PRESENCE - can insurgents Man City do it again? - The New Women's Sport Magazine

After years of Chelsea dominance, Andrée Jeglertz’s team finally dislodged them at the top of the WSL. And won the prestigious FA Cup. Now their challenge is to secure a permanent presence at the top – and break the cycle.

Three ‘new’ and influential players last year were signings Jade Rose and Sam Coffey, while Laura Blindkilde Brown got her Manchester City career properly started. Gethin Thurlow spoke to all of them, reflecting on a double-winning campaign and looking ahead to the new one.

Man City have been stuck in a pattern the last few years. First, they have a good domestic campaign, challenging for the title and at the very least easily making the top three in the WSL. This means Champions League football for the following year, with the extra games, travelling and higher quality opponents all affecting the squad. Generally, this has overwhelmed City, leading to a poor WSL season – usually resulting in a fourth place finish, thus restarting the cycle.

This lack of European football was cited in the second half of last year, and while it was pretty clear that Andrée Jeglertz’s side were easily the best in England – the only way they can ultimately prove those doubters wrong is by dealing with those conditions this year. And that’s what this season preview is ultimately about. It’s not the new signings or any tactical changes, it’s about whether the new era of Manchester City built last year can do what the last one didn’t.

SQUAD DEPTH

The main issue in previous years has been the lack of squad depth. When one or two changes were forced by injury or overload, then the quality of the team fell a lot. Looking at last year for City, the squad depth was almost too much in some areas. Grace Clinton’s lack of minutes was well discussed, as Laura Blindkilde Brown also experienced a lot of time on the bench once January signing Sam Coffey had embedded herself.

Both of those midfielders, as well as wingers Mary Fowler and Beth Mead, Iman Beney and Niamh Charles will likely find themselves out of a fully fit starting 11 for City. That’s a lot of backup in case of injury and allows for some strong rotation when the two-game weeks start to build up. Jeglertz was almost crying out for opportunities to spread the minutes around, now comes his chance. To show that they are really a force once more at the top of English and European football, City will have to navigate a European campaign unlike they have before.

They’ve also got a taste for trophies now, also grabbing the FA Cup at Wembley, with their elite stars, from Yui Hasegawa and Viv Miedema (below) stepping up, along with the inevitable Bunny Shaw, of course.

IN AND OUT

Key Incomings/Outgoings: It’s been a pretty simple window so far for the reigning champs. Niamh Charles has swapped for Leila Ouhabi at left back, while Beth Mead is in for Kerolin, who departed for Barcelona in a seemingly unfriendly manner. Lily Murphy and Naomi Layzell join other WSL clubs on loan, hopefully developing for the future.

The only player lost who wasn’t replaced was goalkeeper Khiara Keating, who left for Liverpool, searching for more minutes in the hope of making the World Cup squad next summer. It’s not the first and won’t be the last time we see these moves as players do anything to get more playing time ahead of a major tournament, but it’s a blow for City, who likely would’ve used her in Champions League games and cups with the odd WSL appearance too.

With Charles and the ever reliable Jade Rose reported to miss the start of the season, and little time before their first fixture, City brought in flexible German fullback Carlotta Wamser. With her ability to play on the left, that’s where she will likely spend the start of the season.

Hayley Raso saw the move as positive for both sides. She told us: “it’s a great move for her. I obviously played at Manchester City, and it’s an incredible club. They’ve got great facilities, they compete so well. They won the league last year in England, so I can see why there’s a lot of desire and pull to go to England, so I can see why she’s made that move, and I’m sure she’ll be very successful there”.

The biggest piece of transfer business in English football, however, was done way back in early June as Bunny Shaw signed a new contract with City. After that point, nothing could make it a poor window for City.

JADE ROSE (below, left)

Now that you’ve had a year to settle in Manchester and in the league, do you think there’s an even higher level that you can get to? Are we going to see an improved Jade Rose?

Yeah, I mean that’s the hope. When I reflect on the previous season, there are a lot of areas where I was almost hesitant to push myself just because I wasn’t used to playing – how long is the season, 10 months? Coming out of college where they only play for four or five months out of the year I didn’t know how my body was going to react.

I didn’t know mentally if I was going to hit the Christmas break and become fatigued, so I think I was reserved in some aspects. I’m really excited to put my foot on the gas this season and push in areas where it’s appropriate to push, hone in on little details and get myself to the next level.

Thinking about the defence, you played a lot alongside Rebecca Knaak at the end of the end of last season. Niamh Charles is coming in, giving the potential for Alex to play at centre back as well. Could you just compare Alex and Rebecca as centre back partners?

I think that Andrée does a very good job of rotating the back line in training so we’re able to get used to every possible pairing, even in regards to the fullbacks. I think across both pairings we work very well. It’s well known that Becks (Knaak) has an aerial presence like no other.

Alex has been in the WSL for countless years and brings a certain level of maturity that I don’t think that you can necessarily replicate. Her distribution’s impeccable – and that’s not to say that Becks’ isn’t. It’s hard to compare them, Becks brings a lot more physicality to the game, and, like I said, that aerial presence. Alex has a certain calmness on the ball and commanding presence on the pitch that is hard to find in other players.

Playing for Man City – a team that possesses the ball a lot, you don’t face me as many attacks in the box as other teams. How is it for you as a defender, to adapt to playing in a team like that?

I think it all comes down to what we focus on in training. You know, we may not necessarily face that many attacks in the box, but when you look at who we’re training against, it’s the front line that creates the most amount of attacks in the box.

So we’re still able to feel out those scenarios in training. It’s all just about the balance, and I think that we’ve done a good job of that.

LAURA BLINDKILDE BROWN (above, right)

I’ve spoken to Andrée before and he said he was actually considering sending you out on loan when he was first appointed, then he ended up being the manager to give you consistent minutes. What’s that relationship like and are you excited to have another season with him?

Yeah I think originally when I was maybe going to go on loan, it was obviously a bit – not disappointing – but I wanted to try and make a mark at City. I think it just made me more hungry for when I got opportunities to prove myself to him, and I think I was able to do that, so hopefully more of the same this season.

The England team is another one you’ve broken into this year. Looking ahead to the World Cup next summer, how are you planning to make sure you make the squad and even fight into the starting XI?

I try and focus more on City first. Obviously how I play at City is what gets me picked for England in the first place. I think as long as I’m playing well for City and improving myself here, then that will take care of itself.

SAM COFFEY (below)

When Andrée signed you, one of the things you said was obviously all the on the ball stuff. You know, one of the reasons he gave for building him was, like, the energy, the kind of loud energy around the squad, and kind of the extrovertness, like, how do you find it to kind of play that role, and do you ever get, like, is it tiring to kind of be the person to do that? How do you find that?

We’re on a team, and if we have a role to play to make the team better and bring our strengths to it, that’s our responsibility and a privilege to do. If that is part of my role, then that’s what I want to do.

I think as a team and a midfield we can sometimes be more on the quiet side, and so that’s been seen as a need, so hopefully I can help a lot with that. Another element of that is the physical side of things too and just really trying to be a strong presence in the middle of the park.

At the end of the day that’s the question we’re all posed. What are we bringing today? What do we bring every day? How can I bring what I think my strengths are to help the team be the best that it can be? For me, those are some of mine. I’m seeing things live in front of me and trying to tell everyone around as loud as I can.

Football is such a joyful thing to me, I’m happiest when I’m on the pitch and playing and getting to play with my friends, and so it almost just feels like that energy pouring out in maybe a psychopath kind of way, and just bringing as much good energy and good vibes as possible.