There have been times when it looked like Gareth Taylor was clinging to his job as Manchester City boss.
When his team was beaten 5-0 by Arsenal in 2021. When they suffered a 3-0 and 4-0 defeat to Chelsea in quick succession in the same year. When they were knocked out of the Champions League in the qualifying stages by Real Madrid in successive campaigns. When they missed out on European football after being overtaken by rivals United.
Taylor has had his fair share of criticism, and sometimes it has been justified. What he is rarely granted is praise for his successes.
City’s trophy cabinet should perhaps be bigger, but in his four years in charge the club has won the League Cup and the FA Cup. It is more silverware than Arsenal, who knocked City out of the FA Cup on Sunday, have managed to win in the past five years.
Taylor is the Women’s Super League’s second-longest serving manager after Emma Hayes, and he is the man who could stop her from having a fairytale ending in her final season at Chelsea.
Now is the time for Gareth Taylor to prove his worth and spoil Emma Hayes’ fairytale ending
City have played the better football, but are three points behind Chelsea going into Friday’s match
Your browser does not support iframes.
City have played the best football this year but are second in the WSL, three points behind Hayes’ side. They would have beaten the Blues at home in the second game of the season had they not received two controversial red cards, leaving them with nine players. Chelsea reached a 1-1 draw.
The two teams play each other again at Kingsmeadow on Friday in what could be a crucial moment in the title race. They will face each other again next month in the League Cup semi-finals. Both are still on course to win every domestic trophy, but City may have the upper hand as they are not in Europe.
The problem Taylor has had over the years is that City’s eloquent style of football has not always delivered results. Chelsea knows how to win both the beautiful and the ugly ways. It sometimes felt like the city only had plan A. If that doesn’t work, there is no alternative.
When the club signed Jill Roord from Wolfsburg last summer, the Dutch midfielder noted that they could sometimes focus too much on performance – when winning is most important.
“The culture in Germany is very different from here and also the way we played in Germany, there was a lot of passion and fire,” Roord said in November. “They don’t care how they play, it’s all about winning.
‘Here at City we care too much about how we play and we should be more concerned about the need to win.’
Roord tore her anterior cruciate ligament last month, but her words have made an impact. City struggled to play their usual brand of football at Arsenal on Sunday, but ultimately a nasty goal saw them progress. It may have to be the same method on Friday.
Taylor deserves credit for his resilience. When City suffered back-to-back defeats at Arsenal and then at home to Brighton in November, it felt like their chances of challenging for the title were disappearing again. But since then his team has won every match.
Hayes (right) will leave Chelsea at the end of the season to become the new USWNT boss
Perhaps one of the reasons Taylor is not as popular as other managers is that he is more measured. He doesn’t come out with particularly passionate interviews like Hayes, nor does he get animated on the touchline like Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall.
Certain questions at press conferences have irked Taylor and earlier this season he appeared to lose his cool when he accused Eidevall of bullying a fourth official. But he is usually a calmer figure than his opponents. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and it seems to be working in his favor this season.
Taylor still has a point to prove. This is the moment where he needs to show his credentials and what he is really made of if he wants to finally beat Hayes to the title.
VAR-lite can give the elbow to violence
There is a danger of sounding like a broken record when it comes to refereeing standards in women’s football, but the past two weeks have highlighted the need for major improvement.
Two weeks in a row, referees have missed clear elbows that should have been red cards.
On 3 February, Aston Villa striker Rachel Daly was handed a three-match retrospective ban for an off-the-ball elbow against Bristol City’s Megan Connolly.
Rachel Daly (right) given a retrospective ban for an elbow on Megan Connolly (centre)
On Sunday, Arsenal defender Lotte Wubben-Moy elbowed Manchester City striker Khadija Shaw in the penalty area. Wubben-Moy’s elbow was less irritating, but should still have resulted in a red card and a penalty.
Nikki Doucet, CEO of the new company that wants to take over the WSL and the championship next season, said last month that referees were a priority but that the introduction of VAR is unrealistic due to the facilities at WSL stadiums.
VAR Lite, which uses fewer cameras, was tested in preparation and could be a solution, but for this clubs would have to commit to investing. Doucet said: “It’s definitely something we’re looking at. Many stadiums are simply not ready for that (VAR), so that requires a significant investment.’
Lotte Wubben-Moy (pictured) elbowed Man City striker Khadija Shaw – which should have led to a red card and a penalty
Concerns about Euro 2025 in Switzerland
Questions have already been asked about whether Switzerland should have been awarded the 2025 European Championship, given that their largest stadium – St. Jakob Park in Basel – holds just over 38,000 spectators. So to hear that the Swiss government plans to cut funding for next year’s tournament from £13.6 million to just £3.6 million only raises further concerns.
By comparison, the Swiss government spent over £72.3 million when it co-hosted the men’s European Championships in 2008.
Councilor Katharina Ali-Oesch said the funding cuts would pose “major challenges.”
Not good enough. UEFA, which was asked for comment, should investigate the matter.