Liverpool FC Women have not scored many goals this season. I should know; I’ve been to see them twice and they drew a blank both times.
Only Leicester City, their next opponents, have scored fewer (and half as many at that). There are just four players in the 2022/23 Women’s Super League who have taken at least 13 shots without scoring, and unfortunately three of them represent Matt Beard’s side.
One Red who has found the net is Missy Bo Kearns. Her trio of strikes have all been important too; the opening goals in the 3-3 draw at Brighton and 2-0 victory over Reading (making her the only LFCW player to bag the first goal more than once this term) and the winner against Tottenham. There is one aspect of Kearns’ game which is going unrewarded, however, and Sundays match with the Seagulls was a perfect example.
Arguably her stand-out figure from the match was the 12 ball recoveries she made. It equalled Kearns’ best total of the season, in the win over the Royals, and only Fuka Nagano in the same match, with 14, has topped it for Liverpool this season.
Kearns is particularly strong for this metric when looking purely at the final third. Her average of 1.4 per 90 minutes is the joint-14th best in the WSL this season (and only three men top it in the Premier League). However, only four of the women above the Reds midfielder in the standings have also played at least as many minutes, and it’s quartet with whom most people with even a passing interest in women’s football will be familiar: Lauren Hemp (2.2), Alessia Russo (1.7), Katie McCabe and Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw (both 1.5). Take account of recoveries in the middle third of the field and Kearns is ahead of all four.
While it won’t have been recorded in the aforementioned stats, pressing by the 22-year-old led to Liverpool’s winner against Brighton (and this after she’d had an effort on target after recovering the ball herself in midfield). Kearns also recorded two defensive actions which resulted in shots, becoming only the fourth player to do this in a WSL match this term, along with:
Ceri Holland against Tottenham
Bunny Shaw vs. Arsenal
Jade Moore for Reading in their win over West Ham
Only Yui Hasegawa has recorded more defensive shot creating actions (SCAs) overall this season, though plenty of players have logged more in total when other actions - passes, take-ons, shots and being fouled - are taken into account.
Kearns stands out from the competition in one sense though. Not one of her 27 SCAs has resulted in a goal, which is at least nine more than any other player in the division who has yet to see one converted. With even an average hit rate, three of hers would have become goals.
It leaves Kearns third in the standings for difference between expected and actual assists in 2022/23, behind Hayley Raso and Katja Snoeijs. Liverpool supporters will be fully aware of the positive impact provided by their number seven, it just needs the numbers to catch up.
And since I posted the article, Kearns has been revealed as Liverpool’s Player of the Month for March, retaining the award she claimed in February.