The lasting image from Manchester City’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool will, unfairly, be the sight of defender Niamh Fahey clinging desperately to Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw as the Jamaica forward struck City’s winning goal.
Seconds later, Shaw was celebrating in front of the City away support in the corner of the Anfield Road stand, the roof of Rachael Laws’ net still rippling from the Jamaican’s thumping match-winner (and second goal of the game) which sent City top of the Women’s Super League (WSL). Somewhere behind the City striker stood a deflated Fahey.
But for 92 minutes, Liverpool kept Shaw and the rest of Gareth Taylor’s title challengers within reach. Though this was Liverpool’s first defeat of the campaign, the performance showed Matt Beard is overseeing a quiet revolution at Liverpool.
While they ultimately failed to get the better of City for a third successive match (City were the only top-five side Liverpool failed to beat last season, losing 9-2 on aggregate across two matches), this was the most compelling argument that Liverpool can keep up with — or even exceed — the expectations set by their fourth-place finish last season.
With predictions weighty for Liverpool heading into the new campaign, draws against Leicester City and West Ham United felt sobering, and even the last-gasp 3-2 win against Tottenham Hotspur lacked the performance levels expected. City represented Liverpool’s sternest test, but Olivia Smith’s delightful solo goal was the just reward for an impressive first-half display.
The hosts limited City to zero shots on target in the opening 45 minutes, a dogged bank of five and compact shape frustrating an attack that had dismantled the European champions Barcelona with a silky swagger just four days earlier.
As we can see from the graphic above, which shows the average positions of Liverpool’s players across the first 45 minutes, the home side were camped inside their own half, with forwards Cornelia Kapocs and Sophie Roman Haug the only players who were, on average, in City’s half.
Compare this to City, who had all but two outfield players, centre-backs Laia Aleixandri and Alex Greenwood in Liverpool’s half.
The positive from this first-half display is that it was more reflective of the standard Beard demands than this season’s previous performances. In games against Leicester, West Ham and Tottenham, Liverpool’s defence was more reactive, the own goal from captain Taylor Hinds against Spurs a symptom of this. The performances were at odds with those from last season, in which Liverpool conceded just 28 goals, the fourth-best in the league behind Manchester City (15), Chelsea (18) and Arsenal (20).
On Sunday, the hosts were more than happy to spend most of the opening 45 parked in their own half, soaking up pressure before slicing forward and hitting Smith, who joined this summer as the club’s record signing, on the counter.
Smith’s average position shows the forward in a deeper position than her fellow forwards, a result of the player’s tenacious defending. She won eight of 12 ground duels, the most of any player despite being substituted at half-time, and registered the joint-third most interceptions (two) behind only Hinds (three) and Fuka Nagano (four).
But Smith’s ability to serve as a consistent outlet for Liverpool on the break offers a fundamental threat in attack that Liverpool missed last season.
Back ⏩ Front
A brilliant strike from Olivia Smith 🌟#BarclaysWSL @LiverpoolFCW pic.twitter.com/shqbnuuf5U
— Barclays Women’s Super League (@BarclaysWSL) October 13, 2024
Twice the Canada international came close. Never before had Liverpool Women scored at Anfield, let alone claimed a victory, having lost all three previous matches held at the stadium to Everton. To exorcise all their Anfield demons against title-challenging City felt almost intoxicating. No wonder, then, the eruption from the Kop End as Smith intercepted the ball in midfield and found the back of the net in the 41st minute from 20 yards felt like its own kind of catharsis.
If the 20-year-old, who is now Liverpool’s joint-top goalscorer this season alongside Marie Hobinger, represents the potential that this team touts, her absence from the second half (a precaution after she received treatment shortly after opening the scoring) was testament to the gaps that remain between Liverpool and the Champions League places.
Despite looking the more dangerous side in the opening exchanges, a lack of goals remains problematic.
Last term, Beard’s side managed 36 in the WSL, the fifth best but just more than half of what Chelsea managed (71) and off the pace of City (61), Arsenal (53) and Manchester United (42).
Liverpool ended Sunday’s game with an xG of just 0.4, with just 15 per cent of the field tilt (the proportion of final-third touches in a game that a team has). The loss of Smith was notable in Liverpool’s sudden lack of attacking outlet. Her replacement, Mia Enderby, did not offer the same threat.
The final 20 minutes became an exercise in survival for Liverpool, which felt most apparent as goalkeeper Laws smacked her head against the post in a bid to save Shaw’s equaliser and nervous glances were cast at a Liverpool bench conspicuously lacking a spare goalkeeper.
From here, City’s superior quality shined alongside Liverpool’s limitations. The host’s defensive strength descended into a form of trench warfare, all flailing bodies and big saves. Liverpool contained City to just two shots on target, a valiant effort but not when up against last season’s Golden Boot winner. Shaw’s brace condemned Liverpool to their fourth successive league game in which they failed to protect a lead.
For City, this was the kind of nasty grind that wins titles. Shaw’s brace, her fifth and sixth in all competitions this season, a monument to this brand of hustle.
“I thought we deserved a point from the game,” assistant manager Scott Rogers, who took charge as head coach Beard was absent through illness, told Sky Sports. “We frustrated them for large periods which was part of the game plan. We were dangerous on the counter. We made one or two defensive errors towards the end and they punished us.”
“At the end of the day sometimes an ugly win is just as important as the three points, so we just have to keep going,” Shaw said to Sky after the match.
This latest display reinforces the suggestion that City can topple Chelsea’s hegemony. For Liverpool, the performance promises to be a place from which to grow into their expectations.
(Top photo: Lewis Storey/Getty Images)
