Being back for
pre-season
Natasha Dowie: It's
been great. We started back training on Monday, it's been nice to see all the
new players and old faces as well. It's been tough - there's a lot of running
involved in pre-season - but to have the opportunity to train during the day
and full-time is unbelievable. It's a dream come true.
Amanda Da Costa:
[There has been] a lot of fitness testing to see what we've been doing over the
off-season to keep in shape and stay fit. Now it's just maintaining that
fitness level and pushing the limits a little bit, everyone looks sharp and
ready to go this season.
On the break
ND: The season
finished in September so we've had a good 3 months off. I've been quite busy
with England which is good because I don't really like having too much time off
doing nothing, the gym gets a little boring after a while I like to be on the
field kicking a ball around. We've got World Cup Qualifiers every month with
England. The break hasn't been too long but the season starts now in April so
we've got a long time still until we get the games under way, I think it's a
case of keeping fresh and keeping injury free and ready for the season to
start.
Q: Would you class
Man City as your derby now, rather than Everton?
ND: No, I'd
definitely still say Everton. I was at Everton for 4 years so when we had the
derby last year it was a huge game for me personally. Obviously you want to
beat your old team mates and we came away victorious in both game. Everton -
for me - 100% would be the derby game for us.
AD: I didn't even
know what [the derby] was before I came, so that was a learning experience for
me! After being a part of Liverpool and understanding the rivalry between
Everton and us. The first derby we had just about a year ago it was snowing and
it was an intense game. I've had rivalries before at University in the States,
that's probably the next thing I could compare it to and that's not much of a
comparison!
On Daniel Sturridge
ND: He's played
brilliant for Liverpool since he's signed, him and Suarez have a brilliant
partnership - similar to mine and Amanda's, she knows where I'm running and
picks me out every time. Him and Suarez have probably been the best two centre
forwards this season so far.
Q: Amanda, if you
were Steven Gerrard would you have let Natasha take that penalty?
AD: Tash would have
grabbed that ball and ran to the penalty spot so fast I wouldn't have had time
to say anything otherwise! You have that goal scoring mentality and the emotion
in a derby like that, he tried and unfortunatey he came up a little short.
ND: As a centre
forward I would want to take that to complete my hat trick, I can't say how
Sturridge was feeling at that time but the way he took it I don't know if he
was just a bit too excited. It looked to me that he was just focusing on the
hat trick.
Alan Kennedy: You're right
I didn't think he took the penalty right, he usually places them but he rushed
it over the top.
On returning from
injury
ND: I had a bad
injury just before I signed for Liverpool. I did my ankle ligaments, came back
6 weeks later and then tore my groin. That always happens when you come back
from one injury you tend to get another. I attempted to play through it all
season, taking painkillers and trying to get through it so I probably wasn't
50% - I think I scored 1 goal for Everton the whole season. So I really focused
on doing my proper rehab before the season started for Liverpool and I was
injury free all last year and had a really good year. It is tough and I think
as a player you always just want to try and get through it no matter what. I think
it is important that you do do the right rehab because in the end it will end
up putting you back longer so it is frustrating.
Q: Amanda, how is
life on Merseyside?
AD: I like it here,
I've had a year already to adjust - this is my second season back with the
team. All the girls are great, we all fit in together really well, Tash is a
good friend on and off the pitch and I think that shows in our play as well. We
have our spots that we like to go to around town that we frequent, it's a lot
of fun. I'm enjoying exploring the city, it's somewhere new and definitely
different from New York.
On winning the league
AD: That was a lot of
fun to bring home. When I first signed to come here the club had a long way to
go and they were making a lot of positive changes. I was really excited to be a
part of it and I wouldn't have come all the way over here if not to win the
league, myself and my team mates had our sights set on it and we did what we
said we would do so that was pretty cool!
Q: Are the UK
catching up to the USA in terms of Women's Football?
AD: I think so, the
women's game has come really far globally. There's a lot of other leagues -
Germany, Sweden, France - England is really catching up and I think that the
league in the States has a long way to go. It's definitely made some progress,
it's learnt from mistakes in the past with having to shut down and reopens
itself several times. University is huge in the United States, it's very
competitive. It was hard for me, I came out of college at and awkward time in
the league - it was up, it was down and I didn't know what to do. I've always
wanted to comes overseas so for me it was a perfect opportunity.
On full-backs
ND: It's a very
demanding position, just from the way we played last season I think our manager
Matt Beard looked at the Liverpool first team. Our full-backs are literally
like wing-backs and the amount of energy they've got is unbelievable. It's not
an easy position, it's very tough.
Score predictions for
Liverpool vs West Brom
ND: 2-0
AD: 3-0
