REACTION: Matt Beard on the WSL loss at Chelsea: “We need to learn from this.”

After Liverpool FC Women’s frustrating 5-1 loss to Chelsea Women on the road, Matt Beard shared his thoughts.

At Stamford Bridge on Saturday, the Reds quickly responded after conceding an early goal when Shanice van de Sanden forced an own goal to equalize.

However, the defending Barclays Women’s Super League champions took the lead again just before halftime, and they added three more points to their lead in the second half.

Below is a synopsis of Beard’s post-match observations.

About his evaluation of the match…

We find this to be a frustrating outcome. We expressed our disappointment with the goals’ manner to the players following the game, particularly since we exerted a lot of effort to force Chelsea into turnovers. Giving it back in full only serves to penalize you against these elite sides. So, let down by the objectives. While I acknowledge that we have had some good moments today, I also believe that we shouldn’t be conceding five goals at this level. In my opinion, Chelsea shouldn’t have had to work as hard to score their goals today, and that is what has frustrated us the most about the game thus far.

Given that his team had played strong defense earlier in the season, this is unusual for them.

Absolutely.

Regarding the Reds’ inability to capitalize on their goal to tie the score at one…

Every single one of the goals is frustrating. We are extremely disappointed that the goals we have given up have been the result of our own mistakes, whether it be failing to take the correct defensive position or showing enough bravery in a tackle. Chelsea is such a strong team that they will cause you problems and create opportunities. Really annoying. In the second half, I thought we really got things going and unnerved them, but then we started making snap decisions that ended up killing us. We cannot defend as we did when we defended the goals, as I have stated.