Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor feels describing Saturday’s match at Tottenham as must-win would be “too extreme” but has stressed the importance of avoiding another defeat.
City’s 4-0 victory over Leicester last Sunday saw them register their first Women’s Super League points of the season, having previously lost their first two matches 4-3 at Aston Villa and then 2-0 at Chelsea.
Taylor, whose team are six points behind the top three of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, told a press conference: “Everyone’s capable of beating each other on any day.
“When you lose a few games, it makes the job of winning the title really difficult. That’ll never change in my thought process, and I’m pretty certain every coach would say the same.
“For us, must-win is probably a bit too extreme. I think it’ll be important for us not to lose the game. We go into games trying to win, but I think obviously not losing is important as well.
“Let’s see. I always look at level of performance. That’s always something that sits really well with me, if we’ve performed to our levels or not, and it usually dictates whether you’re going to be successful in winning the points.
“Sometimes you’re fortunate enough to be really good in both boxes, which gives you the best chance of winning games.”
Rehanne Skinner’s Tottenham are a place ahead of City in seventh with six points having beaten Leicester and Liverpool either side of a derby defeat to Arsenal.
The hosts will be boosted by the availability of forward Chioma Ubogagu, who has now served a nine-month suspension from the Football Association after two anti-doping violations linked to banned substance canrenone.
It was accepted at the time of the ban, imposed by an independent regulatory commission, that the violations were unintentional after Ubogagu had been prescribed medication in America to treat ache and Skinner vowed to help the one-time England attacker get back to her best.
“Chi is in a good place from a fitness perspective but I think for any player it is the match sharpness,” she admitted.
“We have played internal games in the international break but the competitive element, the speed of it and decision-making, you do need a little bit of time, but there is absolutely no pressure on Chi.
“She is available tomorrow which is great and if we’re in a position to get her on the pitch, we absolutely will and we just want to build her back into a place where she gains confidence in her own ability.
“She has bags of ability and it will just take her a little bit of time to get back on track, which is totally normal but we will support her on that.”
Also on Saturday, Aston Villa and Everton – fourth and fifth respectively with six points each – meet at the Poundland Bescot Stadium.
Villa boss Carla Ward was named manager of the month for September after the win against City and a 2-0 victory over Leicester.
That was then followed by last weekend’s 2-1 home loss to West Ham, which had a turbulent finale that saw Hammers defender Hawa Cissoko and manager Paul Konchesky both sent off and has led to charges from the Football Association for both clubs.
Ward was asked about the manager of the month ‘curse’, and said: “I know – it’s frustrating, because I don’t believe we deserved to lose.
Everyone's capable of beating each other on any day— Gareth Taylor
“I think anyone that watched saw a team trying to play in the right way, that dominated every single stat, minus the most important one.
“We’re obviously delighted with it, but at the same time, it’s the famous curse – so let’s hope that curse has been put to bed now!”
Everton have played four games, losing 1-0 to West Ham, beating Liverpool 3-0 and Leicester 1-0, and then losing 3-1 to champions Chelsea last Sunday.
Boss Brian Sorenson felt in that game his side “put in a good performance against a really good team”, and he added: “I think we are on the right track.
“We are not 100 per cent set in anything yet. We’re still learning, adapting. It’s a process, we need to still develop a lot of areas. But overall I’m happy with the progress that the team has been making.”
