Every Liverpool Women brief The Playbook has printed, newest first — 6 editions so far. Plus the 2 Ledger calls this paper put in print on them, graded. The Archive runs two days behind the paper.
Liverpool's scoring depth this season makes a simple defensive assignment almost impossible for any opponent — four different players have contributed multiple goals across all competitions, and Marie Hobinger leads that group with four goals in six appearances. The injury news, reported by Rush The Kop on 2 October, confirms a "severe" blow to the squad before tonight's trip to Leigh Sports Village, and The Playbook predicts Liverpool win despite it.
Manchester United arrive at this fixture having conceded nine goals in four WSL games and averaged just 2.75 shots on target per match — a side whose 22.5 tackles per game reflects how deep and reactive their shape has been, defending volume rather than dictating it. Liverpool, by contrast, have held 59.4% possession on average in the WSL and scored 2.25 goals per game, which means they will have the ball and will expect to use it. Per The Guardian, the 2-0 win over Everton at Anfield — the first in that fixture at the ground — was built on goals from Beata Olsson and Cornelia Kapocs, whose two goals and one assist across all competitions this season speak to a front line that generates from multiple angles. Whether the injury news disrupts that depth is the decision that settles Saturday.
Manchester United's 42.6% possession share across four WSL games this season signals a side that defends deep and looks to absorb pressure — and Liverpool, who have held 59.4% of the ball in those same four league fixtures, will dominate the shape of Saturday's contest at Leigh Sports Village whether they plan to or not. The Playbook predicts Liverpool win this away fixture, on balance: the attacking output is there, even if the defensive exposure that allowed five goals across the last three results suggests it will not be clean. Marie Hobinger's four goals in the WSL and League Cup combined make her the natural pressure point on United's back line; Cornelia Kapocs, who per BBC Sport was one of two Swedish players to score in the Anfield derby win, adds the second threat United must account for. Where Liverpool's shape becomes interesting is in how Natalia Ramos and Grace Fisk — both defenders who have contributed two goals apiece — arrive late into attacking situations, which a low-sitting United defence, averaging 22.50 tackles per game, may be better equipped to track than a side that keeps a higher line. The role that actually decides this is the one behind Hobinger — whoever dictates tempo from central midfield will determine whether Liverpool's attacking weight is continuous or episodic, and Saturday will settle that.
Liverpool's League Cup campaign has been the quieter story behind the WSL opener — yet the 4-2 home win over Sunderland earlier this month made clear the squad rotates without losing its edge in front of goal. On balance, The Playbook predicts Liverpool win at St. Andrew's Stadium on Wednesday night. Birmingham City arrive at this tie on two points from four Women's Super League games, with a goal difference of -4 and a side that has conceded 10 goals in those matches — the shape of a team still finding its footing, not one that has solved its defensive role. Liverpool, by contrast, have scored eight and conceded six across their last three fixtures in all competitions, and Vivien Endemann and Cornelia Kapocs — two goals and two assists apiece, and two goals and one assist respectively across the WSL and League Cup this season — give them the kind of forward options that punish a back four under pressure in the final third. Per BBC Sport, it was Beata Olsson and Kapocs who settled Sunday's Merseyside derby 2-0, a result The Guardian described as ending five consecutive home derby defeats; that combination of finishing and sequence-breaking is the condition Birmingham's set-piece discipline and 17.50 tackles per game will need to answer. Whether Liverpool can carry that same decisiveness away from Anfield is what Wednesday settles.
Cornelia Kapocs and Beata Olsson scoring in the same fixture to end five consecutive home derby defeats — per BBC Sport — tells you something about Liverpool Women's attacking structure that the WSL table, where they sit fifth on 7 points, cannot fully convey: the goals are distributed across the squad rather than concentrated in one player, with Kapocs, Vivien Endemann, Grace Fisk, and Marie Hobinger each carrying two goals in the combined WSL and League Cup ledger this season. The Playbook predicts Liverpool win at St. Andrew's on Wednesday. That spread of scoring is what Birmingham City, who have conceded 10 goals in four WSL matches while averaging just 34% possession, have no obvious answer to — a side that invites pressure and then absorbs it is precisely the kind of opponent Liverpool's 59.4% possession average is built to punish. Birmingham have taken two draws and lost twice; they are not without resilience, but their defensive numbers suggest an organisation stretched thin. Wednesday at St. Andrew's is where Liverpool's structural depth — multiple contributors, a goal difference of plus-four — meets the first genuine away test of the cup run, and the result will say more about whether this squad's attacking range travels than any home result has.
Liverpool Women win Wednesday's League Cup trip to St. Andrew's Stadium against Birmingham City.
The derby win over Everton was the first time Liverpool Women had beaten their neighbours at Anfield in the Women's Super League — a structural fact that made last Sunday's 2-0 result something more than three points, though the table still says position five with seven points from four matches. This paper called the result correctly yesterday, and the win was built on precisely the shape the scoreline implies: Cornelia Kapocs, whose two goals and one assist lead the attack across league and cup this season, added to her tally alongside Beata Olsson, ending five consecutive home derby defeats per BBC Sport. On balance, expect Liverpool to win Wednesday's League Cup trip to St. Andrew's Stadium against a Birmingham City side that has conceded ten goals in four Women's Super League games and taken just two points from the same run. The question that Wednesday settles is whether Liverpool's goal-scoring structure — six different players contributing across three fixtures, none dominant, all functional — holds when the opposition is organised around containment rather than contest; Birmingham's 17.5 tackles per game tells you they will not simply concede the ball, and Liverpool's 59.4% possession average in the league means they will have to find combinations against a side set up to frustrate rather than to open. Kapocs and the goal-difference question travel with them.
Liverpool Women win narrowly at home against Everton in the Merseyside derby on 27 September 2026.
The supporters filing into Anfield on Sunday carry something particular into this fixture — a derby, and the particular weight of identity that word carries on Merseyside. Liverpool sit seventh on 4 points from three WSL matches, and the evidence suggests they'll need to find their cutting edge against a side that has been tighter in front of goal. On balance, expect Everton to frustrate but Liverpool to edge it: a narrow home win, with the Merseyside crowd doing as much as the system.
Everton arrive fifth with 6 points from three games, conceding just 1 goal all season — a defensive record that makes Liverpool's attacking output the central question. Vivien Endemann leads Liverpool's combined WSL and League Cup scoring with 2 goals and 2 assists; Grace Fisk has contributed 2 goals from defence, a reminder that set pieces and runs from deep have already been a source of threat. Liverpool's 4-2 home win over Sunderland showed they can open up space in the final third, but the 2-4 away loss to Manchester City at Joie Stadium showed the other side of a side still working through its defensive shape. Aurélie Csillag, who has spoken to The Guardian about the club's Beyond the Goalposts initiative and the visibility it creates, brings her own kind of meaning to the occasion — not just as a footballer but as someone the next generation is watching closely at exactly this kind of fixture.