MY ACCOUNT
Liverpool boss Matt Beard has heaped the pressure on Everton ahead of tomorrow night’s Merseyside derby in the Women’s Super League.
Beard saw his side thumped 3-0 by the Toffees at Anfield last September in the reverse fixture and wants them to put things right at Goodison Park.
Reflecting on that loss, Beard said: “I think we tried to prepare the team as best we could in the sense of going to Anfield the day before, getting familiar with the dressing room, walking out on the pitch.
“But when you walk out to You’ll Never Walk Alone at Anfield in front of 27,000 or 28,000 people, it’s a completely different effect than what it is at Prenton Park.
“I think you could see in our first-half performance it affected us slightly, I thought second half we did a lot better but we’d become too open at the back end of the game, trying to chase it.
“The pressure will be reversed on to Everton, playing at Goodison. We’re looking forward to the occasion.
“I think we learned a lot that night, and we’re looking forward to hopefully putting the wrongs of that night right on Friday.”
Toffees boss Brian Sorensen confessed excitement levels are high in the home camp, ahead of playing in front of what is expected to be a record crowd.
Sorensen said: “There’s been a lot of hype around it. Last night I could see they’re putting big pictures up on one of the buildings in the Albert Dock, which was really nice.
“What I’ve heard is that ticket sales have reached 20,000, so that’s a good crowd. Liverpool will be up for the fight. It’s going to be a big game with a big crowd, under the lights on a Friday night. I don’t think it gets much better.
“We will see probably a bit of a different Liverpool team, more aggressive than they were at Anfield, so we prepare for that.”
Sorensen also said goalkeeper Emily Ramsey, on loan at Everton from Manchester United, is set to be out for another four weeks with the ankle injury that saw her withdraw from England’s squad last month.
Meanwhile, the Reds have had Jasmine Matthews, Melissa Lawley and Shanice van de Sanden back in training.
