🔗 Share this article

Just as the recent storm swept through the north-west the prior day, City blew Manchester United away at the Etihad Stadium. It was a emphatic three goal win for their manager's side owing to goals from Rebecca Knaak, Shaw and Lauren Hemp. It was a performance that clearly signaled their leadership claims as they consolidated their position at the league summit.

Consecutive Setbacks for United

This result marked back-to-back league setbacks for Skinner's side for the initial occasion since last May, placing them seven points off the top team with their trophy ambitions hanging by a thread.

Manchester United's ability to juggle league and European football with a limited squad has been a widely debated topic since they qualified for the UCL. Reviewing the fixture list, it always felt like this was the week that would seriously challenge this fortitude. Unfortunately for the visitors, they looked fatigued all game, the historic win against PSG clearly having taken a toll.

Lineup Adjustments

Marc Skinner had attempted to freshen things up with a several adjustments. Ella Toone, Terland, Janssen and Galton all added freshness, although the omission of the on-form Malard to the substitutes caused surprise.

Manchester City, in opposition, have no such fitness issues. The City coach made a single alteration from their most recent win over Everton with Hemp making her return to the lineup since recovering from a physical setback.

Commanding Opening Period

The pressure started to build for Skinner and his squad from the first whistle. This was a show of the quality from City whose energetic attack played with and tore United open with a excellent first half performance that saw them net a trio in just over twenty minutes.

This left the home team in a commanding position and left United all at sea. In advance of this match, the away side had conceded just few in this WSL season but they fell apart in the face of Manchester City's creative prowess.

Early Chances

The early indicators came quickly when Vivianne Miedema used her power to muscle Zigiotti off the ball, only to send her shot wide. Lauren Hemp was at the center of everything in the beginning, taking advantage of the space left by Riviere down the visitors' wing. Her passes were posing a threat and led to an attempt for Hasegawa that Anna Sandberg scrambled off the line.

The Red Devils had multiple attacks ahead, their long-ball tactic giving them choices in the flanks but they could not test the City goalkeeper. City, meanwhile, commanded the ball, probing their opposition and trying to lure them of their structure.

Scoring Spree

They made their pressure count with almost the first period played when Aoba Fujino won the home team a corner. A delivery to the far post was nodded across goal by Shaw for Rebecca Knaak to score. It was Manchester City's seventh goal from a cross of the term.

They increased their advantage with another pair of goals just before the break. When Jade Rose was allowed to drive through the midfield from central defence, the pitch became spacious for City. The influential Kerstin Casparij collected the pass on the right side before sending a pinpoint low cross for Bunny Shaw to tap home. Shortly later, they had a third after a rapid shift in the ball saw Hemp allowed the room to strike a shot home from outside the box.

After the Break

The most obvious substitution came from Skinner at the interval as Malard came on for Elisabeth Terland but by this time it was ineffective to change the course of the contest. Ex- Manchester City player Jess Park came closest, striking the woodwork, but the visitors were creatively abject and did not manage to record a solitary shot on goal.

The home side, in contrast, could have increased their advantage when a delightful Miedema through ball sent Bunny Shaw away only for her to fail to convert but it was insignificant to the hosts. Having failed to defeat any side who finished above them in the prior term, Jeglertz’s side now have victories against the Gunners and Manchester United to put them in a strong position after nine games.