Taylor pleased with Liverpool’s second half adaptations in defeat to Arsenal | OneFootball

Liverpool head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his side adapted their game in the second half of their 3-1 defeat to Arsenal at Anfield.

The Reds found themselves 3-0 down to The Gunners at half-time but after dropping deeper, they were at least able to come out on top in the second period.

Reflecting on the game, Liverpool boss Taylor said that he was pleased with how his side adapted to a deeper approach in the second half, although the long-term plan is to operate higher against top opponents.

“We know in certain moments, you can come up against an opponent like Arsenal who will overrun you and cause problems,” Taylor said. “We felt that we had to do what we had to do in the second half; play from a little bit more of a deeper position.

“I think our intentions would be like ‘this is the team that we want to be’ which is the one we saw in the first half; to try and take the game. At this moment in time, there’s probably just a little bit too much of a gap in the physicality between the two teams and we suffered with that.

“Second half, I give credit to the girls. I thought both halves in possession, we were okay today, it was just a little bit more out of possession.”

Zara Shaw scored Liverpool’s goal with a clinical finish from close range and Taylor shared his thoughts on the youngster.

He said “Zara’s done well. It’s been hard for her because we’ve not seen her since the [FA Cup] quarter-final where she takes us through to the semi-finals.

“She’s a very good player and also, she’s a very good person to work with, very coachable. It was a great moment for her today. We just had to kind of get the reins on her a little bit in the second half because she wanted to go out, chase and run, show her endeavour and I love that. Again, when we did that at times, they picked us off a little bit and went through the middle of the pitch.”

It has been a transitional season at Liverpool and Taylor shared his thoughts on summer recruitment and attracting new players to the club.

He said “For us, we just need to look at what we have, where we feel we need to improve and we’re certainly having those conversations. I always feel that Liverpool is a fantastic environment for players to come to because of the club and opportunity.

“Today, you see Liv Smith come onto the pitch. The opportunity she had last year [at Liverpool] was a platform for her to do her stuff and move to a club that went on to win the Champions League.”

Liverpool end the season in 11th position in the Barclays Women’s Super League table.