🔗 Share this article

Similar to Storm Claudia tore through the north-west the night before, Manchester City overwhelmed the visitors away at the Etihad. It was a statement 3-0 triumph for the City coach's side due to goals from Knaak, Shaw and Hemp. It was a result that truly announced their title credentials as they consolidated their standing at the WSL pinnacle.

Consecutive Defeats for Manchester United

This scoreline represented consecutive league setbacks for Skinner's side for the first time since last May, placing them seven points off the table toppers with their trophy ambitions hanging by a thread.

United’s ability to juggle domestic and European football with a thin team has been a hotly discussed topic since they secured entry to the European competition. Reviewing the schedule, it always felt like this was the matchday that would truly test this fortitude. Unfortunately for the opposition, they appeared fatigued from start to finish, the memorable win against Paris Saint-Germain clearly having left its mark.

Tactical Shifts

The United manager had tried to rotate the squad with a several adjustments. Ella Toone, Elisabeth Terland, Janssen and Leah Galton all provided vigor, although the omission of the high-performing Melvine Malard to the bench caused surprise.

Manchester City, in opposition, have no such workload worries. The City coach made a single alteration from last week’s win over the Toffees with Lauren Hemp making her return to the lineup since healing from a fitness issue.

Commanding Opening Period

The pressure started to build for Skinner and his squad from the kickoff. This was a exhibition of the quality from Manchester City whose dynamic attack played with and tore United open with a excellent opening period showing that saw them net a trio in just over twenty minutes.

This placed City completely dominant and had Manchester United disorganized. Before this fixture, United had conceded just a handful in this WSL season but they fell apart in the wake of Manchester City's creative prowess.

Early Chances

The early indicators came quickly when Miedema used her strength to push Zigiotti off the ball, only to pull her shot off target. Hemp was at the core of everything from the start, exploiting the gap left by Riviere down the visitors' right side. Her passes were posing a threat and led to an attempt for Hasegawa that Sandberg kicked off the line.

United had multiple sorties ahead, their straightforward approach giving them choices in the wings but they could not test Ayaka Yamashita. Manchester City, on the other hand, dominated the ball, taunting their opponents and trying to draw them out of their structure.

Triple Strike

They made their pressure count with almost thirty minutes played when Fujino won the home team a corner. A delivery to the far post was headed across goal by Bunny Shaw for Rebecca Knaak to nod home. It was Manchester City's seventh headed goal of the campaign.

They increased their cushion with another pair of goals just before the break. When Jade Rose was permitted to drive through the middle from defense, the pitch became spacious for City. The prominent Kerstin Casparij picked the ball up on the right side before sending a pinpoint driven ball for Shaw to tap home. Shortly later, they had a third after a swift turnover in the ball saw Lauren Hemp afforded the room to strike a shot home from range.

Final Period

The clearest change came from Skinner at the half-time as Malard came on for Elisabeth Terland but by this time it was ineffective to change the course of the match. Ex- Manchester City player Jess Park came nearest, hitting the woodwork, but the away team were offensively poor and were unable to record a single shot on target.

The hosts, meanwhile, could have added to their cushion when a superb Miedema pass sent Shaw away only for her to fluff her lines but it was insignificant to the winning team. Previously unable to defeat any team who finished above them in the prior term, the manager's side now have wins against Arsenal and Manchester United to position them in a commanding standing after the opening fixtures.