‘It’s really tough to take’ – Cushing reacts to Manchester City’s ‘painful’ derby defeat | OneFootball

Manchester City’s interim head coach Nick Cushing was bitterly disappointed to see his side exit this season’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup with a 2-0 semi-final defeat to neighbours Manchester United at The Joie Stadium.

Goals from Celin Bizet Ildhusøy and Grace Clinton sent The Cityzens crashing out of the competition, leaving them trophyless for another year.

When speaking to the media after the match, Manchester City’s interim boss Cushing admitted that the defeat was very tough to take.

“It’s really tough to take personally because you know that’s way below the level that our fans deserve,” Cushing said. “The result against our rivals is painful. There’s an element of a lot of important players missing, but there’s no excuse; when 11 go up against 11, you have to compete and one thing that I’ve learned is that you have to absorb pressure at times, you have to threaten the game and I don’t think we did.

Manchester City must now aim to keep their slim European qualification hopes on track when Everton are the visitors to The Joie Stadium this weekend. Cushing wants his side to deliver a top performance for the fans.

He said “My message this week will be ‘let’s go and put a performance in-front of our fans that they deserve’. 
From a commitment, an effort, a desire and a hunger [aspect], we’re going to strip it right back to basics and make sure that our fans are special. They’re special to me and I believe we should compete in every competition right until the end.”

Manchester City are desperately short on numbers but Cushing wants his group to rise to the challenge, just like rivals Manchester United have done this term as they’ve answered their critics.

He said “We should compete, have everything and see an opportunity to win. I’d take any 11 players in the world and I’d believe that they can win a football game in a certain way
. I think Kerolin will cause problems and Kerstin [Casparij] scored at the weekend before [the international break] at right-back.

“I think that might be our problem, we might not have the toughness and the desire to just go and attack the game however it looks. One thing you saw with Manchester United is that things have been said but what you can see there is a team that have really pulled together and are really galvanised to fight for each other.”

Manchester City’s upcoming Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Everton takes place at The Joie Stadium on Sunday afternoon.