Liverpool Women Aim High After Spurs Draw

Liverpool Women entered the 2026-27 campaign with a simple, sober calculation. Three games to start: newly promoted Charlton, mid-table Tottenham, and defending champions Manchester City. Four points from that run would have sounded pragmatic, maybe even optimistic, for a side trying to claw its way back into the FAWSL’s middle pack.

They might just get those four points. The way they’re playing, they may feel short-changed if they only do.

The season opened with a jolt. A 4-0 dismantling of Charlton was more than a routine win over a newcomer; it was a statement that Liverpool intend to look upwards this year, not over their shoulder. Confidence rose, expectations nudged higher, and suddenly that quiet four-point target looked a little modest.

Then came Tottenham. A 1-1 draw on Sunday keeps Liverpool on schedule in terms of the maths, but not in terms of how the game felt.

Manager Gareth Taylor cut a figure of satisfaction mixed with frustration afterwards, convinced his side had done enough to take all three.

"I'm really proud of the performance," he said. "I felt we were the better team. We improved second half, but I still felt we were probably the team that were looking more likely in the first. I think where we've just come up short today is our final action."

That last line told the story. Liverpool controlled long spells, especially after the break, but lacked the ruthless edge to turn dominance into a decisive lead.

For Taylor, the second half underlined how far his team have come.

"For the amount of play that we had, it felt in the second half that Tottenham really couldn't get out of their half but only for a couple of moments," he said. "I'm really proud of the team and where we've taken it to now. I thought the goal was quality and I thought we could have had a penalty."

The pressure built, the ball stayed pinned in Spurs territory, and Liverpool’s structure held firm. The London side adjusted, tried to disrupt the rhythm, but the home team kept coming. The only thing missing was that clean, clinical touch in front of goal.

Taylor knows this is where the next step lies. The patterns are there. The control is there. The belief is starting to harden.

What makes this start more striking is how it compares to last season’s struggles. Even if Liverpool emerge from their opening trio of fixtures with only four points, it would still mark a clear step forward, and that’s before you factor in how sharp they have looked in pre-season and across these first two league outings.

"There are a lot of elements of our game today that we're really satisfied with," Taylor added. "Tottenham are a good team. They're not going to give up the spaces easily and they wanted to be aggressive and change their press in the first half to try to stop us gaining so much ball."

Tottenham did their homework. They shifted their press, tried to choke off Liverpool’s supply lines, and showed why they sit comfortably in the division’s middle tier. Liverpool, though, largely solved those problems. They kept the ball, forced Spurs deeper, and dictated where the game was played.

Now comes the real examination. Manchester City, champions and standard-setters, await in a rare Friday night kickoff. It is early in the season, too early for sweeping judgments, but not too early to sense that Liverpool are no longer simply trying to survive.

The performance against Spurs suggested a side ready to test itself against the very best. The question is no longer whether they can hit that four-point target.

It’s whether that target was ever ambitious enough.