Liverpool Women Show Ambition After Spurs Stalemate
Liverpool Women entered the new 2026-27 campaign with a clear, modest calculation. Newly promoted Charlton, mid-table Tottenham, and champions Manchester City in their first three fixtures. Four points from that run would be respectable. Sensible. A platform.
Two games in, they are on schedule. The manner of it, though, suggests a team aiming a little higher than just survival in the middle of the pack.
The season opened with a statement. A 4-0 dismantling of Charlton that did more than tick off three points; it jolted expectations. The performance had pace, control, and a ruthless edge that hinted at a side beginning to grow into itself after last season’s struggles.
Against Tottenham on Sunday, the scoreline did not match the dominance. A 1-1 draw felt like a short change.
Gareth Taylor certainly saw it that way.
"I'm really proud of the performance," the Liverpool manager said afterwards. "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 final action. The last pass, the decisive touch, the finish. It was all that stood between Liverpool and a perfect six points from six.
The pattern of the game underlined his frustration. Liverpool pinned Spurs back for long stretches, especially after the interval. The ball lived in Tottenham’s half. Attacks rolled in waves. The visitors, by contrast, survived on moments.
"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," Taylor 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 goal did carry that stamp of quality, the sort that tends to define teams who trust their patterns and their structure. The fact Liverpool are already producing that kind of move in week two, after a sharp pre-season, is no small detail.
Even if the original target holds—four points from the first three games—Liverpool are already ahead of where they were a year ago. The comparison is stark. Last season, they scraped and clawed through too many fixtures, short on confidence and short on control. This version looks different: surer in possession, more aggressive without the ball, more willing to impose themselves on sides like Spurs who see themselves as established contenders for those mid-table and upward spots.
Taylor knows Tottenham are no soft touch.
"There are a lot of elements of our game today that we're really satisfied with," he said. "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."
Spurs did adjust, pressing higher and trying to disrupt Liverpool’s rhythm. It worked in flashes. It never truly wrestled control away. That in itself is a marker of progress for Liverpool: they dictated the terms for long spells against a side designed to make life awkward.
Now comes the real stress test.
Next up is Manchester City, the defending FAWSL champions, in a rare Friday night kickoff. The fixture that looked like a free hit when the schedule dropped now arrives with a different flavour. Liverpool are not just clinging to a points target; they are carrying form, belief, and a sense of upward movement into a meeting with the best in the country.
If four points from three games was once the aim, the question now is simple: after performances like these, should they be aiming higher?
