Manchester City extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 15 games with a 7-0 win over Women's Championship side Sheffield United in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup on Sunday.
Seven goals from four different goalscorers secured City a place in the fifth round of the competition as a hat-trick from Khadija Shaw, a Julie Blakstad brace and one each from Chloe Kelly and Deyna Castellanos secured the victory.
Manager Gareth Taylor said of his side's performance: “I thought we played well, we scored some really good goals and we moved the ball well between the lines and we were patient. We spoke at half-time when we were 3-0 up and we spoke about things where we need to be a little bit better. We were a little bit inconsistent in the wide areas with the final pass.
“We saw some really good things but saw things we really needed to improve and in the second half I thought it was a lot better, we made the opposition work a lot more than just the final action so a pleasing day.”
City peppered the visitors' goal with 27 shots and enjoyed the majority of the ball, something Taylor said his side were prepared for.
“We probably anticipated that with this type of game we were going to dominate possession but it's what you do with that possession," he said. "The first half on a couple of occasions it fizzled out a little bit but there was some good stuff in the second half, even with making changes the levels didn’t drop and I thought all players really contributed.”
Despite holding a commanding 3-0 lead at half-time, City punished the visitors with another four goals after the break, with Shaw's second of the game a beautifully created team goal. The home side continued to show their hunger and desire to maintain control of the game by playing out quickly from the back.
Sheffield United interim head coach Luke Turner was not impressed with the nature of the goals his side conceded in the first half but admitted he was proud of his players.
“There were almost two elements to the half-time talk, one was I was really proud of the effort that they put in and the shift they put in and I told them I was really proud to stand on the side and wear that Sheffield United badge representing them because I felt like the whole crowd could see they put a real shift in trying to hold City out," he said.
“The other side of it was I was really angry and frustrated that two of the goals I felt were so preventable and we should’ve been in there at 1-0 down, not three.
“Trying to get them to reset at that time 3-0 down to one of the best teams in Europe, it's difficult to try and gee them up. I think the players need to control themselves and have that ownership, I shouldn't need to go in there and gee them up. Obviously you do give them a little bit but that should come from within - if they haven't got that they’re probably in the wrong job.”
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