Miss-firing Citizens also look wobbly in title chase
Yet it’s not just Chelsea looking off-colour this season: Manchester City have had to adapt to life without their long-term midfield of Keira Walsh (Barcelona), Caroline Weir (Real Madrid) and Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich), all of whom left last summer. City worked hard to add experience and depth to their side after the Euros and it’s taken time to put all the pieces together.
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Against Chelsea, City started well enough, but much like their opponents Sunday, the Citizens were still arguably under-performing. For all the dynamic attackers available to City boss Gareth Taylor, the manager has kept a relatively consistent starting XI in the league — much like United counterpart, Marc Skinner — asking Bunny Shaw to shoulder the goal-scoring responsibility.
Needing to replace defensive midfielder Walsh, City turned to attacking midfielder Yui Hasegawa, who is at her best when she can float around in attack and create linking passes in the attacking half. However, the Japanese midfielder has been routinely deployed in a deep-lying role, which she has unquestionably performed with aplomb, but her talents feel wasted in such a position.
