Impetus’ Johnathan Stack was in Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor‘s media conference for us and heard real belief that City are going to get lift-off over the coming weeks, starting with Sunday’s game with Leicester City (15/10/22).
Above: Gareth Taylor speaks to the media. Photo: Manchester City.
With the international break over, the WSL is back this weekend and for Manchester City, it is a chance to get their season back on track against Leicester City at the Academy Stadium on Sunday.
Both teams have had a torrid start to the season sitting 10th and 11th respectively with zero points, defeats to Aston Villa and Chelsea away from home, seeing Gareth Taylor’s side looking to pick up points as they play in Manchester for the first time this season.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s game against The Foxes, Taylor outlined how he sees chances to get his team’s campaign up and running at last: “We got a good opportunity ahead of us now, got a nice period of games up until the next international break. At the moment, the players (have) played more for their international teams than us, it is just the way it’s fallen but (now) is a good period for us.
“It’s nice to be home. We’ve obviously had two tough away games so far, so it’s nice to get back in front of our own supporters at home. We need to get some wins on the board, and I’m very confident we will do that with the team that we have.”
Taylor spoke of his pride in Esme Morgan’s international debut this week: “It’s probably been a little bit overdue for Esme, unfortunately with her injury that kept her out for all of last season apart from the first few games. She’s a really talented player, after working with her for a few weeks, I had really high hopes that she’s going to be the future of Manchester City and a future England captain, and she has the potential to do that.
“She understands how hard she has to work in order to get there, but it’s a really nice reward for Esme after suffering a difficult period last season. “She’s a really talented player, able to play in a number of positions. Hopefully, that will be the first of many caps for her.”
Taylor also provided injury updates also providing an update on Matilda Alanna Kennedy saying: “Ruby Mace is recovering, getting a little bit closer but won’t be available at the weekend, same as Alanna Kennedy. You’re never too certain (how people will return from international duty), particularly some players played lots of minutes, some not so much. I think everyone’s come back in good shape. Going into this period of games now if we can keep players healthy and on the pitch, it gives us a good opportunity.”
Looking ahead specifically to this weekend’s opponents Leicester City, who have also had a tough start to the season, Taylor said: “Well, you saw in the previous game they had against Everton; Everton didn’t score until the 92nd/93rd minute. They almost got themselves a result so they made it difficult, they have had two tough fixtures against Everton and Spurs as well. I think they are really difficult to play against, you can see they made it very difficult for Everton by coming out and engaging and not blocking up so much as what we anticipate, so we need to be ready for a tough game no doubt.”
Manchester City plays Leicester City this weekend on Sunday at 2:00pm.
impetusfootball.org 