When Manchester City travelled to Kingsmeadow to face Chelsea in the Women’s Super League (WSL) in February, they were well aware of their record on the pitch. They had never managed to win there, which was unexpected for a team that has been in the top three.
Their last away win against Chelsea came when Emma Hayes’ team were still playing in Staines. Three points clear of the holders, a win for Chelsea would have given them a potentially unassailable lead in the title race.
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Instead, City innovated. Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw scored her 14th Women’s Super League (WSL) goal of the season to end Chelsea’s 33-match unbeaten run at Kingsmeadow. The 1-0 victory gave City the chance to earn its first name since 2016. the manager all the to Manchester.
His return from Villa Park at the weekend was more subdued, with his name hopes dashed by goal difference on the final day. But it has been a season of significant progress at City and with Hayes leaving Chelsea, they have a chance to identify themselves as the most productive team in the country in the coming years.
This is the story of their 2023-24 season.
Manchester City’s summer is expected to be one of change. Last season they finished in fourth place and missed out on the Champions League for the first time in seven years. They failed to triumph in the final of the two national cups. Gareth Taylor’s contract has been renewed, although the decision to give him just one more year has not instilled confidence.
There has also been only one summer signing, that of Dutch midfielder Jill Roord from Wolfsburg. Manchester City paid a record fee of more than £300,000 ($381,000). Roord had played in the past for Arsenal in the WSL, but never seemed to settle in the league. It was an ambitious move to assume that it would be enough on its own to get the club back into the top three, let alone compete for the title. This showed a lot of confidence in his current team.
Other vital decisions would come once the season began. Nineteen-year-old goalkeeper Khiara Keating started the opener against West Ham United, with former City first choice Ellie Roebuck on the bench. Keating had already made a few appearances for the club due to the goalkeeper’s unavailability, but it was a huge show of confidence from Taylor and arguably one of the most important tactical decisions of his career.
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The trend continued in the second match, unlike Chelsea, a debatable match when Alex Greenwood was sent off after 38 minutes for a second yellow card for wasting time. While City were leading 1-0 at the time, they went into defensive mode under immense pressure from Chelsea which only increased after Lauren Hemp’s sending off. Keating made 3 saves and despite conceding late goals, City took a brave and valuable point.
“It’s wonderful to paint with (Keating),” Taylor said after the game. “We have three other types of goalkeepers who bring other things to the table. What we’ve noticed in the preseason and in the games is that Khiara is doing a lot of things. “: box, saves, with hands, comes to crosses, distribution.
This selection also came with its own challenges. Keating was to blame for Arsenal’s winning goal in the 2-1 defeat as he misjudged the rebound of a long ball to allow Stina Blackstenius to score. After a shock 1-0 loss to Brighton
But internally, City still felt confident. They knew that Brighton’s functionality did not justify a defeat. They also believed that Arsenal’s decision to face them at the smaller Meadow Park, unlike the Emirates, reflected the fact that teams were afraid to play against them. Chelsea did the same later in the season, when they hosted City at Kingsmeadow at Stamford Bridge. Both groups hosted the other two groups in the top four on their main court.
Still, the team is under outside pressure and memories of last season are still fresh in their minds.
Speaking after the two defeats, summer signing Roord warned that City want to be told to be more ruthless.
“The culture in Germany is very different. They don’t care how they play, the important thing is to win.
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“Here at City we care a lot about how we play and we care more about the desire to win. It’s something I can at least tell the team.
Their next match was a Manchester derby and Taylor insisted before the match that their performances had been smart enough so far and that wins would come.
“We think getting things done gives us a much better chance of winning those games than we do wasting them. “
In front of more than 43,000 fans at Old Trafford, City rallied from a goal down to win 3-1. “There’s never a lot of love when we go to overtime,” forward Chloe Kelly wrote in an Instagram caption referencing Drake’s song “One Dance. ” This adjustment marked the beginning of an unprecedented series.
From November to the end of April, Manchester City won 14 consecutive matches in the WSL. They surpassed the previous single-season record by 12 games, which they themselves broke in 2020-21.
