Gareth Taylor insists Liverpool are moving forward, despite their underwhelming start to the season.
The Reds remain second from bottom of the WSL, still looking to put a point on the board as they host high-flying Manchester City on Sunday.
Ahead of the clash against his former club, Taylor told MerseySportLive: “I can see progression. Failure sometimes can be part of that process, but I think it’s a process that we have still seen some gains in and they haven’t looked like points, they haven’t looked like scoring goals, but I think there’s been some tangible bits to really grab hold of as a team.”
Despite having no luck in the WSL so far this season, losing all four games including a 1-0 defeat at London City last week, Liverpool enjoyed a comfortable win over second division Sunderland in the first group stage match of the League Cup.
The Reds manager said: “We know we can score goals, we played in the cup against Sunderland and won 5-0, so we know that there’s goals in the team.
!I think we’re getting to that final third area more often than not, with enough opportunities to try and increase those attempts on goal.”
He added: “What we need to try and do now is the hardest part, which is to put the ball in the back of the net. We are really focusing on that in the training sessions, and in the extra training sessions that we do with individuals as well.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s Anfield clash, Taylor recognised the class in Andrée Jeglertz’s squad, which sees City just one place and one point behind league leaders Chelsea.
Taylor said: “We know we’re going into a really tough game, it’s a tough opponent who are probably the opposite end of us in terms of scoring goals.
“I think that’s when you see what you’re about, when you have a tough challenge like that.”
Taylor spent 17 years at Manchester City, first as a player and then manager of the women’s team for five of those years. He was relieved of his duties in March last season but has no hard feelings towards his former club who will arrive at Anfield with many familiar faces.
Taylor said: “I want to win any game that I go into, I want to be successful in anything that we do, whether we’re playing someone from the Championship, in a cup match or someone in the WSL.
“I left them (City) in a good place. Things petered out at the end of the season for them. Would it have looked different if I had still been there? Maybe. Maybe not. But all I can do is all I did. Seventeen years there I was a player and coach and I think I left them in a good place.”
Manchester City have conceded seven goals in five WSL games this season. Taylor’s side will be hoping they can capitalise on this and build on what is currently a solitary goal scored by the Reds in the league.
Said Taylor: “We’ve completely changed the amount of passes that we make in games, the possession stats have gone up, the positive passes have gone up. It would be nice to show them a real positive result to back up everything that we’ve done.”
Liverpool’s last Anfield outing was the 4-1 derby defeat to Everton. Despite the loss, Taylor said: “To be there as head coach of Liverpool Women’s was a proud moment, regardless of how the game went.”
All eyes are now on Sunday, where Liverpool fans will be hoping to finally celebrate a WSL win to kickstart their season.
