Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor says that a lot can still happen between now and the end of the season, although his side must remain fully-focused on themselves.
The Cityzens face struggling Reading in their latest Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at The Academy Stadium this afternoon. Manchester City go into the game six points adrift of league leaders Manchester United who have already played this weekend.
The Barclays Women’s Super League title race remains a four-team battle and Manchester City boss Taylor is expecting twists and turns before the end of the season. However, Taylor says that his side must take things one game at a time and only focus on themselves.
“I think it’s still in Chelsea’s hands, they’re still in control of the baton,” Taylor said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “Outside of that, there’s an awful lot that can happen. All we have to do is just control the next game then move onto the one after that. As simple as it sounds, I think that’s really important and it is something that we have always tried to do here.
“What you sometimes see in the WSL is that a lot of things can happen between rounds of games. We knew Sunday (against West Ham United) was really important with other teams not playing. We took care of our business but we can’t be concerned with what is going on elsewhere.
“We’ve said previously that if we come up short, then it is on us and nobody else, that’s really clear. That’s a nice position to be in because we are accountable.”
This afternoon’s opponents Reading now look like the favourites for relegation. Taylor believes that the Berkshire club will come out fighting but his side are prepared for the challenge.
Hs said “The make-up of this league with 12 teams, there are only three or four teams who are playing for nothing and that’s quite rare. More often than not, you know that you’re going to be playing teams that are going for it, whether that be fighting for the title or battling against the drop.
“We are under no illusions that this team are going to come out and fight for their lives but we just need to make sure that we control what we do. I think that helps us in respect of a team that wants to come out and engage is probably better for us in terms of playing our style. If they want to sit in and defend, we’ve seen that previously as well.
“If you look at their previous game against Everton, they came out and played a back-four, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, went ahead in the game and came out for the second half and played a back-five. They tried to protect the lead but Everton turned the game around and won it late on.
“It is just a case of being aware of all of the situations that we can encounter from what we see in the opposition but nothing really changes in what we try to do and the play that we try to impose.”
Manchester City’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Reading kicks-off at 2pm. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.
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