‘The signs have been really good’ – Liverpool ready to build says Taylor | OneFootball

Liverpool head coach Gareth Taylor says that his side are ready to build on their opening day performance when they travel to Leicester City this afternoon.

The Reds went down 4-1 to Everton at Anfield last weekend. The scoreline was somewhat harsh in what was Liverpool head coach Gareth Taylor’s first game in charge.

When speaking to the media ahead of this afternoon’s trip to Leicester City, Liverpool boss Taylor said that there are lots of learnings to take from the Merseyside derby defeat.

“There were a lot of learnings to come from that game,” Taylor said. “There was one real positive and one thing to work on. We have to maintain that level of performance for a longer period and the positive part was that I felt that there was something to really grab hold of from that first half performance or first 40 minutes.

“We actually dominated the game, controlled the game in the manner that I felt was deserving. Of course, football can be cruel at times and I felt that the scoreline was harsh on us, particularly when you look at the statistics around the probability of their striker scoring a hat-trick again with those type of chances, it was like one-percent. The xG was really low for them whereas ours was nearly double what there’s was. We could have been out of sight by half-time but we weren’t.

“There were plenty of learnings from that game for sure.”

Liverpool’s opponents Leicester City are under the interim management of Rick Passmoor. Taylor said that the analysis of The Foxes has largely been based upon their opening day performance at Manchester United, although Liverpool’s main focus is on building on their own initial showing last weekend.

He said “You have to just look at what you saw in the last game. We saw a slight tweak when they went 2-0 down. I think they were a bit unfortunate to be 2-0 down; I don’t think [Manchester] United did a lot in that game to be two ahead but they have that pace and power at the top end of the pitch which allowed them to go two up. At that point, we saw Leicester City change slightly from what they did.

“For us, it’s about focusing on the game that we’ve seen. It’s really difficult with interim managers to really analyse what they do, that’s the preparation. We always make it about what we do and how we are going to try and hurt them in the spaces.

“The signs have been really good this week. The players have been working on certain aspects where we can be slightly better and where we can hurt the opposition. That will always be our driving goal.”

Leicester City were strong on their own turf last season and Taylor says that The Foxes will try to use that to their advantage.

He said “Their home form is something for them to grab hold of from last season. Of course, the manager is not there any more. The King Power is a decent stadium to play at and for us, it’s just about concentrating on what we need to do to be successful in the game.”

Liverpool’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Leicester City kicks-off at midday.