Gareth Taylor reaction | Brighton 0-3 Liverpool, Olsson goals, clean sheet and more
Gareth Taylor was pleased with what he saw at both ends of the pitch as Liverpool FC Women won 3-0 at Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Reds had the upper hand for most of Saturday’s Barclays Women’s Super League clash, with Beata Olsson putting them ahead four minutes in.
Cornelia Kapocs pounced on a mistake to score early in the second half at Amex Stadium, and Olsson struck again late on to confirm a satisfying victory.
Read post-match reaction from head coach Taylor below.
On the amount of control Liverpool had in the game…
I always like to try to have control. We know it’s quite difficult sometimes. We could probably have had even more with staying on the ball a little bit more, we turned it over a little bit too much and gave them probably an even share in the first half. Second half, we were slightly better in terms of retaining the ball. But I still feel it’s an area we can really improve on.
I liked our performance in the sense of the ugly side of the game a little bit. We were ready to defend, we defended really well in the box. I remember an action with Beata and the whole team sprinting back from one of our corners on 90 minutes at 3-0, with everybody back working so hard to secure a clean sheet, which is nice.
On the Reds’ press…
We do it because we’ve got two really good centre-backs, Grace [Fisk] and Jenna [Clark]. They are not only really good with the ball, they are fantastic physically. You know if you’re leaving space, they’re really good at covering it. We want to be aggressive. We altered things slightly at half-time in the way we press, and the players who came onto the pitch helped secure the win.
On Olsson’s form and what she brings to the team…
We know she goes on these bursts and runs of goals. She scored two in midweek – came onto the pitch in the last half an hour and we were a bit reluctant to put her on because she’s the only No.9 we have at the moment. That will give her great confidence, because she does a lot for the team. Towards the end there were lots of moments, the last 20 minutes, even with then Alice [Bergstrom] coming onto the pitch, where we were at their back line when they were a little bit out of shape and chasing the game a little bit.
On whether Liverpool could and should have scored more goals…
Yeah, though I think we have to be happy because I think it’s been an issue for us a little bit. Our performances have been really good in many of the other games, thinking Tottenham, London City – we take a point from both of those games. Some of the other games where we don’t take anything, like Aston Villa, where we were very, very good all the way to their goal. It was that final bit. And it will always be that final bit. So, as much as we could have scored five or six tonight, we have to be happy with a 3-0 win.
On limiting Brighton’s chances…
I think we limited their chances, I didn’t really see too much going in on Khiara [Keating]’s goal, maybe a chance in the first half is the one save Khiara had to make. That’s testament to our team, that they got into good situations at times but we really defended the box well.
