Liverpool Women finished 1st in the 2025-26 WSL season, but a tumultuous offseason and difficult start to the season led to a disappointing overall finish. The Reds were 8 points clear of Leicester City at the bottom. The LFC Women endured a tumultuous offseason last summer that seemed to set the tone for early struggles. The Reds went into the summer without an official head coach after Matt Beard was let go the prior March and with many key players unsure if they would resign as the club future and direction was unclear. While key players like Ceri Holland and Fuka Nagano ultimately decided to re-sign ahead of new leadership being in place, the club sold starlet Olivia Smith for a then world record $1 million. Gareth Taylor was identified as the top candidate for the head coaching position, but complications with negotiating his gardening leave meant Taylor was not appointed until after preseason officially started. This meant the players had limited time to begin the change to the possession-heavy patterns of play preferred by the Welshman. It also meant that much of the summer recruitment was delayed as well, leaving a scramble at the end of the transfer window to fill out the squad to at least minimal levels of depth. With a new head coach, a raft of new players, and limited time to train together, it was unsurprising that Liverpool endured a difficult start to the season. Unfortunately all of those factors were compounded by significant losses and other turmoil of the pitch that no doubt greatly impacted many of the players. The death of Diogo Jota in the summer was felt by the entire Liverpool community. Jota was a vocal supporter of the LFC Women’s squad and was known by many in the club, so his loss was certainly keenly felt. Just over two months later, former manager Matt Beard also took his own life. Beard had been beloved by the players during his four year tenure, and was a person who had built relationships across the women’s football landscape. His loss was no doubt something the players struggled to deal with as the season rolled on. Along with the losses of Jota and Beard, the squad also had to deal with internal investigations carried out by both the club and the FA as new signing and presumptive starting goalkeeper Rafaela Borggräfe was said to have been overheard making racist comments. The comments were overheard by club players and staff members during a preseason training camp trip and were reported upwards. The investigation was very start and stop, with Borggräfe being allowed to play some matches early in the season before officially being sideline by the FA investigation. While no details of what was said, Borggräfe was ultimately given a 6 match ban that was applied retroactively to the matches she sat out while the investigation was ongoing. With the lack of preparation time and the losses and distractions off the pitch, Liverpool got off to an extremely slow start on the pitch. The Reds lost their opening six matches of the season, scoring a paltry three goals during that stretch. Even when Liverpool played decently, their lack of cutting edge in the attack and some late mental lapses cost them. Two of the opening losses came from goals conceded in the 86th minute or later, a theme that would continue through the first half of the year.