Coaching Kicks: Robbie Johnson — Liverpool Ladies

Liverpool Ladies manager Robbie Johnson sets out his thinking after his side finished bottom of the inaugural Super League. He argues Liverpool were not the worst team in the division despite taking the fewest points, blaming a lack of consistency and mental strength in games they should have won, including a 3-3 draw with Everton and a goalless draw at Birmingham. He describes recruiting four or five players from overseas to widen a small and parochial player pool, among them New Zealand goalkeeper Aroon Clansey. Drawing on fifteen years at Liverpool’s academy in the men’s game, he wants to change the players’ mentality, get them watching more football and accepting that mistakes are part of learning. He jokes that he has thirty players and seventy-five opinions.