ReactionAmber Whiteley offers verdict on LFC Women's Merseyside derby defeat
Amber Whiteley rued the opportunities squandered by Liverpool in their 2-0 defeat by Everton at Anfield in the Barclays Women's Super League.
Goals in either half from Katja Snoeijs and Karen Holmgaard decided Sunday's Merseyside derby in favour of the visitors.
The dominance the Reds enjoyed throughout the contest in L4 was not reflected in the scoreline, with Blues goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan pulling off a number of good saves.
Read on for the thoughts of the interim head coach following the final home game of the 2024-25 season…
On the result and performance...
Disappointed with the two goals, obviously the first one more so – it's come from our own possession and our turnover. But after that I thought the response was really good. We created plenty in open play and had enough chances to go on and win the game. But that can be football sometimes.
On missing a 'clinical edge in the penalty area'...
Yeah, I think so. I think we had 27 shots on their goal but only five on target. With the clear-cut chances we had, I expect us to convert those. In that first block of games, we've played opposition where we've not had a lot of the ball, we've had to defend and play in transition. This is a new challenge for us and something that we want to keep developing and getting better at in terms of dominating possession and converting chances in front of goal. So, still work to be done in that respect.
On playing in front of a crowd of 15,376...
We absolutely love playing at Anfield. It's a great opportunity to play here and we're just disappointed that we didn't get the result over the line for the fans. I thought the fans were excellent today. We heard them in full voice and they were giving everything to try to give us that extra push to peg Everton back.
On the pre-match presentations to the departing Niamh Fahey, Yana Daniels, Jasmine Matthews and Teagan Micah...
I think it's so important when players leave the club that they leave in the right way and we celebrate them and we give the fans the opportunity to celebrate them too. I thought that was a really nice touch before the game and same for them too. I'm just disappointed that we didn't get the result over the line for them. But each of them have been outstanding servants for the club.
On wrapping up the campaign...
I think it's important that we reflect on the work that we've done since I've taken charge. There are lots of positives to take forward but obviously we want to keep improving. So, we need to take stock of where we're at and then keep moving forward, keep improving each week. We've got a big one next week at Chelsea, so let's see how we fare up in comparison to when we played them in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.