Well ladies and gentlemen its finally here. After several weeks of cup games
and postponements, this weekend sees the first round of league matches of the 2013 FAWSL season. Alas due to the weather playing havoc with the cup fixtures, two of the opening scheduled matches have had to be postponed so that Bristol and Everton can play their FA Cup 1/4 final. That only leaves us with two games. Chelsea v Birmingham and Lincoln v Liverpool. To help me look ahead to the Lincoln v Liverpool game i am joined by Heather Carroll who runs the Liverpool Ladies fans twitter account (@LFCLadiesfans) and runs the Liverpool Ladies fans blog which can be found here and is well worth a read.
The last time we met.
Highlighs of last season game between the sides at Lincoln.
2012 results
CC cup group stage
Lincoln 3-2 Liverpool
FA WSL
Lincoln 3-3 Liverpool
Liverpool 2-3 Lincoln
The story of the season so far.
The two sides that will lock horns took very different approaches over the winter in the transfer market. Lincoln only brought in Karen Bardsley in goal and on Thursday New Zealand international midfielder Hayley Bowden. For Lincoln Sophie Barker and Meaghan Seargent are both injured, and Sophie Walton sits out the last game of her three match ban she picked up on the last day of the 2012 season away at Chelsea.
Liverpool manager Matt Beard however was the busiest man in the WSL bringing in 12 players and showing the door to another 12. One thing both clubs did have in common was that they both changed home venues. Lincoln moved to Sincil Bank, and Liverpool switched to the Halton Stadium in Widnes; home to Widnes Rugby League club.
Both Lincoln and Liverpool have been reasonably lucky so far this season in the respect that they have got most of their games played. Both sides have made the FA cup semi finals and Liverpool's home game with Everton was the only match to survive the weather on the opening round of the Continental Cup. Liverpool started the season in style with a 5-0 away win at National premier division side Aston Villa in the FA cup. This was followed up by a hard fought 1-1 home draw with Everton in the Continental Cup when they succumbed to a late equaliser in front of the ESPN cameras. They were made to sweat in the 6th round of the FA cup away at Premier League leaders Sunderland before an 88th minute winner sent them through to the semi finals where they will face Arsenal. A couple of days ago it was announced that the semi final is to be played at Anfield and in doing so it will become the first women's game to be played at the famous old ground.
Liverpool Ladies results in 2013
FA Cup 5th round Aston Villa 0-5 Liverpool
Cont. Cup group game Liverpool 1-1 Everton
FA Cup 6th Round Sunderland 1-2 Liverpool
Top scorer Fara Williams- 3 goals
Lincoln Ladies results in 2013
FA Cup 5th round Lincoln 1-0 Chelsea
FA cup 6th round Lincoln 4-0 Leeds United
Top scorer Precious Hamilton - 2 goals
Now that we have had a little background on the match, lets look at Liverpool in detail with Heather and get her views on the side and the shape of the club at the moment. Again many thanks to her for taking the time to give us this interview.
Out of the eight sides in the League this season Liverpool have probably attracted the most attention due to their complete overhaul of the squad. With this in mind i am quite looking forward to seeing them in action, and how they gel over the course of the season will be one of the most interesting stories of the FAWSL season. Given that the League season only lasts 14 games they will have to gel sooner rather than later. The fact that they have had three games this season and were the first side to start playing pre season games should help them. For Lincoln early points are vital as given that our squad is quite small and more injuries or suspensions could really hit us hard later on into the season. I will go for a 2-0 home win, but it is very hard to predict because if Liverpool do click they really could be a handful and easily turn us over.
Will Liverpool click and put on a show? Will Lincoln keep another clean sheet? Will i have a pie, cheeseburger or both before halftime? All the answers to these questions will hopefully be found out Sunday at the 2.00pm kick off
AB: Liverpool have played three games
so far and have won two and drawn one. How do you rate the performance of the side so
far in this early stage of the season?
HC: Liverpool are in good form going
into the season, a convincing 5-0 win at Aston Villa and a 2-1 victory away at
Sunderland. However the game we drew at home against Everton is probably a more
realistic view of where we are at the moment. We started well against Everton
and if it were not for a couple of great saves from Rachel Brown we could have
been 2-0 up going in at half time! We were a bit unlucky with the dubious
decision that led to their goal and without that I think we could have gone on
and got a hard earned victory.
AB: You have been by far the busiest
club in the transfer market over the winter months. Which signing has most
excited the fans?
HC: To be honest all the new signings
have stirred excitement amongst supporters. They are a real statement of intent
from the club alongside the integrating of the Women’s team into a bigger part
of Liverpool Football Club as a whole.
The signings from Everton are
huge for us, in particular Fara Williams who is a proven goal scoring
midfielder in the WSL. Williams got a hat trick in her competitive debut for us
which is great to see.
Whitney Engen is the biggest
signing for us in my opinion; a fantastic centre back who I believe will be
first choice for the USA in the coming years. If Engen and Gemma Bonner can
form a successful partnership in the heart of our defence it will bring the
stability that we have craved in the last couple of seasons.
AB: How has the move to a new stadium
gone down with the supporters? The ground at Widnes is certainly a huge
improvement from last season and you had a very good crowd in for the Everton
match.
HC:Halton Stadium is a vast
improvement from last season, a lot more accessible and appealing than being in
Skelmersdale! The buzz around the new signings and the media coverage we seem
to be getting should mean that the numbers through the gate will go up. Given
that the game against Everton last month had such a good crowd despite the
terrible weather conditions is a great indicator for the season ahead.
AB:Where do you expect Liverpool to
finish this season in the league? And do you think there is added pressure on
the club given all the signings made in the winter?
HC: Matt Beard has said the minimum
target this season is a top four finish and while I feel this is a more
realistic expectation if the team can settle quickly and get a good run of
results together to get some momentum going I see no reason why we can’t at
least challenge at the top of the table. Not saying I expect us to be winning
the league straight away but to be up there and challenging for honours would
be great for both the club and supporters after the last couple of seasons.
The pressure is on the players to
perform especially with the aforementioned media coverage, it kind of feels as
though everyone is watching us to see what happens. Hopefully that pressure is
something the girls can thrive on.
AB:And finally could we have a
prediction for this weekend’s game from you please
HC: The fixture has given us a lot of
goals over the last two seasons however with both teams having strengthened at
the back – Karen Bardsley being a great signing for you and our new centre back
pairing of Engen and Bonner I can see this game being a tighter affair. I’m
going to sit on the fence and go for a 1-1 draw!
Thanks for reading, feel free to
follow @LFCLadiesfans on twitter, aiming to bring you news from our season from
a fans perspective!
My views game on the game.
Out of the eight sides in the League this season Liverpool have probably attracted the most attention due to their complete overhaul of the squad. With this in mind i am quite looking forward to seeing them in action, and how they gel over the course of the season will be one of the most interesting stories of the FAWSL season. Given that the League season only lasts 14 games they will have to gel sooner rather than later. The fact that they have had three games this season and were the first side to start playing pre season games should help them. For Lincoln early points are vital as given that our squad is quite small and more injuries or suspensions could really hit us hard later on into the season. I will go for a 2-0 home win, but it is very hard to predict because if Liverpool do click they really could be a handful and easily turn us over.
Will Liverpool click and put on a show? Will Lincoln keep another clean sheet? Will i have a pie, cheeseburger or both before halftime? All the answers to these questions will hopefully be found out Sunday at the 2.00pm kick off
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