Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor says that his side must again be consistent if they are to sustain a serious title challenge in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League this season.
The Cityzens took last season’s title race to the last day before being confirmed as runners-up. After a sticky start, Taylor’s side’s consistency in the final six months of the campaign hauled them back into the reckoning.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of his side’s season opener at Everton this afternoon, Taylor said that consistency will again be one of the most important contributing factors to Manchester City’s hopes this year.
“We just need to give ourselves the best possible chance so we need to be consistent;” Taylor said.
“We would love to be able to call on a bigger playing pool at the moment but we just need to stay in touch and I think that if we can still be in touch around Christmas, I think that is when we will have a really good opportunity.
“These are big games. It will be a tough game against Everton, in the past it might have been viewed differently. On their own patch at Goodison, in-front of a good crowd, it is going to be a really tough game.
“We need to be ready, we need to be on the front foot if possible and we are going to do our best.”
Manchester City go into the match with some injury headaches with six or seven players potentially unavailable. Taylor went on to provide an update on the injury situation.
“Ellie (Roebuck) and Keira (Walsh) have similar injuries so they are probably out for an extended period. They are probably going to miss this batch of games that we have before the international break unfortunately. Ellen White potentially is closer, she is progressing quite well.
“It’s a blow when you look at those three players especially, obviously not even discussing Georgia (Stanway), Lucy (Bronze) and Chloe Kelly. They are three players who play in the spine of our team, a goalkeeper, a central midfielder and an attacking player.
“It’s a big loss but it is a perfect opportunity for other players to step up and we are really looking forward to when we get those players back.”
Manchester City’s opening Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture against Everton at Goodison Park kicks-off at 1.30pm this afternoon.
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