By Chloe Reynolds (12/9/26)
Above: Gareth Taylor preparing his side for their first home clash of the season. Photo: Liverpool FC
Ahead of their first home game of the season, Gareth Taylor sat down with the media and addressed their questions.
Following their win vs Charlton in MW1, Taylor provided injury updates:
Pretty much everyone came through okay, few little niggles here and there. I think it was the first time we had a few players that had played 90 minutes, that was good. I think we always looked previously in the preseason to get as many 90 minutes under our belts as possible but felt like we got some really good volume in training. So, not necessarily gaining that, but we’ve got good volume in training and use the games in a way where we could build up to those 90 minutes. It was good, and fortunately, we were in a good position to be able to look after key players, who probably use more energy in 60 minutes than other players would. And then on top of that, Maisie Truman would be back closer to the squad this weekend and also Roman Haug.
Captain Grace Fisk bagged a brace and played a part in securing the clean sheet against Charlton in the Reds first game of the season, here is what Taylor had to say about it:
She’s been great. I’ve spoken highly of her for a long time not just as a player, but also as a person and the way she carries herself. I think she’s an exceptional captain. She’s really well respected by everybody at the club, all of the girls. She’s really well supported by the leadership group of Marie, Sam Kerr, and Jenna Clark. I think she does a lot for this team. She’s very good as a player. I think performance last weekend, was a performance where she could show what she can do with the ball, she’ll have games potentially more so this weekend, where it’s gonna be a little bit more out of possession as well, where I think she’s really good.
Someone who Taylor will know well is new summer signing Khaira Keating, who Taylor worked with during his time at Manchester City, and he spoke about what having her back in his side means:
We’ve been really fortunate in convincing Khiara to come. We didn’t have to convince her too much because obviously we had history and she knows the size of Liverpool, and her sisters in the academy as well, so that was nice for her. Khiara’s not daft, she saw that there was a platform here to be able to go and showcase what she can do. All of these girls really want to achieve international honours, and Khiara’s no different. She’s done it before; she will continue to compete at that level. But for us, it’s just really important to have, firstly, a goalkeeper who’s able to execute, a goalkeeper who understands the idea, I think Khiara’s going to be important for us.”
Taylor also spoke about what he expects from a strong Tottenham side, who also won their opening game last weekend:
We know the way that they’re going to try and animate in possession, we know what they try and do defensively. I think they have good individual quality in their team. There’s no secrets, it’d be the same for them in terms of what they know about us, I think it’ll always be about what happens on the day and who’s able to execute better, with and without the ball. I think that gives you a large reflection on where the scoreline’s going to lie and fall one way or the other, but I expect it to be tight, one way or the other. I’ve never been one to focus on the result, I always focus on the performance because then hopefully the performance takes care of the result, that’s not always the case. There are times when you can play really well and not get anything, and there’s times when you don’t play so well, and you come away with 3 points. Always about the performance for us. We train with a good intensity here at Melwood and we make sure that the players are prepared for games, and, you know, we see the game almost as an extension of our training. We understand the importance of it is more different than training of course, I expect the game to be fairly tight.
It has been a difficult year for the club on and off the pitch. Everyone involved has experienced spending half of last season rock bottom of the league with a depleted squad due to heavy injuries. But alongside the negative performances, the losses of Matt Beard and John Humble has made Taylor’s first year as head coach that little more difficult. Here is what he had to say when reflecting on how the side came together:
It’s kind of hard maybe to put into words of how you approach and deal with these things. The anniversary of Matt is coming up soon, the anniversary of John Humble, our Kitman, who passed, is coming up in October. No one can prepare you for those types of situations and everybody deals with grief in different ways. On top of that, we were suffering on the pitch a little bit with injuries, with availability of players, losing players out of the door, of coming late into the club. There was a lot to contend with, and every one of us, players, staff, and representatives of the club, would have gone through that period differently and experienced it differently. And that’s really tough. We celebrate together in the good moments, we suffer together, as difficult a season as it was, it really provided us with situations where you go full. This is a really special place to be, and I feel going through those experiences as much as they were nice, and as much as they don’t go away, they don’t, because, you know, we’re at that time again of the year where these things happen to us, you know, over a space of a month, and… Like I say, people really recognise the teammate that have in front of them, the teammate that had to the side of them and behind them, and, yeah, we really stood together in that period, and, and went on that journey together, and came out of it the other side, and that’s the beauty of life, and, and also of football, that, you know, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel, and sometimes it can look like a million miles away, but what you need to do in those moments is stick together. And we were really together in that time, and come out at the other side, and I feel that we’re better for it, never nice, never want to experience that. Again, but I feel like we are much better for it, and we are closer. That was really tough, but we went through it together. We stood together, and we all come out of it the other side.
Liverpool host Tottenham Hotspur at the St Helen’s Stadium on Sunday 13th September with kick off commencing at 14:00.
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