Gareth Taylor laments sluggish Man City performance after international break | OneFootball

Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor thought his team were "second in a lot of things" during Sunday's 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Women's Super League (WSL).

Despite a lacklustre showing from City, a brilliant strike from Aoba Fujino was enough to salvage the three points in London. The victory leaves City still within touching distance of the WSL top three, two points behind Arsenal in the last of the Champions League spots.

"It was a very difficult game for us," head coach Taylor admitted.

"We've always notoriously come back from international break and adapted really quickly and put on a very, very good performance. I think today we were second in a lot of things, second in the duels in the first half. We suffered a lot of pressure from Spurs."

Injuries have seen City thin on the ground in the defensive department, as captain Alex Greenwood remains sidelined after undergoing knee surgery. January acquisition Rebecca Knaak is also out of action after suffering a hamstring injury during the international break with Germany.

"It's the defence that we're really struggling with. Laia Aleixandri is playing twice for Spain, come back again, and I would have like to get her off the pitch, but just couldn't. That's the tough thing.

"There was never a game that happened today for us where we were not going to make a substitution because we're trying to protect load. We have a lot of injuries, we have a small squad. Like I say, it was a luxury having Jill [Roord] and Mary [Fowler] on the bench today."

Aoba Fujino scored the winner for City / Crystal Pix/MB Media/GettyImages

A contentious clearance from Ashleigh Neville saw a would-be goal stolen from City. Taylor admitted: "I couldn't see from where I was, but the girls seemed pretty convinced [that it was a goal]."

The decision to not award it raises the familiar question of whether or not the WSL needs to implement goal-line technology, which has been the norm in the Premier League since 2013.

"There's a lot of things I'd like to see in a women’'s game that we need to improve, and that's obviously an important one," Taylor expressed.

"I'm thinking more off pitch, on pitch. There's a lot of stuff that we need to improve, and we'll get there. I think it's just about raising it and pushing and trying to get those things."