‘They’re more than capable’ – Manchester City boss Taylor wary of Everton threat | OneFootball

Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor says that this weekend’s opponents Everton can be a threat despite their struggles this season.

The Cityzens travel to Walton Hall Park to contest their final Barclays Women’s Super League fixture of the calendar year on Sunday afternoon.

Everton have won just once in nine matches in the league but Taylor is aware that The Blue Girls can cause the opposition problems on their day.

“It’s always a tight, compact environment playing there,” Taylor said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “We’ve normally gone there and played really well and taken a stranglehold of the game. They’re a team that are struggling a little bit but they’re more than capable; they drew with Arsenal earlier in the season, so we know they’re more than capable. They have players with individual ability that can hurt the opposition.

“For us, it’s about being really prepared for this game. I never usually look beyond a game but with our situation, I have had my eyes on Sunday’s game [earlier] because it’s super-important for us.”

Going on to discuss Everton further, Taylor explained the similarities with The Blue Girls’ style of play in comparison to Manchester City’s recent opponents.

He said “Everton make it difficult, similar to what Leicester and St Pölten did but they also have certain situations where they jump out and press and leave the spaces a bit more. It’s about being prepared for that but the girls have been handling those situations well, we’ve been training for that a lot.”

Manchester City go into their latest fixture with a continued shortage of player availability. Taylor remains pleased with how his side have stepped up to the challenge.

He said “I think it’s a real positive. Of course, we are missing big players and I’ve never hidden away from that. This season, I don’t think we’ve been able to pick from a full squad at any moment. At the beginning of the season, even if you look at the likes of Viv [Miedema], Lauren [Hemp], Bunny [Shaw] who were in the line-up, we couldn’t call on Jill [Roord] for various reasons, so we’ve never been able to go full quota.

“What it has brought is the opportunity for others. The way that players have adapted to playing in different positions has been really good. After 16 games, 14 wins, one draw and one defeat is pretty incredible. With the low depth that we’ve had at times, I have to give full credit to the girls for the way that they’ve adapted and got the job done, it’s been really impressive.”

Manchester City’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Everton kicks-off at 12.30pm on Sunday afternoon.