New season, new optimism. And a new head coach, too, for Liverpool Women, as they enter a new era with Gareth Taylor at the helm.

Taylor, who spent five years in charge at Manchester City, joined last month as permanent successor to Matt Beard, who was sacked in February as a consequence of a difficult season for the Reds, who were well short of the Champions League qualification places in mid-table.

Liverpool begin the Women's Super League with the small matter of the Merseyside derby against Everton at Anfield on Sunday afternoon (kick-off 12pm).

And while raring to get going, Taylor admits transforming the Reds into genuine competitors in the division will be a long-term project.

"I'm really looking forward to it, it's the start of a journey and what a way to begin with a home game against your local rivals," he says, speaking to the ECHO.

"Anfield is one of those grounds that when you walk into it, you can almost feel it. It gets the hairs on the back of your neck really standing up as it's such a special place.

"It's a big challenge to start, but there are a lot of challenges here. We are aware that we are at the beginning of a project and the club's really aligned within that.

"I'm excited about the challenge but we know it's going to be really tough to get us to the level that we want. We understand how long that's probably going to take and where it's going to take us.

"We understand there's probably going to be a few bumps in the road, and recruitment is really going to be really key."

That ramped up significantly on Thursday ahead of that evening's transfer deadline with the arrival of striker Beata Olsson from Swedish club Kristianstads, the signing on loan of Barcelona midfielder Emilia Szymczak and Manchester City right-back Risa Shimizu, and a permanent deal for Alejandra Bernabe, who spent last season with the Reds from Chelsea.

Already agreed were deals for goalkeeper Rafael Borggrafe, defender Lily Woodham and midfielder Kirsty Maclean, while Sam Kerr made a permanent move from Bayern Munich having spent the second half of last season on loan with the Reds.

The big loss, of course, was Olivia Smith, who left for Arsenal in what at the time was a world record £1million move.

"Unless you're going to replace with like-for-like quality, it's really hard to directly replace someone like Olivia," admits Taylor.

"We recognise where we are as a club. What was really good with Olivia is that she came and had the opportunity to showcase her talents and was given a platform, and we understand that's kind of where we are at the moment.

"Obviously in the future we want to be in a position where those players don't want to leave and are excited about the project. We know that takes a bit of time."

Liverpool finished a disappointing seventh last season, just five points ahead of 11th-placed Tottenham Hotspur in the 12-team league and a whopping 19 off Manchester United in the third and final Champions League qualification berth.

"Our ambition is high but we know what that might look like in the short-term," says Taylor. "It might look similar to last season, maybe we can push it a bit further. It's really hard to say right now, but I can guarantee we will work really hard to improve things here.

"Showing a degree of patience is going to be important. The opportunity to push things forward here is really high. There has been a lot of change at the club in the women's set-up with new people coming in and it's an exciting time."

Taylor regularly came up against Liverpool during his time at City boss. And while keen to impose his own stamp on the team, he doesn't want that to come at the expense of the chief qualities of the squad he has inherited.

"When I look back on some of the games against Liverpool, they make it difficult for you," he says. "We don't want to lose that.

"We want to bring a brand and an identity to the team but we don't want to get away from what Liverpool represent as a club. It's about fighting together and working hard to support each other, and we want to capture that in the team.

"The way we want to play, we want it to be unique to us. We just want to just to try and create that identity. That's a real key.

"We want the supporters to recognise what we are trying to do and if we can improve on last season then that's a bonus. Progress can sometimes look slightly different than just table rankings."