Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor says that latest opponents Birmingham City will make it difficult for his side this weekend despite their position at the bottom of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table.
The Cityzens have won their last seven matches in all competitions while this weekend’s opponents Birmingham City have lost their last six and are potentially facing relegation to the FA Women’s Championship.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Manchester City boss Taylor said that his side are wary of Birmingham City’s threats and he expects the Blues to put up a fight at The Academy Stadium.
“They’re a team that are effectively playing for nothing, for a bit of pride,” Taylor said. “I know Darren (Carter) from meeting him on a couple of occasions and I think he’s really passionate about changing things and establishing himself at Birmingham. I think they’ve got the right guy in place there but it takes time to build things.
“What they will do is they’ll make it really difficult and I think they made it really difficult for us before Christmas. We got the victory in the end through sheer perseverance and determination but we know that we need to be right in this manner of performance. They will make it difficult for us and the more that they are encouraged by continually being rewarded for stopping us playing, the more that their tails will be up.”
Manchester City are now level on points with third-placed side Manchester United in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table but Taylor says that The Cityzens are not aiming specifically for third spot.
He said “It’s not really our aim (to go third), our aim is to be as successful as we possibly can and we want to win every game, that hasn’t changed from the start of the season. It is not always possible but we take it one game at a time, we try not to look too far ahead or at anything elsewhere.
“This finishes off a run of four home games for us. We are showing good rhythm, there’s good tempo in our play and we are scoring goals. We just need to focus on what we can affect and that’s the next training session, the next match, it is as simple as that and we just try and guide the players in that respect rather than trying to control the uncontrollables.”
Manchester City’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture against Birmingham City kicks-off at 2pm on Sunday.