Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor says that there are no easy games in football despite his side holding a tag of ‘favourites’ for this evening’s FA Women’s Continental League Cup semi-final tie against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Cityzens are currently bang in form and are eight matches unbeaten while opponents Spurs have struggled for consistency since the Christmas break.
When speaking in his pre-match press conference, Taylor played down the significance of being labelled ‘favourites’ and said that there is no such thing as an easy game in football.
“People always have a perception of what is an easier game or a difficult game but for me, there are never any easy games,” Taylor said. “I’ve been really surprised by the work ethic that these players produce, week in, week out, whether it’s the opposition or whether it is us.
“There are no easy games and when you get to a semi-final, it is all about producing and performing at the right time, at the right moment and we are not thinking any further than that. We are looking forward to the game and looking forward to making the most of home advantage as we try our very best to get to a final.”
Manchester City suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in their first home league game of the season. The Cityzens took the lead through Lauren Hemp but they failed to find a second goal and ended up losing the game courtesy of a hugely controversial Karima Benameur Taieb own goal.
Taylor went on to say that revenge is not something which has been discussed in the lead up to the latest meeting between the two sides.
He said “I’ve not used the word revenge but we took perspective on it that if we had have managed that first half better and the decision-making in the final third, we would have been out of sight. It is a good reminder that if you don’t finish games off properly, you always leave yourselves open to a negative.
“We try to remain as calm as possible. When we do that, we see a decent level of performance which then gives us a decent opportunity to win the game. High emotions, aggression and revenge is something that we try and put to one side, we just keep calm and concentrated on the process, the way that we operate and the way that we work in order to give the very best account of ourselves.”
The FA Women’s Continental League Cup semi-final between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur kicks-off at 7pm. Tickets remain available and can be purchased by clicking here.
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