Gareth Taylor Previews MWCFC New Season and Expectations

A new season is upon us! The Manchester City Women’s side has a ton of new faces and had many departures. How will this impact the new season, what are the expectations? All that and more as Gareth Taylor held his manager’s preview ahead of it all!

Taylor on competing

“We want to go deep in all the competitions. We never identify one above the others,” he said in his pre-match press conference.

“For me, if I had to push for one it would be the league. We’ve won it once and we want more. But certainly, in all of the competitions we attack and try our very best.

“Some we’re successful in and some not. There’s no change in focus, the focus now is the Champions League and after that it turns to the WSL.

“We want more, no doubt about that, we’ve been close as well albeit despite the Champions League exit last season, season before we were in the quarter-finals against a top Barcelona team and ran them pretty close.

Taylor on England NT playing

“They’re (the England players) in a good condition. When you look at the nature of some of them like Chloe who didn’t get to play a lot last season and came into it late, and minutes weren’t high in the Euros, same with Alex, Ellie and Demi.

“In that respect, they wouldn’t have lost too much in that period of time so it’s just about topping them back up while giving them a few days off on the back of the Euros.

“(Ellen White is) not back with us at the moment because we’ve given her some extended time away due to personal reasons.

“Only Ruby Mace (is unavailable). She’s got an issue she picked up with England in the younger ages in the summer. Apart from that everyone else at this moment in time is in good shape.

Taylor on new signings/returns from injuries

“The new signings have had game time in more recent games. We held an in-house game at the weekend as well.

“We had Steph for small doses last season at the beginning and after Christmas, but then lost her on a couple of occasions.

“She’s a big player for us on and off the pitch. The leadership she brings is second to none which has been proven here at the Club and on the international scene.

“To have her back is great, and also Esme as well.

“We have to manage these players well in the first months of the season but the squad we have, I feel we’re in better shape to take on those types of issues.”

We move in to the season with high expectations, the club has backed Taylor almost unilaterally and he has to prove it with the new signings.

We’ll see how it goes.