Manchester City coach Gareth Taylor praised his team’s response to his setback against Manchester United the last time at Barclays Women’s Super League (WSL).
On Sunday, the Cityzens were defeated by their bitter rivals in a six -goal thriller at Etihad Stadium. Despite the goals of Vivianne Miedema and the signing of Janury by Rebecca Knaak, a hat-trick of her Toone and a goal from Leah Galton in the first half were a 4-2 defeat for the home side.
The defeat turned out City fell into the standings and was fourth behind United, Arsenal and Chelsea. They are now two points behind the third and second, but nine points behind the League leader, Chelsea, with 11 games played.
Despite the mishap, the City responded to United on the United Women’s League Cup during the Subway Women’s Cup. They passed the quarter-final match 2-1 at the Leigh Sports Village to establish a semifinals meeting with Arsenal next month.
Talking before the weekend Wsl gathered at Aston Villa, Taylor praised his players’ response to defeat and his determination to fix things only three days later.
“This team has always shown that we are fighting until the end,” the manager said to journalists during a press conference on Thursday afternoon. “We always fight when we have suffered.
“We usually do not let us affect us. Of course, it hurts, but we do not let us affect too much. It was a perfect game for us, to play with our rivals after Sunday and fix a few annotations.
“I thought there was a real determination of the players in this regard, especially in the way we closed the game. We did it very well.”
City has a golden opportunity to reduce the difference with its rivals this weekend with Arsenal and Chelsea ready to face Stamford Bridge. The United also plays on Sunday against Brighton, who currently ranks fifth in the table after a good first half of the season.
Taylor emphasized the importance of the City again gaining the league, as they seek to take advantage of possible lost points elsewhere.
“We have to do it,” he added. “We have to really fight this next WSL game and playing Villa Al Villa is very hard. The programming for us has not been very kind, the only game that is played on Saturday is between us and the villa. They have not Played on weekdays.
“I liked what I saw last night in terms of determination and being able to fight and compete with physical players.”
