"They've always been pretty tight games." - Matt Beard Looks Ahead to West Ham Clash

Ahead of Liverpool’s WSL clash against West Ham on Sunday, Matt Beard spoke on

the current squad with injury updates, the mid-week win, playing West Ham in the

league, the transfer window, and Olivia Smith.

Injury updates:

“Hannah Silcock, Jas Mathews, and Niamh Fahey are out. Fuka Nagano missed out

during the week with a fever, so she should be back available, and we are still obviously

building Faye Kirby back up now, whose been in full training now for three weeks, so

the plan is to get her some games in the academy and then hopefully she will be back

available for the squad. We have a pretty strong squad to choose from.”

Mid-week win:

“Leicester was frustrating for so many reasons, good to bounce back with a

comprehensive win. I thought we played really well and obviously we had the advantage

of ten players for virtually half the game, well West Ham had ten players, but yeah no it

was good. We scored from set plays, Leanne Kiernan got on the scoresheet, and we

got players like Sam who got their first goal for the club, so yeah no, plenty of positives

to take. For me, the clean sheet was important and just the professionalism of the

performance.”

West Ham in the league:

“I think the fact that we’re at home gives us an advantage because we’re playing on a

bigger pitch than what West Ham are used to playing at home. But yeah no, it’s

definitely going to be an interesting game for sure. They’re always tough to play against.

I think apart from the 3-0 last season, they’ve always been pretty tight games.”

Transfer window (before Alejandra Bernabe was announced):

“Both (Sam Kerr and Julia Bartel) have made a big impact straight away, two completely

different players. I love Sam’s personality on and off the pitch. She’s been great since

she’s been in. What I love about her is she just gets on with things. She works hard for

the team. She wants to learn, and I love having conversations with her about football.

She's been a great addition, especially with her leadership from her time at Rangers,

Bayern Munich and the national team. I said when we signed her, we’re probably

getting the best version of Sam Kerr, and I definitely think we’ve got that. Julia’s a very,

very smart and technically gifted player, so it gives us great options in midfield now, and

we’ve got that strength of depth. So yeah, no, we’re pleased with how we’ve managed

to strengthen that area of the pitch and obviously it gives us as you know at the first half

of the season with all the injuries we had, we can now protect players, we can rotate,

and we are not relying on players coming back early.”

Olivia Smith:

“She deserves a lot of credit. I think she’s a black belt in martial arts, and in that combat,

they teach you discipline so I think from that side, I think her education, growing up in

Canada, playing different sports and obviously the martial art side of things I think has

taught her discipline. Smithy has been fantastic. I think I said before you know, she’s

still finding her feet. She's still learning, she’s only young and she’s only going to get

better. She deserves the nomination (Barclays player of the month for January), and

she deserves the nomination for the goal of the month as well, and I think since

Christmas, it’s a big change obviously coming into England, the WSL. I think she’s more

relaxed and more settled now.”

Liverpool play West Ham on Sunday, at the St. Helen’s Stadium. The kick-off is at 2pm,

with a 7th vs 8th battle in the