Gareth Taylor has barely been in the head coach’s office at Manchester City for four months yet he’s on the cusp of leading his side into a Vitality Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley.
All that stands in his way is a semi-final tie against Arsenal and he is extremely eager to get going against The Gunners.
Despite City having not yet hit top gear this season, the City boss was in a very positive mood when speaking to FA Women’s Super League Full-Time earlier today in an official club press conference. “There’s so many positives around this” said Taylor. “It’s a good game for us tomorrow night against a good Arsenal team who’ve made a decent start.
“We’ll obviously be looking to capitalise on the home surroundings and try our very best to progress to a final which would be great news for us.”
Taylor is still very much a fresh face in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League sphere and many are still unsure what to expect from his Manchester City tenure. This will also be the first time that Taylor will come up against Joe Montemurro’s Arsenal side so what will the approach be for the new City boss tomorrow evening?
“We always look to impose our will on opponents” added Taylor. “We have to factor in the kind of trends that we see in the opposition, which will dictate how we want to play.
“What we try to do is stick to a formula that works for us.”
Tomorrow night will be the second time so far this season that City have come up against one of their ‘big three’ rivals, having lost 2-0 to Chelsea in the FA Women’s Community Shield in August therefore, is a change of tact in order if City are to overcome the North London side?
“Each game will be different, each opponent will be slightly different” said the City. “There’s some similarities with teams in the way they play and certain shapes, but for us it’s about focusing on what we’re going to do in the game and trying to execute our game plan.”
Although it is probably too early to tell what the identity of a Gareth Taylor Manchester City is, he is very clear in his vision for how he wants the team to play and the areas of the pitch he believes will be key to winning the match against Arsenal tomorrow night.
He added “We focus on a lot of things, we want to be free flowing in attack, we want to create chances and we want to score goals and obviously at the other end we want to concede as little as possible.
“If that happens we have a real good opportunity to win more games than we lose.
“I think just consistency and working to some new concepts for the defenders has been great but defending for me always starts from the front.”
Arsenal are the highest scorers in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League so far this season with 15 goals in just two games. However, Taylor if anything, is excited at the proposition of his defence keeping them at bay.
“Arsenal have been fairly high scoring in their first few games so I think it’s a good test for us tomorrow” Taylor analysed, “I’m really confident in what we’re doing so far, the clean sheets that we have, and that’s something we want to maintain.”
Fans have yet to see FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 winner Rose Lavelle take to the field but according to Taylor, there may very well be the possibility that the summer signing could get her first run out in a City shirt very soon.
He said “Rose has been training hard. What we’re trying to do with her is just make sure when she is introduced, which is hopefully over the next couple of games, that she’s ready.
“She’s been really keen to get back in and start joining in the matches and it’s just a case of keeping the reins on her slightly just before we let her go and do her thing.
“Again, it gives us another option which is great, this season we’re building a squad for the next couple of seasons which is going to help us compete on all levels.”
Despite having four points on the board in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League and reaching a Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final, most of City’s performances have been slightly underwhelming, however, for Taylor this isn’t cause for concern.
“For me there’s still plenty of things to work on but I don’t think we’re a million miles away at all” the City boss said. “This is a great competition for us to come into and pick up where we finished off last season and give our very best to try and win it.”
It will be far from easy even if City do reach the final at Wembley. Sunday’s quarter-final ties saw Everton overcome Barclays FA Women’s Super League champions Chelsea while Birmingham City showed mental toughness to see off Brighton & Hove Albion on penalties.
Although we probably haven’t seen the best of this City team under Taylor yet, there would be no better way of winning his critics over than by knocking out an Arsenal side in excellent form. If City are to achieve this, it would most likely require them to put in their best performance of the season thus far.
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