Liverpool women’s interim manager Amber Whiteley previews WSL clash with Arsenal following Matt Beard’s sacking
Melwood, Liverpool, UK
Melwood, Liverpool, UK
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00:00Hi, Amber. I just wanted to know what it's been like this week and what sort of positivity you've managed to gain from knocking a side like Arsenal out of the FA Cup, giving you a boost ahead of Man Utd and the likes of Anfield?
00:15Hi, Phil. I think the performance on Sunday and the result has given us huge belief going into the game on Friday. It's been a quick turnaround, so we enjoyed the win on Sunday, but then we've had to shift the focus quite quickly and get to work on United.
00:36There's always going to be a bit of an extra buzz when you're playing at Anfield, but playing Man Utd at Anfield, it's a special occasion.
00:44Yes, one that we're all looking forward to. Friday night under the lights at Anfield against one of our biggest rivals. Those are the games that everyone wants to be a part of, so we have prepared well this week and we're looking forward to the game.
00:59They're on a big winning streak at the moment. Is that daunting in any way for you?
01:04Yes, they're in a good run of form in the league. I think they're unbeaten in seven since they played us and beat us 4-0 away from home. I think they've actually gone under the radar a little bit this season.
01:15They've been performing really well, not conceding a lot of goals, really direct, quick in the attack. It'll be a tough test for us on tomorrow night, but yes, one that we're ready for.
01:30Will Anfield give you an even bigger edge than it would have done playing at the St Helens Stadium?
01:37I think we all want to play on the biggest stages and Anfield is a second home for us. We want to pack it out with as many of our supporters as we can and we'll need everyone to get right behind us.
01:52It's a game that everyone wants to be a part of and we'll be wanting to give a good account of ourselves tomorrow night.
02:01Just wanted to ask you a little bit about Taylor Hyne. We heard about the abuse she suffered last week. How's she been this week, first of all?
02:11Firstly, what happened at the game on Sunday is just completely unacceptable. We're proud of Taylor for making the stand. It's important for her, but for everyone else in the game too.
02:28For every little girl out there who dreams of being a professional footballer. I've got two little boys at home. It's important for them too to know that that sort of behaviour is not acceptable and won't be tolerated.
02:45We're really proud of Taylor and we're right behind her. She's in a good place and she's focused on the game tomorrow.
02:56How does it make you feel knowing that this kind of thing is happening at the top of the women's game in 2021?
03:03I just think it's disappointing and it's completely unacceptable. The game is growing at a fast rate. There's more spotlight on the game than ever before, but we need to make sure that the environment remains a safe one and one where no one is subjected to that sort of discrimination or abuse.
03:33Thank you, Amber. That's all from me.
03:34Thanks, Phil.
03:36Thanks, and Alex Brotherton from BBC Sports also on. Alex?
03:43Hi, Amber. Are you okay?
03:44Hi, Alex.
03:45Hi. Can you just give us a bit of a team news update, maybe about the fitness of a few of the players that have been struggling with issues recently?
03:56Yeah, all good on that front. Leanne Kiernan has been back in full training. Niamh Fahey has been back in training too. It's just Hannah Silcott that we're without still.
04:07So, for Fahey and Kiernan, are they available to play tomorrow or just back in training?
04:12Yeah, they're available for selection.
04:14Okay. Would you say, obviously, you've had a great start to this interim spell, two wins in two, two clean sheets, getting to the third final of the FA Cup. Would you say you're looking ahead to the rest of… you've got seven games left.
04:31Have your expectations of what you want to achieve, do you think, have risen, or did you come into it with a game-by-game attitude?
04:41I think it's important to focus on the here and now. The games come thick and fast. Once you've got one boxed off, you've got to get straight to work on the next.
04:53And you put everything in in terms of your preparation for the next game. So, obviously, we want to improve each week. I said right at the start, we wanted to be more threatening in the attack, more balanced in our attacking play.
05:12We wanted to be conceding less goals and I think we've started to see those improvements in the first two games, but still, there's lots of work to do. So, we'll keep chipping away at that.
05:27Obviously, I guess the dressing room must have been buzzing after that win against Arsenal. How have you found trying to keep everyone with their feet on the ground, going into this game tomorrow against the informal team in the league?
05:45You know what? It was actually quite quiet on the bus journey home, I think because they'd put so much into the game. They'd given absolutely everything. I actually think they were tired.
06:00So, when they've come back in on Tuesday, we were in good spirits, but we had to shift our focus really quickly onto Man Utd because of the quick turnaround. So, we enjoyed it in the moment, but we've had to move on quite quickly this week.
06:21Cheers Amber, all the best for tomorrow.
06:23Thanks Alex.
06:24Thanks Alex. We'll come into the room here and then we'll come back to you Dan, but in the room we've got Megan Furringer from The Athletic.
