Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor praised his team’s performance after a 2-1 comeback win against Aston Villa saw them go top of the Barclays Women’s Super League. After Gabi Nunes fired home for the visitors in the first half, it looked as though City could face their first loss of the season – but goals from Lauren Hemp and Jill Roord completed a swift turnaround in the second half.
After the match, Taylor told reporters his team have made a “flawless start” to the campaign as their unbeaten run continues.
What did Gareth Taylor say?
“The performance was top. I felt that we conceded one action in the first half against Villa – the one shot on goal they had, the one counter-attack that we didn’t control. But my message to the players at halftime was really clear: we were very, very good. And we need to be patient, we need to be calm. I felt that the second half we dominated – as we did in the first half, but it was slightly different.
“Villa were coming out pressing more in the first half, second half was a half-pitch practice. We managed the spaces really well, we made a slight tactical change during that second half and it worked within thirty seconds. So it was great and I feel the girls really deserved that because the way we stayed calm and the way we continued to play our game was really, really a credit to them.”
Embed from Getty ImagesCity rallied on the hour mark to produce their comeback, with Hemp’s fantastic flick over her shoulder bringing them level before she assisted Roord’s goal eight minutes later – the Dutchwoman’s first since returning from a ACL injury.
Taylor heaped praise on both goalscorers. “(Roord) is a dream to work with and it was fabulous play by Lauren (Hemp), Lauren’s just a spark for us – Lauren did amazingly well and when that ball was pulled back to Jill there’s only one person you want in that situation and that’s Roord because she’s so calm and composed.
“Sometimes when you come back from a long term injury like Jill has, it takes you a while to get going … I’m really pleased for her confidence that she scored the goal firstly, the second thing for me would be against Liverpool last week, against Villa today, she looks as fresh in the 90th minute as she does in the first, which I think is testament to her effort that she put into her rehab, and obviously all of the team we have here.”
He also praised Hemp’s defensive efforts: “She was magical, with or without the ball. I think the energy she put in for the team defensively to help Leila (Ouahabi) was top.
Embed from Getty Images“In this team, you have to do it. It’s so important. We’re not a team that can manage those situations without our wingers recovering. We ask a lot of our wingers because usually they’re the first ones that press and then they’ve got the furthest to travel when the opposition hit long balls. It’s something that Lauren has grown so much into her role here over the last couple of years.
“She always gives a very, very good performance, Lauren, pretty much, and today was almost up a notch in her levels of effort and endeavour.
“She’s priceless in that sense to us because she just brings so much to the team.”
Reflecting on the increasingly competitive nature of the league and today’s opponents, Taylor said: “The levels are improving a lot and it’s so hard to break these teams down. I think that physically the teams are improving a lot so sometimes ball speed is not enough, we need to be more kind of trying to draw players out of position, which we do really well, and we try and find the spaces and then manipulate them by playing fast but it’s so difficult.
Embed from Getty Images“For me Villa are – and I said this yesterday – they’re in a position where their performances are not getting the rewards for the points. I spoke to the coach afterwards and said “hang on in there”, because the team are playing really well.
“Brighton have improved this season and other teams are improving as well. There’s no easy games at all and for us to go on the run we’ve done from the start of the season – in both competitions of course, because we don’t want to overlook that, because we’re going from game to game every three or four days – I think it’s been a pretty flawless start and we are pleased with that. I think we deserve it because of our performances and you don’t always get the results on the back of solid performances. If we’d have drew the game today or even lost the game my mind wouldn’t change on what I see in the performance.”
It was the third consecutive game in which City have had to come back from a losing position after needing a Khadija Shaw double to overcome Liverpool last weekend, and returning from 2-1 down to beat St. Pölten 3-2 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League midweek.
Embed from Getty ImagesOn how his team retained their composure despite going behind, Taylor said:“It’s impressive when you do that because everything’s telling you to do the opposite – we don’t behave that way, we try to stay calm as we can because we know it’s going to take calmness that’s going to get us back into the game. Of course we can raise the intensity sometimes but still, playing with a clear mind and the girls did that really well today.”
FromTheSpot asked Taylor whether City will look to improve on anything in light of their recent habit of going behind (albeit managing to produce a result in the end every time). The manager said: “We always look to improve, there’s no doubt about that. We always look at areas where we can be potentially better. I still felt even at 2-1 in the last five, six minutes we were a little bit deep – we need to be a bit braver with that. So of course I’m not going to deny that. But also, similar to my message at halftime is, focus on the positives. Please give us some credit for what we’ve done rather than worrying about conceding – and actually, we’re showing unbelievable character.
“The fightback from the team is top and I’m always going to be someone who’s going to switch people’s perspectives to the positives rather than actually something that of course we want to improve on – but we’re moving in the right direction.”
City’s next league match comes when they travel to newly promoted Crystal Palace on 3rd November after the international break.
