believe that we can move the team forward and I think that starts from
the culture that Vick creates. Amongst the staf, we all feel that way but
you can also feel it amongst the players as well.
“It’s been a really fascinating season. We’ve done pretty well against
the top three teams and never been beaten by more than one goal
against any of them. But you can see that we’ve struggled against some
of the opponents that we probably should have been better against
and I think that’s the biggest thing that we can look forward to in this
inal stretch of the season. How do we mentally prep for those games
and what can we do diferently? We’re always looking for ways in
which we can be better so that will be our biggest focus.”
Emma has enjoyed the collaborative approach of Jepson who works
closely with all members of her staf which includes two other UEFA
‘A’-licence coaches in Emma and goalkeeping coach Jen Herst.
“Vick values all of our opinions and our thoughts on the game,”
Emma explains. “We always relect on and dissect the games together
to make sure that we’re all on the same page.
“If one of us has seen something that is diferent to how she has,
we’ll watch it back and see it all together. It’s the same with what we
see in opponents. Vick and I will always be across at least their last ive
games and all the key moments. She always has diferent eyes over the
opposition to make sure that we’re hitting the key things that we want
to make sure our girls are prepared for. She’s good at integrating the
staf with that and making sure we’re really clear on our game-plan. ”
Emma has also enjoyed working on individual development with
young players such as forwards Rinsola Babajide and Niamh Charles
and midielder Jade Bailey.
“I think it’s a hard balance because you can make a lot of gains in
pre-season or at times like international breaks where you are not just
purely working towards the weekend and can get a bit more time out
on the grass with individuals,” she says.
“Players don’t peak until they’re 27 or 28 in the women’s game so
there’s still a long way to go for a lot of this squad. Regardless of what
age a player is you can always make them better. But when you have a
younger team, I think you know that there’s so much more in them but
obviously with kids, they’ve still got so much to learn about the game.
“Rins’ development has happened steadily. Some of it has just come
with her maturing as a person and as a player as well. She seems to
have really found that fascination for making herself better and the
more she’s asking the questions that she is, she has a really high ceiling.
“Niamh Charles has been coming back from injury and it’s been a
tough journey for her. She watches so much footage of her game and
is super self-critical. She is always trying to be better and pushes herselfanyway, so I thought I’d just see what was out there. I met Charlotte
who saw my CV and mentioned that Vicky was looking for an assistant
and it might be worth seeing if it was the right it.
“I came to the training ground at Wallasey and did a session with the
girls during one international break and I got along well with Vicky. I
started part-time as I hadn’t intended on working that quickly. I had
initially thought I might take six months of but when an opportunity
like this came up, I obviously bit Vick’s hand of!
“We got along really well right from the start and it naturally became
a full-time job for me. Now that my son is a little bit older, it was perfect
timing really and Vicky was really good with integrating me into the
set-up.”
Although the young Reds squad face a battle to climb of the bottom
of the Super League table in the next two months, Emma says the spirit
and positive energy around the camp belies Liverpool’s lowly league
standing.
“Obviously the season’s been tough. It’s really pushed and tested all
of us – as it should, regardless of where you’re placed.
“It’s not an easy thing when you’re working so hard to try and
produce things and not getting the results but what’s quite amazing
about the environment is that you come in each day and you would
not know it.
“You see that people are happy, people are working hard and people
are focused. Vick’s created such a good environment amongst the
players and staf. She’s really good at staying set on the process of
working towards the next ixture and taking things game by game.
“I think that’s really, really important when you’re sitting bottom of the
league as we are at the moment. There’s no shadow of a doubt that we
Liverpool FC Women’s postponed Barclays FA Women’s Super League
ixture at Everton has been rescheduled for Wednesday 25 March
(kick-off 7pm).
The match was originally due to have taken place last month but was
called off due to adverse weather conditions caused by Storm Ciara.
The rearranged encounter will be the irst WSL Merseyside derby to
be hosted at Goodison Park and the second meeting of the two teams
to be hosted at a irst-team stadium this season after a derby-record
crowd of 23,500 watched the irst game at Anield in November.
All tickets for the visitors’ section of the ground will remain valid for
the ixture.
DERBY DATE
OBVIOUSLY THE SEASON’S
BEEN TOUGH, IT’S REALLY
PUSHED AND TESTED ALL
OF US – AS IT SHOULD,
REGARDLESS OF WHERE
YOU’RE PLACED