Liverpool women achieved their first win at Anfield, beating old rivals Manchester United 3-1.
Olivia Smith scored a brace in the 42nd and 67th minute and Fuka Nagano got her first goal for the club in the 47th minute.
Amber Whiteley’s thoughts
Whiteley praised the team’s performance and attributed the win to careful planning and execution.
She said: “I’m so proud of the team we prepared well this week and I think they’ve been out there and executed the game plan perfectly.
“They had to weather a bit of a storm in the first half but the two goals just before the break gave us huge confidence.
“I thought they were brilliant second half start to finish and deserved the third goal.”
Whiteley has now won three matches out of three since taking over from Matt Beard, including this historic Anfield win in front of over 15,000 fans.
She said: “We want to play football that the fans can get behind and be proud of and I think we’ve done that tonight.
“Hard work and good preparation and we give them everything that need to be able to win the game- its then over to them to get the ball over the white line and they’ve done that, against Palace, against Arsenal last week and again tonight.
“I remember saying that we needed to go and enjoy our first game at Anfield- that was the biggest message there.”
The red’s manager praised Olivia Smith for her faultless performance and work ethic.
She said: “She’s so good one v one and she’s absolutely incredible on the ball.
“She’s so good off the ball too.
“She has put absolutely everything into the game tonight and help us get the three points- I absolutely love working with her.”
Olivia Smith in shock
Olivia Smith’s brace, including a penalty in the Kop end, sealed the win for Liverpool.
She said: “I was a bit shocked I think it just felt a little bit unreal to me- I think I’m still in shock now but super happy to celebrate with my teammates.
“It’s going to be a forever memory in my mind and I’ll remember these girls for ever.”
The Canadian international spoke about Marie Hobinger letting her take the penalty in 67th minute.
“I do love taking penalties so I had a lot of confidence that if she [Marie Hobinger] wanted to give me the ball for it.”
“It’s an honour to be taking a pk and taking it from Marie she’s excellent at those so I’d like to thank her for my pk.”
Smith spoke of her team remaining calm under the pressure from Man United early in the first half.
She said: “We’re still in it and not to stress out and just be us- that’s the most important thing.
“I think we were a little flustered in the first half so I think we just had a reset and did our best.
“For me working both ends of the pitch is so important and that definitely was a weak point in my game so to be able to work on that as the season goes on is so important.”
Marc Skinner’s disappointment
Marc Skinner shared his disappointment in the team’s performance.
He said: “It’s a disappointing one.
“It’s uncharacteristic we’ve won seven games in a row before here so something we’ve just got to learn from, we’ve got access what didn’t go right tonight and fix it going forward.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Liverpool they’ve won the game 3-1 but I do feel that we’ve given them a massive leg up to win that game.”
Looking ahead
The reds move to 5th just two points above Brighton who have a game in hand.
Their next game is a Women’s Super League match away to Arsenal on Saturday 22nd March.
(Feature image by Clare Tweed)
