With players like Lauren Hemp, Vivianne Miedema and Mary Fowler also battling for spots in attack, the competition in Gareth Taylor's side is fierce
After Arsenal and Chelsea began their pre-season preparations in the heat and humidity of the United States last week, fellow Women's Super League title hopefuls Manchester City got theirs underway in rather different conditions on Wednesday. The rain was pouring down in the Western Australia winter as the Cityzens played out a disappointing 0-0 draw with league rivals Leicester, though they did emerge victorious in the match's eventual penalty shootout.
This was an entirely different test for Gareth Taylor's side when compared to those that the Gunners and the Blues faced. The two London rivals took on in-season NWSL teams in the U.S. before facing each other at the end of the week, while the onus was instead on City in this game to dominate, dictate and overcome a Leicester team that wanted to hit them on the counter. Unsurprisingly, given it was their first game of this tour, the Manchester side couldn't carve out too many openings in the first half, with Janina Leitzig only forced into a couple of simple saves while Saori Takarada went closest at the other end when her clean strike whistled just past Khiara Keating's post.
The Foxes came out flying in the second half, with three strong saves needed to be made by Ayaka Yamashita, on for Keating at the break, before Leila Ouahabi nervously watched the referee wave away appeals for handball against her in the Man City box. However, once Taylor started to bring on the big guns – Bunny Shaw, Vivianne Miedema and Mary Fowler all among his second half substitutes – the pressure was all on Lize Kop at the other end, who denied Fowler, Shaw and Jess Park before time was up.
Miedema, signed on a free transfer from Arsenal this summer, twice thought she'd helped her new side avoid the need for penalties, first when she struck the bar with a header and then when Kop brought her down in the box, only for the referee to again refrain from pointing to the spot. No matter, because it was the Dutch striker who sealed the deal in the shootout, calmly scoring the winning spot-kick after Yamashita had saved two of Leicester's.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from HBF Park…
Getty ImagesWINNER: Laura Blindkilde Brown
There is so much competition in attack at Man City. In Shaw and Miedema, they have two world-class centre forwards; Fowler, Chloe Kelly, Aoba Fujino and Lauren Hemp make up an outstanding quartet of wide options; while the likes of Park, the soon-to-return Jill Roord, the versatile Miedema and Laura Blindkilde Brown will compete for the attacking midfield role. If you are the latter, then, it's a tough ask when it comes to game time.
Where City do lack some depth, though, is in the deep-lying playmaker role that Yui Hasegawa has mastered. The Japan star is crucial to this team, but she can't play every single minute for a side that will hope to fight on four fronts in 2024-25. Taylor tried something different on Wednesday, putting Blindkilde Brown – who can play as a No.10 or out wide – into that role, to see what she could offer.
The 20-year-old responded to that challenge brilliantly, showing good energy, her wonderful technical skill and the confidence to dictate play, that last trait a particularly important one if someone is to excel in such a role. She's not going to usurp Hasegawa any quicker than she's going to beat any of those aforementioned forwards to a starting position, but she was able to show off some versatility that could help her get more opportunities this coming season.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesLOSER: Chloe Kelly
Last season ended in a difficult way for Kelly. When fit, she has been a stalwart down the right for Man City ever since she signed for the club in 2020, so falling out of favour as the 2023-24 campaign came to a close was a new experience entirely. Indeed, since she broke through in the WSL with Everton as an 18-year-old, she's always been a starter.
Wednesday, then, was an opportunity. Fowler, who took her starting role in the spring, was on the bench and Kelly had a good hour to show what she could do, make a statement and remind Taylor of the qualities that should make her his first-choice on the right. In a muted first half from City, the England star did that in flashes, often representing her team's liveliest attacker and the player who looked most like scoring.
The problem for Kelly was that when Taylor made changes just past the hour, the wingers he brought on for her and Hemp were even brighter. Fowler forced Leicester goalkeeper Kop into perhaps her biggest save of the day, while new signing Fujino caused all sorts of problems. The 20-year-old, more accustomed to playing on the right, looked sure to assist the winning goal in the closing stages, only for Miedema's header to hit the bar.
There are still a few weeks before the season gets underway, so plenty of opportunities yet for all of these forwards to put forth their cases to be in Taylor's starting XI, but Wednesday showed that it is not going to get any easier for Kelly to reclaim her place in that line-up this season.
Getty ImagesWINNER: Jess Park
It wasn't until February that Park made her first start of the 2023-24 WSL season, seizing the opportunity that came her way once Roord unfortunately suffered a devastating ACL injury that she is still recovering from. The 22-year-old was sublime in the second half of the campaign, earning herself a nomination for the Women’s PFA Young Player of the Year award as a result.
However, going into the 2024-25 season, it feels like Park is competing for that No.10 role all over again. As well as Blindkilde Brown and the soon-to-be-back Roord battling for that spot, Man City's marquee signing this summer was Miedema, who looks like she is going to play behind Shaw rather than competing with her for the centre forward spot.
Fortunately, Park started her bid for a place in the starting XI well, catching the eye in this win over Leicester. Her movement in midfield was great, her delicate touches and passes were bright spots even before City found their groove and she linked up brilliantly with the rotating cast around her. As with all the forwards, it's going to be tough for Park to nail down a starting role, but she looks sharp as she aims to do so.
Getty ImagesLOSER: Ayaka Yamashita
One could make a case for Yamashita being Man City's top performer on Wednesday. The goalkeeper came on at half time to replace the untroubled Khiara Keating and, within eight minutes of entering the game, had made three big saves. Perhaps due to Taylor changing both of his centre-backs at the break, the team were carved open a few too many times by Leicester in the opening stages of the second half, but Yamashita stood tall and made some brilliant stops despite only just stepping onto the pitch.
Then, after City had failed to find a breakthrough in 90 minutes, the Japan international stole the show again in the penalty shootout. Two strong saves, particularly the one that saw her push Sophie Howard's strike onto the post, proved decisive and ensured a confidence-boosting win for her new team.
So, how can she be a loser from this match, given all of the above? Well, despite her impressive contributions, it just feels incredibly unlikely that Yamashita is going to be anything more than Keating's back-up.
The England youngster is a serious talent, her distribution is important to how City want to play and her outstanding season last year makes it hard to see her losing her place. The club have done brilliantly to recruit a goalkeeper as capable as Yamashita to bolster that position but, even if she excels at every opportunity, it doesn't feel like she is going to push for the No.1 spot unless Keating does something to lose it.