Man City's in-form striker Khadija Shaw is benefiting from working with a club legend, according to her manager Gareth Taylor.
Shaw, 25, has scored nine goals in the WSL this season, including getting a second-half winner at West Ham on Sunday, to help her team maintain a push for the title and a Champions League place. And the Jamaican forward has benefited from the expert advice of another striker known for scoring in City sky blue - Shaun Goater.
City boss Taylor revealed that the league's joint-top scorer Shaw has had conversations with his former teammate Goater, on how to take her game to the next level. Goater is a constant presence at City's Etihad Campus training facility, having joined the academy coaching set-up over a year ago.
Shaw has been in scintillating form for City this season, with Sunday's winner against the Hammers a classic example of her coolness in the penalty area. But Taylor believes she can still benefit from the expertise of the former fans' favourite, who scored over 100 goals for City in a five year spell at the turn of the century.
"The Bunny (Khadija) and Shaun partnership is in its infancy," Taylor told ManCity.com. "But something I was considering quite a bit around November time,” Taylor explained.
"Sometimes when you’re fortunate enough to work in an organisation like this, there’s lots of expertise. Sometimes we don’t tend to have a look at what others might bring. Shaun was a different type of striker, he worked hard on his movements and was really good at it. One run for the defender, one for the ball.
"When you have expertise under your nose like we have, there's always good opportunities to sync people up and learn from them."
Many City fans feared the worse when leading forward Ellen White retired from football before the new season, but Shaw has proved herself a more than adequate replacement in the first half of the campaign. Although Shaw and Goater, as Taylor recognised, have different playing styles the two have a "really good harmony" according to the City boss.
"She (Shaw) can work on movement within the box and we’ve lent on Shaun to help her out and have some good conversations, potentially going through some clips with her on an individual basis.
"With his Bermudan connection and Khadija being Jamaican there’s a really good harmony between them.
"It’s brilliant and Shaun’s a great guy, I loved my time with him, we had a really good team dynamic.
"Shaun became a legend at the Club and rightly so, you couldn’t wish it for a nicer guy. He’s a fun guy to be around."
Taylor was speaking ahead of City's League Cup trip to Leicester on Wednesday night, where they can extend their unbeaten run to 12 games. City are already through to the last eight and currently top Group B after three wins from three games.
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