BY ISABEL HURCOM
Today I had the privilege of being invited down to watch Gareth Taylor’s press conference ahead of the game on Sunday against West Ham, where he discussed his opponents start to the season, how his squad are feeling ahead of the clash, as well as looking forward to Wednesday’s big game against Barcelona in the Champions League. Here are 5 things I learnt from the press conference about Gareth Taylor’s side:
1. Return of key players. Gareth Taylor hinted at the return of Spanish International Leila Ouahabi after she came off injured during their first game against Arsenal. In addition, he also mentioned the possibility of more minutes for Jill Roord, after she made her first appearance since January last week against Brighton, after a long recovery from an ACL injury. However, Gareth made it clear that they had to ease her in and do it the “right way and build up load appropriately” as her return to training is “not a green light for us to just then go and play her back-to-back 90 minutes”. He did also emphasise how much hard work she has done to get herself back into the squad, and said it was a testament to the medical staff at City who helped her in the recovery process.
2. World’s best holding midfielders – Yui Hasegawa. When asked about Hasegawa and her role in City’s squad, Gareth put her name up as one of the worlds best holding midfielders. He also mentioned how it took her time to adjust to the number 6 role, having previously played more attacking, but said how she has done an amazing job and is now an integral part of the team. Having previously played for West Ham in more of an attacking role, her move further back in the field is a testament to how she put the team first, and Gareth also mentioned how she is a “low maintenance” player who is easy to coach and a perfect fit for his side.
3. Do not underestimate West Ham. With such a big game looming over the squad next week versus Barcelona, Gareth wanted to emphasise that the “full focus is on West Ham”. As we have seen in the past, West Ham can come to the Joie Stadium and take
the 3 points, points that are crucial to City in this season’s title race, so this game should not be overlooked. With West Ham having such a poor start to the season, many people are viewing this game as a bit of a walkover, however as Gareth mentioned he had seen last week, West Ham can get “themselves back into a game that wasn’t going their way” and that anyone “can have an off day, especially in front of goal” so there is “little room for error”.
4. The squad is well rested. When asked how City have prepared for this game after having nearly a week off, Gareth mentioned how he was able to give players a couple of days to “shut down”, something he reiterated was particularly important due to the busy schedule ahead, with 5 games in 2 weeks. In terms of training days within the busy schedule, Gareth mentioned that it is hard to get any solid training days in between games as the players must focus on recovery, so a lot of the match preparation is focused off the pitch. The next few weeks will show whether City’s tactics and pre-game analysis can help them come away with the points, as we know that they will be unable to focus on physical training to prepare.
5. Scheduling nightmare. Finally, when asked about the decision to postpone Chelsea vs Man United’s game on Sunday due to the Champions League fixtures midweek, he emphasised it was the right decision as he said it “becomes dangerous” playing a game on Sunday and then two days later on Tuesday. He did not shy away from the fact that he would have liked the same for his team, however conceded to the fact his team did have an extra day to prepare. When talking about rescheduling, Gareth mentioned how it was not that much of an unfair advantage for his rivals, as he knows that they will have to find somewhere in the busy schedule to fit it back in, which will be a challenge in itself.
Overall, I think Gareth is confident in his side’s chances this weekend against West Ham and is happy to have some of his crucial players back amongst the team. With such a busy schedule ahead, he knows the next few weeks will be crucial to make sure his side keep themselves in contention for the WSL title, even this early in the season, where dropped points could cost you later on, which may be a ghostly haunting from last season. As well as the WSL, the game against the current UCL champions on Wednesday will be looming in the back of everyone’s minds, as they want to ensure they start off their UCL campaign with a bang!
