Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor says that there are parts of the game that his side can improve on when they travel to West Ham United this afternoon in the semi-finals of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup.
The Hammers were Manchester City’s last opponents prior to the international break, The Cityzens were 2-0 victors at The Chigwell Construction Stadium in Dagenham.
When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time ahead of this afternoon’s meeting at the same venue, Taylor said that there are elements of his side’s game which can be improved from the first fixture against West Ham United.
“For sure, I think there is lots that we can do better from the first game,” Taylor said. “We scored two goals, could have had more and we got a clean sheet but I felt that our build-up play was off slightly, we were a little bit off with the detail so there are always things that we can work on.
“Performance-wise, it is something that we pride ourselves on and for me, one of the best we have seen this season was the first half against Manchester United when Caroline Weir scored at The Academy Stadium, we were better in that game than when we beat them 4-1 away the following week in the FA Cup. Performances don’t always guarantee the size of the victory but it shows that we are going in the right direction. There are always areas of our game that we will be looking to improve on, that’s natural and that’s normal for a team like us.”
With this afternoon’s game certainly being the biggest of West Ham United’s season, Taylor is remaining open-minded about the latest challenge from the East Londoners but he did go on to say that his side will need to be prepared for some difficult moments in Dagenham.
He said “You expect something different in the second game but who knows. We’ve had a couple of situations like this recently, playing United twice and Everton with the next games in quick succession and I quite enjoy it, there’s less preparation done on the opposition because we know enough about them, the threats they hold and where we can potentially exploit.
“Obviously, it’s a different competition but for me, it’s a great opportunity to get to a Wembley final again, it would be amazing. We know that there are going to be some difficult moments ahead of us but that’s what we have to embrace and look forward to.”
Manchester City’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final tie at West Ham United kicks-off at 12.15pm.
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