Demanding situations have turned into moments that galvanized the team, such as an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury suffered by Roord in a Continental Cup match. Roord had started every single WSL match, scoring six goals and assisting two. It looked exactly what I expected: the missing piece of City’s puzzle.
Instead, 22-year-old Jess Park has been converted through Taylor into a right-sided No. 10, tasked with crashing into the box as Roord had done, rather than her more familiar use on the wing. Luck showed the team how vital all the members of the team are and that while not everyone had normal playing time, they could be called up at any time.
City took advantage of the break after the Chelsea game to take players who were on duty overseas to receive education in a warm climate in Abu Dhabi. Shaw went there (due to problems with his federation, lately he’s betting on Jamaica) with veteran players like Steph. Houghton and Demi Stokes.
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This gave the players and staff a well-deserved break from the season, as well as a chance to bond hard. When they returned, they faced one of the most sensitive moments of the year.
Once again, they lost back-to-back matches, this time in the Continental Cup and FA Cup. The 1-0 semi-final loss to Chelsea in the first half seemed understandable, but the quarter-finals fell to Tottenham Hotspur on the other side. That put all the attention on the league.
In the past, leaving cups in this way may have completely derailed City’s season, however, the closeness of the organisation has brought a sense of positivity to the season.
Esme Morgan’s normal activity on TikTok shows a team comfortable with each other and having fun. Whether it was through videos of his love affair with Avanti West Coast (City bring the exercise to London games instead of the coach) or asking everyone in the team that they wouldn’t need their child to pass out, he opened a window into everyday life at the club.
We have the feeling that the lightness on the educational floor has taken some of the tension off the team and they have focused on winning. In addition to the social activities organized by the players themselves, team lunches are organized.
The organisation as a whole has grown particularly over the past 18 months, with City recruiting a lot off the pitch. Former Swiss coach Nils Nielsen joined the club in May 2023 as the first director of women’s football before academy director Charlotte O’Neill, general manager of the women’s team in December 2023.
When O’Neill joined her, she asked players to write anonymous responses to questions about how the club could evolve and improve. When asked what was most productive about the game for City, they unanimously answered: their teammates.
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City’s focus on the off-field facet led them to sign Ruth Nichols last season, whose role as performance, lifestyle and wellbeing coach demonstrates the club’s technique for comprehensively understanding what it takes for players to succeed. Other nutritionists, analysts and physiotherapists have also been added, while former City striker Shaun Goater joined the full-time education staff at the end of last season, having worked in the past on a more ad hoc basis with Shaw. This aspect was summed up in the planning request submitted in January for a purpose-built educational centre (which they recently shared with the academy).
But although they have evolved as an independent team, they have not lost their crossover with the men’s team.
After a 1-0 win over Arsenal in the FA Cup, Taylor thanked men’s coaches Carlos Vicens and Jack Wilson for their help. City had secured the winning goal, scored by Laia Aleixandri, with a free kick from Chloe Kelly.
“We knew last season that we had a lot of set pieces, but we weren’t doing enough,” Taylor said.
“But we got a little bit of help from the guys on the first team with Jack and Carlos, who were literally good. Sharing a little bit of information, a little bit of knowledge, some concepts that we can work with. It literally helps.
In March, Taylor also revealed that he receives voice notes from Pep Guardiola, who also occasionally comes to talk to the players.
“He’s competing on all fronts, but he’s generous with his time and he’s been fantastic for me since I took on this role. “
At the end of March, he announced that the club’s captain, Houghton, would retire at the end of the season.
Houghton is renowned at City for having consistently pushed judgment on and off the pitch, having been captain since the club’s inception in its current form in 2014.
His playing time this season has been limited, but his influence on the team remains crucial. She paid special attention to Keating, encouraging her to stay true to herself after being thrust into the spotlight so quickly. Whether it’s talking to a 19-year-old player. Whether he’s old or helping a foreign player settle in Manchester, Houghton is an invaluable person.
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Taylor relied on his leadership throughout the season. At half-time of his match against Bristol City, Houghton went to the dressing room. It was still 0-0, and Manchester City needed not only a win but also to increase the goal difference. .
When Houghton said what he said, Taylor replied that there had been “some swearing. “
“But it’s more about this opportunity that we have and we’re not going to come here and take advantage of it.