06:31Hi Megan, how are you?
06:33Good, thanks.
06:34The shift to the back four is working really well now, two games in a row and against Arsenal, it looked like you were able to evolve from that first game against Palace. How have you seen the improvement already in the system?
06:48Yeah, I definitely think we were better without the ball against Arsenal and that was a big part of the game plan. We wanted to control the central areas of the pitch and I thought we did that really well. It really comes down to hard work, good preparation, lots of review and then going back out there and doing it again and just refining all the time, but I was really pleased with the progress against Arsenal.
07:13In terms of off the ball, midfield, Sam Kerr had a fantastic performance. Working with her personally, with yourself, how have you seen that progression since the time she's come in in January?
07:25Yeah, I think she's been brilliant in the last two games. Gives us a lot on the ball, but I think her defensive work has been so important. It was brilliant against Arsenal, did a lot of the work that often goes unseen almost, but gave us real security in front of our back four.
07:46I'm made up for her because she comes in and puts a real shift in every day, so I'm delighted for her.
07:55In terms of being more of a threat and attack, so against Arsenal again there were the two chances that Sofia had and the keeper did a good job of trying to keep it out, but in terms of United being as good as they are to not let things concede, you guys wanted to be more of a threatening attack.
08:09Did the Arsenal performance, did you feel like you saw more potential in there or was it kind of the same issues as previously where the conversion rate maybe isn't there yet?
08:19We knew against Arsenal that they would give us opportunities on transition and that's where we tried to exploit them. I think we did that on, we put them under pressure on a few occasions there and we're unfortunate, like you said there, not to have been too up before we actually got the goal.
08:48We need to keep working on those moments, but there's definitely improvement there.
08:54A lot of times people compare Man United and Liverpool because last season you all did the double over them and this season United have kind of lifted up, but if you go a season back, it was Liverpool's first season in the WSL after getting relegated and United actually finished second.
09:10Do you feel like sometimes when people compare from last season it's maybe missing the bigger picture or we're not maybe looking at the whole context?
09:19Well I think for us this year it's been a little bit of a stop start, so I'm not sure if you can actually compare there.
09:28Different maybe if we'd had more consistency from start to finish, but yeah I think that's a difficult one to compare.
09:37Thanks Megan, and we'll go to Dan Pentland, WSL full-time.
09:43Hi Amber, hope you're well. You've touched on United's record and their unbeaten run at the minute, obviously they've lost one game, I think they've got best defence, six goals conceded, so I suppose it might be a million dollar question here, but how do you beat a side like that and do you see any kind of weaknesses within their defensive structure?
10:02Yeah obviously I don't want to give too much away, but yes there are always opportunities to exploit the opposition, we've looked at that throughout the week, they're very aggressive off the ball and when you're that aggressive off the ball you leave spaces where you've come from, so we have to be calm, we have to recognise where the spaces are, particularly on transitions.
10:33How much can the fans make a difference tomorrow night, we know Anfield is a special place, it's a big game, what does he say under the lights, how much can the players feed off the support and the noise of the fans?
10:45I think that will be so important, the travelling support away to Palace and Arsenal was brilliant, that really helped push us on last week, in particular against Arsenal, but it's going to be a different level on tomorrow night, we're going to need everyone behind us, we want to produce football that the fans enjoy and can really get behind, so we want to do that tomorrow and we want the crowd right there behind us because it will make all the difference.
11:16That's brilliant, thanks Amber, best of luck.
11:19Thanks Dan.
11:45I think we want to be consistent, we want to keep improving week on week, like I was saying before, we take real care in our review, we want to keep refining our game, so that progress little by little is really important to us, the 1% gains soon add up and then you can see bigger progress where we need to be.
12:15Especially when you take a step back over a longer period, so yeah, that is super important for us.
12:22That's great, especially with the Arsenal one as well, coming in as the underdogs into the match, how do you deal with that mentality, especially for the players?
12:32I actually don't think we, we never spoke about that and it's not something that I really think about, if I'm being completely honest Claire, I think you prepare as best you can for every game, no matter who the opponent is, there are always ways that you can stop them from doing the things that they want to do and there are always ways that you can exploit them,
12:59so that was the main focus against Arsenal, they were prepared as well as they could be going into that game and then when they crossed the white line on Sunday, they executed the game plan and they gave absolutely everything and that's the way that we'll approach every game going forward.
13:21That's great, thank you.
13:22Thanks Claire.
13:23Thanks Claire, I don't see any more hands up so I think that concludes today's press conference, thanks very much everyone for coming on, thanks Amber and yeah hopefully a few of you will join us at Anfield tomorrow but if not, enjoy your football wherever you're seeing it this weekend, thanks a lot.
13:39Thanks everyone.
13:41See you guys.