For Gareth Taylor, the definition of success has narrowed. “It means winning the WSL this season,” says Manchester City’s manager. “We need to win the league. We’ve looked at it and we feel we can achieve it.”
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After last season’s fourth-place finish, Taylor is on a mission to end Chelsea’s run of four successive Women’s Super League titles, with that project’s feasibility facing an early stress test when Emma Hayes’s formidable team visit what they now call the Joie Stadium on Sunday.
City are proud to be the first WSL club to secure a naming-rights deal for a home they hope will house silverware next spring. Yet where their key rivals have been active in the summer transfer market, Taylor opted for quality over quantity, signing only the Netherlands attacking midfielder Jill Roord from Wolfsburg, reportedly for a club record fee of £300,000. Roord marked her debut at West Ham last week by excelling, and scoring, in a 2-0 away win.
“Why take a bomb to the squad and tear it apart when there was no need to,” argues Taylor, a former City and Wales striker. “We feel there’s more to be squeezed out of this group and I think that’s really exciting. Jill is an international star with proven Champions League pedigree, but continuity’s important.”
If City’s narrow failure to qualify for this season’s Champions League could yet work in their favour as they target a first WSL title since 2016, 14 of Taylor’s squad took part in this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The resultant fatigue dictates there will be times when, for Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly, Alex Greenwood, Mary Fowler and company, rotation becomes a necessity.
Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has called for the expansion of the Women’s Super League (WSL) from its 12-club format, to 16 or even 18 teams. Chelsea have won six of the last seven league titles and sealed last season’s triumph with WSL records of 58 points and 19 wins. Manchester United came in second, just two points behind Hayes’ side.
“It’s time to grow. It’s time to go from 12 to 16 or 18 teams,” Hayes told reporters on Friday. The women’s top-flight in England was established in 2010 and Chelsea have been a dominant force in recent years. “Lots of people said we weren’t at our best last season, but we had a record points total to win the league. There is more unpredictability than ever. The opening game demonstrates that. The question we should be asking is when are we going to make our league a bit bigger?” Hayes said Australian forward Sam Kerr is “available for selection” after missing the home game against Tottenham due to a calf injury. Reuters
“The reality of playing all 22 league games in a season is really tough,” says the manager. “It can be pretty relentless, particularly when you’ve come off the back of a World Cup, so the players understand that, if we’re going to do something special this season, we’re going to need the complete squad. Not just 11 players.”
Rotation on the pitch will be accompanied by increased delegation off it thanks to the addition of the former City striker Shaun Goater to Taylor’s coaching staff along with the appointment of the former Denmark and Switzerland manager Nils Nielsen as City’s new director of women’s football, with the former England goalkeeper Karen Bardsley as his assistant.
“Nils has been able to take a lot of things off my plate so I can now put my energy and concentration in the right areas,” says Taylor. “And Shaun’s been a great help. Shaun and I played in the same team for years and we know each other really well. He’s a great guy and he’s so excited about working with us.
“The players really enjoy having him around, too. Mary Fowler, for example, has really taken to Shaun. He makes good connections straight away. He’ll get the very best out of individuals. And hopefully out of the team.”
Gareth Taylor says only winning the WSL title will be considered a success this season. Photograph: George Tewkesbury/PA
Part of Goater’s challenge is to help Fowler, Bunny Shaw and friends convert their scoring chances. “I’m not a big one for stats,” says Taylor. “But the exciting thing that last season’s set showed us was our expected goals. The evidence is that we created the most chances in the league. We weren’t the best at converting them, so we hope that will be the difference this season.”
Fowler is quietly confident. “Last season was my first here and we’d signed a few players so it was all about bringing the team together and creating this good environment,” says the Australia forward who will find herself on opposite sides to her international teammate Sam Kerr on Sunday. “We made a lot of progress but just didn’t finish where we wanted to.
“It takes time to build chemistry but, towards the end of last season, we were clicking. The good thing now, is, because there hasn’t been much change, everyone’s still on the same page and able to pick up where we left off. Having a very similar squad is definitely an advantage; it’s just the little things we need to get right now.”
