our last four games, so I would have taken that if you had offered it after we lost at home to Arsenal.”

With five games to go, Liverpool are eight points back of Arsenal in third, with the top three sides in the FAWSL qualifying for the Champions League. Add in goal difference, and the Reds would likely need three more wins than Arsenal in those five games.

Realistically, that likely ends any top three hopes—but with a single draw signalling that, they always likely needed to be perfect down the final stretch to have a chance. In that light, even making a race of it for a time should be cast as something of a success.

For a side that for years seemed little more than an afterthought for the club, to put the traditional powers in the FAWSL under pressure and be in the European conversation late into March is an achievement, no matter what happens the rest of the way.

“We now have five games to go and there are still many points to play for,” Beard added. “Our aim is to finish as high in the table as we possibly can. We host Manchester City on Saturday. They are a team, of course, who are fighting hard to win the title.

“I think they have been the most consistent team over the course of the season so far. They are a team that has been playing together now for nearly 18 months. But from our point of view, we know we can compete and we know that we can beat them.”