ColumnMatt Beard on Man City frustration, Kapocs impact and international break
In his latest column, Liverpool FC Women manager Matt Beard discusses Sunday's loss to Manchester City, being ruthless in front of goal and the international break.
It was a really frustrating day for us at Manchester City and unfortunately missed chances cost us.
We had numerous opportunities and, unfortunately, we couldn’t quite convert them. When you play against these top sides and you do get these opportunities – and I would probably say we had at least four – we should have converted. But we didn’t and we got punished.
I felt their third and fourth goals were a little bit harsh. The fourth one was a cross that ended up going in the back of the net and it probably summed up the day really, so that was frustrating.
We have been doing well of late, so this was very frustrating. But we know these top sides can punish you and they took their opportunities. Khadija Shaw is a world-class finisher and when she had the opportunities she took them, and we didn’t.
I thought Kappy [Cornelia Kapocs] was excellent when she came off the bench and was unlucky not to score. She had a great impact and I also thought Mia [Enderby] did as well. So, those are positives.
I don’t like losing football matches. It’s a tough pill to swallow but unfortunately that’s how it panned out for us.
We need to make sure we don’t let it ruin what a good 2025 it has been so far for us – progressing through two rounds of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup, six points on the board in the league.
We have put ourselves in the position where we are – three points off fifth spot. The players have had to adapt to a lot of change and have worked hard.
It has been tough but I’m still confident we can finish in that top six, without a shadow of a doubt. We’ve got some winnable games coming up and we’ve just got to keep our heads down, keep working hard and remain positive.
We now have an international break before our next game away at Crystal Palace. Previously with the injuries we had, we would have welcomed the break – but now with players fit again I wish we could have worked with them on the training ground and put things right.
But as always, we wish our players all the best on international duty and hopefully everyone comes back fit and healthy, and then we will turn our attention to Crystal Palace and trying to close that gap to the top six, top five again.
Thank you for your continued support as always.
YNWA,
Matt
Matt Beard was speaking to Liverpoolfc.com's Steve Hunter