Slick Manchester City underlined their Women’s Super League title credentials with a thumping 3-0 victory over Manchester United in the derby on Saturday to go four points clear of Chelsea at the top.
Andree Jeglertz’s well-drilled side blew their cross-town rivals away with three first-half goals of immense quality, demonstrating set-piece prowess as well as superior open-play threat. The league’s top scorers can hurt you in a myriad of ways.
Rebecca Knaak nodded home from a corner, Bunny Shaw tapped in Kerstin Casparij’s teasing low cross, and Lauren Hemp rifled a stunning third on her injury return – all before the break. Man Utd simply had no reply, failing to land a single effort on target.
Khadija Shaw took her personal tally to six WLS goals in nine starts this season
The focus will now be on Chelsea to respond away at Liverpool on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, unable to recover top spot but with the chance to move within a point of all-firing Man City. Are we now looking at a two-horse race?
Marc Skinner’s side, meanwhile, need to summon their powers of recovery after back-to-back league defeats as they head to Wolfsburg in the Champions League in four days’ time. They are now seven points off the pace in the WSL and surely title hopes have since evaporated. “The squad has to be impacted by the winter window,” Skinner concluded.
Man City blend making title hunt possible
Defender Rebecca Knaak scored Man City’s opener
Sky Sports’ Laura Hunter at Etihad Stadium:
There’s a really impressive blend of personnel and profiles in this Manchester City side. It’s a far more complete squad than it has been in recent seasons.
Captain Alex Greenwood is injured – no problem – Jade Rose will step in with a heroic display alongside Rebecca Knaak, who netted the opener. They have a nice mix of technicians and tacklers in midfield. They have a spread of goals, with each of the three units contributing to the scoreline.
What scorer Hemp decided to highlight in her post-match interview to the BBC, though, was City’s defensive structure. “We got the clean sheet which is so important to us,” she said, humbly. Andree Jeglertz also made the point of emphasising how much the shutout – only a second of the season – pleased him.
City conceded 60 per cent of possession to United but generated nearly triple their xG. What they do with the ball, in deliberate moments, has to be slick and efficient to play this way. It’s a break with how possession-obsessed City of old operated under Gareth Taylor but it’s working.
“We have so many different ways of attacking: crosses, central plays, set-pieces. We have qualities in every position,” Jeglertz reflected. “We’ve arrived in this state quicker than I hoped for. Right now we’re in a great place and we have come very far with the group.”
Jeglertz singles out Shaw and Miedema for praise
Bunny Shaw took her season tally to six league goals in nine starts, prompting Jeglertz to praise the combinations between her and Viv Miedema – finally able to strike up a working partnership after respective injury issues.
“It’s important they can play together for a while,” Jeglertz said post-match. “Their level is very high. My job is to put them in situations on the field where the team can get the best out of them. Right now, how we’re playing, we’re optimising both of them.
“It’s a credit to our performance team, who adjust things in the week in terms of their load. There are fewer games than last year, so maybe there is more emphasis on being able to build them up in the week.”
Skinner issues message about squad shortfall
Man Utd boss Marc Skinner:
“We were done on a set-piece, allowing two contacts, which is unlike us, and we didn’t defend a cross well. That sums the game up. We’re playing a different Man City team, more direct, which should have suited us but we let ourselves down today.
“We’ll be disappointed because we didn’t create enough even though we’re in good spaces on the field. We need to address that.
“It’s a strange feeling to have lost the game 3-0 and still feel the opponent wasn’t that far ahead of you. You can play through Man City for the first time, on the counter-press they are a bit off. But they are deadly in the frontline, they’ve punished us today.
“The reality is we have to rotate more, it’s a two-day turnaround. We won’t use it as an excuse. The squad has to be impacted by the winter window because it needs to support these players that are giving everything. In moments we switched off, that can be fatigue. We can’t accept that and we have to fix it.”
