“Dan Ashworth and Omar Berrada have been fantastic and have both come in with real energy to speak to the group,” Skinner said in a news conference earlier this season. “I cannot tell you how personable and authentic those conversations were. They genuinely love women’s football and have a real burning ambition for it to be in the forefront of their direction. That will only improve.”
Whether Ashworth’s successor is similarly passionate about empowering United Women remains to be seen. However, after the Liverpool game, Skinner was quick to emphasise the support he and his players continue to feel internally, reiterating his own determination to focus on performances on the field.
“What I know about the club is that it has a love and an affinity with our women’s team, I know that,” he said. “I sense it every day when I go into the training ground. I know the love for our team is there. I don’t know what that path looks like quite yet and I’m sure that is a part of the planning process from above to sell us that and I’m sure, over the next few weeks, we’ll talk more about it.
“But I want us as a team to focus on what we can control and that is the football part, and then away from that, I know we can be a massive part and are a massive part of this club and we’ve got to work out what that looks like.”
From a Liverpool perspective, Sunday’s defeat was yet another bracing reminder of the gulf that still exists between them and the game’s big hitters. Beard’s side defied expectations last term to secure a fourth-placed finish, ending the season six-points clear of United, whom they toppled in both of their WSL meetings.
Those victories seemed to symbolise an upwardly mobile Liverpool, capable of upsetting the league’s top order. While injuries have been a major factor in the team’s recent inconsistent form — with a number of key players, including last season’s top scorer, Sophie Román Haug, currently sidelined — they look some way off being able to compete for the game’s top honours.
“It’s frustrating,” Beard said after the game. “We know we’ve got one of the smallest squads in the division. I’ve said it before, we can only work with the resources we have budget-wise. I feel like we actually started the game quite well, but we had a moment of madness where two minutes killed the game for us.”
Beard’s reference to the financial parameters he is working within at Liverpool again raises an important point about the disparity between the WSL’s top three and the rest of the division. The club have come a long way since being relegated in 2019 — incidentally the same year that Jurgen Klopp’s side lifted the Premier League title — and have gone to great lengths to improve the professionalism of the women’s team, repurchasing Liverpool men’s former training ground, Melwood, as a base for Beard’s side and breaking the club’s transfer record in consecutive summers to bring in Roman Haug and Olivia Smith.
But with the ruthlessness and knowhow of perennial winners Chelsea leaving little room for error in the WSL, it is clear it will take time for Liverpool to assemble a similarly well-stocked squad.
“It’s not always about the money,” Beard said. “I don’t know what all the other teams spend. I know what we spend and we’ve overachieved in the last two years. If you look at the investment from the other sides – – I’m not saying we’ve stood still, I don’t think we needed many changes. We were consistent last season with team selection whereas this year I don’t think I’ve been able to pick the same team twice.”
With seven first-team players missing this weekend’s clash with United, it is perhaps little wonder Liverpool struggled against Skinner’s side. But, with the WSL growing more competitive year-on-year, it is apparent both they and their hosts have a tough road ahead if they are to consistently compete at the highest level.
