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It has been a bruising couple of weeks for Manchester City. Only twenty days ago, they sacked long-term head coach Gareth Taylor ahead of a monumental run of four successive fixtures against Chelsea across three competitions. There was plenty of focus on what that decision would mean for those games in particular but in City’s accompanying statement, the real rationale was clear.“Manchester City prides itself on competing at the top of the WSL and on its outstanding record of qualifying for European competition,” said Charlotte O’Neill, managing director of City Women.
“Unfortunately, results this season have so far not reached this high standard. With six games of the WSL campaign remaining, we believe that a change of management will breathe fresh life into our bid to ensure qualification for the 2025-26 UEFA Women’s Champions League.”
In other words: forget about the looming League Cup final against Chelsea, or facing them in the Champions League quarter-finals, the primary aim is to finish third or better, and be in the Champions League again next season.
This is not entirely surprising. The best players in the women’s game want to play at European level, not just in the domestic competitions. Take, for example, City’s new signing Kerolin Nicoli, who joined them from North Carolina Courage of the NWSL, the top division of the American club game, on a three-and-a-half-year deal in January.
“There were a lot of reasons why I chose City and one of those was to play in the Champions League,” the Brazil international said upon arriving in Manchester.
Given City’s recent record in the UEFA competition, you could be forgiven for wondering, if that was her motivation, whether she’d made the right move. This season is the first time they have reached its quarter-finals since 2020-21. In the intervening three years, they had either failed to make it out of the pre-group stage qualifying rounds or not even got that far.
It is easy to see how this kind of record disincentivises top talent from joining City, particularly when you can expect them to have offers from clubs who will be in the Champions League. Key City players including Bunny Shaw and Mary Fowler are out of contract at the end of next season.
City came out of that four-game run against Chelsea battered and bruised. They lost the League Cup final and were unable to hold onto their two-goal lead from the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final. The manner of the defeat in that competition was particularly galling. They conceded three goals in the first half at Stamford Bridge and allowed Chelsea to complete the match on cruise control.
But maybe the worst result of the four was their 2-1 defeat in the league at the Etihad Stadium last Sunday. Erin Cuthbert’s 91st-minute winner meant the gap between City and their rivals for a top-three finish and the Champions League spot that comes with it, Arsenal and Manchester United who both won their games that weekend, widened from four points to seven with five games to go.
Despite Chelsea dropping points to West Ham yesterday, a stoppage-time Shekiera Martinez equaliser seeing them draw 2-2, their six-point lead at the top of the table remains unprecedented. They need just seven more points from the 12 available to secure a sixth consecutive title.
The gap between City and those ahead of them feels dauntingly big with only four matches left, especially as their team has been decimated by injuries all season. There are the long-term absences of Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood. The knocks Shaw and Aoba Fujino picked up in that League Cup final were an additional blow, and there will be concerns over Laia Aleixandri after she limped off in the warm-up ahead of their away win against Brighton on Sunday, although interim boss Nick Cushing later suggested this was more of a precaution.
That 2-1 victory against Brighton was an important one, even if City did have to ride their luck at times. Dario Vidosic’s team had not lost a league game at home all season, including draws with Manchester United and Chelsea, and they looked dangerous from the start. City did not even have a shot until they scored the game’s opening goal in the 37th minute. But at this stage of the season, and with the players City have available (right-back Kerstin Casparij started on the wing, and scored the opener), it is the results that matter not the performances.
Brighton were one of the hardest opponents remaining for City, something that they will no doubt be aware of when comparing their run-in to those of their rivals. The crucial moment could well come on May 4, during the league season’s penultimate weekend, when City will go to Old Trafford to meet their neighbours for the fourth time this season.
United’s final four matches are quite frankly horrible, with their last three being Chelsea at home, City at home and Arsenal away. Even the other one, West Ham away, is looking far trickier than it did four months ago. Depending on how other results go, that game in east London on April 19 might be where United secure Champions League qualification. Or it could hand momentum back to City before their home meeting with Everton the following day.
City should probably be thankful that West Ham’s equaliser against Chelsea will have ramped up the importance of the leaders’ trip to United on April 27. They will also know that one of United or Arsenal has to drop points on the final day, given that they face each other at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal’s other remaining games are against Leicester, Aston Villa and Brighton, but the fact they will be playing a two-leg Champions League semi-final against Lyon around them potentially heightens the prospect of them dropping points.
For City, the frustration will be that this is now not in their hands, nor is it that close to being in them.
There are clearly matches coming up where they might expect other teams to drop points but there is no guarantee of that. And as the club’s hierarchy made clear when they sacked Taylor, the long-term ramifications of failing to qualify for the Champions League for the second time in three years might be keenly felt.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Manchester City, UK Women's Football
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