Liverpool Women 4-1 Aston Villa Women: Match Report & Gareth Taylor | OneFootball

Before the main event at Anfield, it was a big afternoon at St Helens’ Brewdog Stadium for the Women as Gareth Taylor’s side went in search of three crucial points against Aston Villa. 

Following on from a busy January transfer window, the Reds named new arrival Jennifer Falk in goal, Martha Thomas leading the line, and Denise O’Sullivan in the heart of the midfield, whilst a host of their fellow winter newcomers watched on from the bench. 

Swedish striker Beata Olsson was a welcome sight back on the Liverpool bench following a spell out through injury after the 25-year-old marked her first 10 appearances for the club with an impressive five goals and one assist.

A LFC Foundation dedicated community match, it was Taylor’s team who certainly started the stronger of the two and the bright opening was rewarded when Mia Enderby turned home a Ceri Holland cross after a dynamic run in behind down the left-hand side of the Villa area. 

Full of energy and intensity, Thomas got her first goal for the club in style with an improvised finish after another Holland cross was initially steered up in the air before the former Tottenham stalwart inventively steered the ball inside the far post to double the lead and round off a blistering opening 15 minutes.

After a dominant start, the visitors eventually grew into the game, and a Liverpool side low in confidence and in desperate need of the points began to be asked questions defensively around the half-hour mark. 

Shortly before the break, the danger paid dividends after both teams exchanged promising attacks. Former Liverpool midfielder Miriael Taylor came back to haunt her old side when she found the top right-hand corner of Falk’s goal with a superb half-volley finish, ensuring it was certainly game on heading towards half-time. 

A half of two halves came to an end after Liverpool dominated the opening 20 minutes and raced into a deserved two-goal lead before Villa grew in confidence and were back in the contest as the players headed down the tunnel. 

There was, however, a positive for the Reds moments before the break as news filtered through that relegation-threatened rivals West Ham had fallen behind to Brighton…perhaps added incentive for the second half. 

No sooner had the second 45 begun than the referee brought an immediate halt to proceedings after Alejandra Bernabe collided with the Aston Villa goalkeeper, forcing a lengthy stoppage and the visitors into a change in net. 

Once the action got back underway, it was once again an even contest in a similar vein to the end of the first half as both sides looked dangerous on the attack and likely to cause their opposite number problems. 

Perhaps fielding the strongest bench of the season, Taylor turned to his options shortly after the hour mark and introduced Aurelie Csillag and Alice Bergstrom to add even more potential potency to the hosts’ attack – a sign that with the contest in the balance, the Reds were choosing attack as the best form of defence as opposed to anything remotely backs to the wall. 

Suddenly, a remarakbly end to end encounter, both sides threatened to carve out golden opportunities but were thwarted by a combination of last-ditch defensive actions and poor decision-making in the final third. 

In the final 10 minutes, Liverpool captain Grace Fisk powered home a beautifully struck volley after the ball stayed alive on numerous occasions from a corner, breathing room for the Reds and a celebration of relief from the skipper. 

Despite the board indicating eight worrying minutes of added time as Villa pushed hard and regularly tried their luck from distance, it was one of the January rivals who iced this particular cake as Csillag finished expertly from a tight angle to get her first for the club and round off a superb afternoon’s work. 

The sun-bathed St Helens faithful had reason to cheer as they saw their side win at home. 

Perhaps a pivotal three points were made all the more important as West Ham rallied towards their own remarkable win as they overturned a two goal defecit to overcome Brighton 3-2 in dramatic late fashion. 

However, for Taylor’s charges, this win meant they hauled themselves off the foot of the table and were replaced by Leicester City as the WSL’s bottom side. 

After the match, Dan spoke to Gareth Taylot to get his thoughts on the performance and the impact of the new arrivals…

On the performance: “I think it was a good start to the game. We were having a good feeling about today’s game. I think Villa are in a little bit of limbo at the moment. The higher spots will be dragged into. They’ve still got a bit of a gap and a bit of a cushion, but they’re not that far away. Obviously, if it turns the other way today puts them 12 points ahead of us now; they’re six points, so I think it’s good in that sense. We’ve got a good feeling. We’re training well. Obviously, the additions have really helped us that we brought in. Allows us to train better. Allows us to have more options from the sidelines, and you can see players that make a difference from the sidelines today when the opposition are flagging. They’re able to bring on Aurelie, bring on Alice, Gemma Bonner shows quality, and it was enough in the end.  I still think we can be more courageous in our play, particularly in the second half. If you look at the stats in the first half, I think it would favour us possession-wise. Second half, we end up being probably a little bit more like we were last week against United. Making it a fight, that’s not really our strength. We were gritty today in everything we did, but the message to the players was very much trust in what we do, and I think in the first half, we were very good and we trusted in everything that we did.”

On the new signings and the squad: “Pleased. You know, of course, I was pushing my bosses, my seniors for more. Losing Sophie Lungaard is a bit of a blow for us and we’ll lose Fuka Nagano in the Asia Cup, again, she showed both parts of the game today. Tenacious without it, good quality in possession. But I think Anna Josendal coming back, hopefully in the next week or two, will be a good addition for us because you’ve got a winger that can go outside on the left, which is something we probably haven’t got. Ceri’s doing a really good job there, contributing to the play super well. Alejandra has been getting forward in the last two games, and I think those two had a really good cohesion in the first half.”

On the new arrivals making an immediate impact: “Yeah, it’s huge. I’ve always said it’s not rocket science, is it? You know, if you bring the players in, it’s all about the players, it’s about the quality they have, and we were suffering in the first part of the season, where it would get to 70 minutes in a game like that, and we could potentially be ahead in the game. Think of Manchester City were ahead in that game and we’re just not able to hold on because it’s hard for the likes of Kappy and Martha to be able to repeatedly press the way we want them to because we want to put pressure on those opposition defences and stop them from gaining territory and that’s really hard to do for 90 minutes but we got fitter, we’ve now got obviously additions in the group which are helping us train better, help us being able to transfer onto the pitch and then having in-game substitutions to have as well, it’s been much better.”

Now onto Anfield…