Liverpool boss Taylor left with mixed emotions after defeat to Chelsea

Liverpool head coach Gareth Taylor had mixed emotions after watching his side go down 2-0 to Chelsea at Kingsmeadow on Sunday afternoon.

Sjoeke Nüsken and Lauren James got the goals as the hosts continued their push for European qualification.

Despite the 2-0 defeat to the reigning Barclays Women’s Super League champions, Liverpool boss Taylor praised his players for their efforts.

“Going into this game, we understood the category of game that we put it in,” Taylor said when speaking to the media after the match. “I think [Manchester] United, Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea; I think that’s a category where you know that you’re going to have to be really at it to get things right, to get something from the game.

“I thought there were a lot of positives today and I feel better than I did after the Man United game. I felt we tried to play them at their game a little bit more and come up short whereas today, we played the way we wanted to play, I thought we had control of large parts of the game.

“The message at half-time – we were disappointed to give the goal away because I think that’s on us a little bit.”

Commenting on his side’s performance further, Taylor highlighted Liverpool’s missed opportunities, however, he saw positives to take back to Merseyside.

He said “Even though Chelsea do have the quality and they always seem to like force the ball into the goal, we just felt that was on us a little bit more and we could also be better in the final action.

“We just didn’t work [Hannah] Hampton enough in the first half, we were better in that sense in the second. We certainly had some good moments in the first half, we could have exploited that a little bit more.

“For me, it’s disappointing, but I think that’s a mark of progress for us; that you come here and to a team that’s been really dominant here for many, many years and to be disappointed.”

“I’m sure the players will be disappointed today, but they also would have enjoyed going toe-to-toe with Chelsea and at times, holding their own. It’s just that more of those duels, more of those outcomes, we need to come out on the right side of.”

Liverpool are back in action when they take on Everton in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup at BrewDog Stadium on Sunday.