Manchester City extended their unbeaten run against rivals United with a 1-1 draw at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon in both sides' final Women’s Super League match before the Christmas break. The draw keeps the Reds third in the League, while the Citizens etch their way closer to them in fourth with 19 points to United’s 22.
Manager Gareth Taylor believes his side had the edge in the second half, after taking the first 45 minutes to get comfortable with the occasion and playing in front of a record crowd of 44,259 at the stadium.
He said: “The pitch out there is the same dimension, apparently to the CFA [Academy] stadium, but it looks completely different, certainly even from where I was standing. It just feels bigger, obviously, a bigger stadium, bigger crowd and the spaces look massive.”
United are arguably more accustomed to the larger number of on-lookers having played in front of over 40,000 at the Emirates and more than 30,000 at Old Trafford in the build-up, compared to City’s attendance average of just under 3,000 fans at home.
Occasion aside, after the game Taylor made remarks about how different both sides are this year, revealing: “It's really hard to judge this game now compared to last season, both teams have changed.“
“They’re a tough team with good players and really good with set plays and I just felt we needed to tweak some movements in the second half, we were a little off in our pressing and build-up play - we were not flawless.”
City are on a 10-game unbeaten run in all competitions, proving Taylor has steadied the ship after the exodus of players in the summer and a January transfer window is on the horizon.
He continued: "With recruitment now, we look like this is going to be our team more or less - there will always be players coming or going but the more you can limit on that the better.
“I feel we have a really good team there for the future which I feel we have now and you can see the difference. This team is starting to get out there and play well together and it looks like a strong group of players to work with so it looks exciting.
“I don't have a 'best team', there is no best team, people and players always talk about game time and it’s the hardest answer to give, what they get because it all just depends.
“We want to win the league, simple. And if we win all of our games after Christmas then we could.”
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