“She captures it at the right time with the right words. And the players really respond to him. She’s the first in the team’s discussions, the last to communicate with the players before they take the field.
Houghton is considered a complete professional despite the difficulties she has faced in her private life: her husband, former professional footballer Stephen Darby, suffers from motor neurone disease. joined ing Houghton on the Day Walk, a three-day charity walk to raise funds for the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation.
The planned triyete against Houghton for the final home game of the season was toned down after City let a one-goal lead slip away against Arsenal, conceding in the 89th and 92nd minutes to Blackstenius. With Chelsea defeating Liverpool earlier in the week, a win would have put City within reach of their name. The celebrations for Houghton, who played for Arsenal between 2010 and 2013, were mostly muted, but a video containing messages from former and former players added a long, heartfelt contrition from the former player. Captain Vincent Kompany boosted morale. Overall, the staff was amazed at how the players seemed to be back in the building a few days after the result.
The loss of Shaw to injury three games before the end of the season was an apparent blow but, like Roord, the players felt it was an opportunity to showcase the team as a whole. Although Chelsea had only beaten Tottenham 1-0 in their penultimate game, it gave City hope that a Chelsea mistake on the final day or an update on goal difference could still give them the title.
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“There’s a sense of frustration and probably a little bit of anger from everybody, but that’s absolutely normal,” Taylor said ahead of the match against Villa.
“Life offers you another chance and we have it on Saturday. Last night’s result was very smart for us and provides us with a number one objective to continue and attack this match well.
But that won’t be the case. Chelsea ended up scoring six against Manchester United at Old Trafford, while City could only manage a 2-1 win over Villa. Although both teams finished with the same number of points, Chelsea’s incredible goal difference allowed them to win a fifth consecutive WSL. title. There were tears from Houghton, whose 66th-minute substitution in the box looked like a concession from Taylor that her hopes were over, and Kelly. Greenwood consoled through England team-mate Rachel Daly.
“It’s tough for the team,” Taylor said afterward.
“Football is a complicated job. Sport is a complicated job. You don’t get what you potentially deserve, and that’s part of it. You dust yourself off and leave.
Manchester City are in a good position to compete next season. In the last 3 years, 3 other teams have finished second behind Chelsea, an indication of how tricky it is to keep up with Hayes year after year.
Hemp’s three-year extension announced at the end of April is a central component of City’s ambition. The 23-year-old winger’s love for Lego is well known and City have gone to great lengths to include her in their own Lego film to announce the club wanted to use the video to prove that their commitment to them for another three years amounts to a new signing.
Their resolution also showed how much they had stepped up as a club. Hemp was interested in Barcelona but still remained at City, a marked difference from the loss of Keira Walsh to the Catalan club two years ago. Given Hemp’s pleasure of winning with England, City know they wouldn’t have re-signed without being sure he could win trophies with them.
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Hemp’s wasn’t the only major extension this year, with Japan midfielder Yui Hasegawa re-signing it in January. Taylor also received a three-year contract, the popularity of his successes and a demonstration of the club’s stability.
Reflecting on the season, Taylor noted the need for more depth.
“I felt like we were the most consistent team. Of course, we lost players in key moments and unfortunately we don’t have the strength in intensity that other groups have. This is what we’re going towards.
“Some other clubs have high-level replacements for their players. We’re not doing that right now. Compared to last season, we replaced one player. We lost this player in January, she’s a world-class player. Losing to Bunny 3 games ago was tough.
There are links to the WSL’s most no-nonsense goalscorer of all time, Vivianne Miedema, as well as Japanese right-back Risa Shimizu, who is out of contract with West Ham. City also signed 20-year-old Laura Blindkilde Brown from Aston Villa in January. paying him a termination clause of £200,000.
With Hayes’ departure from Chelsea, many WSL clubs will have the opportunity to end their domestic dominance. City know what they want to improve in order to get the most out of it.
“It’s possible things will change now,” Taylor said after the final day of the season. “But, of course, we have to keep building, keep pushing.
“We’re probably stronger than we were last season, but we want to keep going. “
Additional reporting via Charlotte Harpur
(Top photo: Mike Egerton/PA Images Getty Images)