Why Gareth Taylor “hated” the second half of Liverpool’s win over Aston Villa | OneFootball

Gareth Taylor (Liverpoolfc.com)

Liverpool finally lifted themselves off the bottom of the Barclays Women’s Super League table with a 4-1 win over Aston Villa.

Mia Enderby, Martha Thomas, captain Grace Fisk and substitute Aurelie Csillag were all on the scoresheet as the Reds logged their second win of the season.

And afterwards, head coach Gareth Taylor confessed he had not enjoyed the stress of the closing stages against Aston Villa.

” I think we caused Villa problems in the first half,” he told the club’s official website. “I think when you get to 2-0 it’s always a funny scoreline. We felt after that we went a little bit flat if we’re really being honest and allowed a little bit of territory for Villa.

“Overall, I was pretty happy with the first half. I hated the second half – I have to be honest! I understand the anxiety because we want to hold onto something and it’s very rare we’ve been in that situation this season. It’s a new kind of experience. I understand why we were probably kicking a little bit longer.

“But I felt there were opportunities to play because when we play we open teams up and we get opportunities. It’s not always about playing short. You can see there with Gemma Bonner at the end [her assist for Csillag] there were spaces beyond because we’ve been brave instead of just taking a free-kick and kick it long. We’ve been brave, pulled them out of position and used the spaces that they leave.”

Gareth Taylor: Liverpool gave it everything

And Taylor added that he was not focused so much on the table – more on getting points from each game.

“You can see the team since the turn of the year with the new signings we brought in, whether they play or don’t play, it just gives us options. We were able to change things up today a little bit and bring fresh energy onto the pitch. We weren’t able to do that in the first part of the season and that’s massive, especially for the way we want to play.

“Fair play – the girls gave it everything today and really grinded out a good home win for us.”