Taylor pleased with Man City´s physical test during Hammarby win

Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.

Laura Blindkilde Brown and Aoba Fujino were on target in the second half at the Joie Stadium, moving them three points clear at the top of Group D.

City’s win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.

The hosts dominated for large parts of the encounter, ending with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.75 from their 16 shots, while also accumulating 73.6% possession.

But Taylor was happy with his side’s display and explained the physical test against the Swedish champions was something his players will benefit from moving forward.

“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well,” Taylor said after the game

“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.

“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.

“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.

“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”

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— Manchester City Women (@ManCityWomen) November 12, 2024

Taylor had made changes to City’s starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad.

Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the Women’s Super League, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp’s absence.

“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all,” he said.

“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.

“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”