Manchester City currently seates eight points admired by Chelsea in the SUPER League (WSL) women's rankings despite many fans naming them as favorites to raise the title in the 2024/25 season.
After falling to a loss of the last day's title in the 2023/24 season, a living wine in the transfer window saw Cityzens welcome Vivianne Miedema, Aoba Fujino, Ayaka Yamashita and Naomi Layzell in their ranks. Many fans were sure that this would mark the revival of Man City's national predominance, now holding an abundance of offensive threats to their team.
With the ex -departure Chelsea Chief Emma Hayes on the horizon, felt as if it were now time for city To take advantage of the opportunity to eventually destroy the blues. The door was left open, and the club probably had the storm talent through it.
Soon forward to 2025, and things have not shown the way the city fans may have hoped. The side is currently eight points that adrify from Chelsea to the League Summit, taking third place in the standing after Man United.
With the problems of harmful damage, and constant protective concerns, it seems that City may be ready to write another WSL season on the mark of half the road.
90 minutes examines whether or not the city has fallen from WSL The title race once again …
Competition ultimately WSL It is farce, and Chelsea has been an immovable object at the Pyramid point for five consecutive seasons. Beating this Blues 'super-scathered team is definitely a difficult task, but City has bottled the drivers' sedillion in more than one occasion.
It was all the city to win last season, with a clear superiority that went to the weeks of the WSL 2023/24 campaign. Emma Hayes himself bid farewell to Chelsea's title hopes after a fierce loss to Liverpool, all before a bold 8-0 breakdown of the city of Bristol, put them in the race again.
As for City, the club fired the ball on the penultimate weekend when an increased time from the Blackstenius season saw Arsenal steal a 2-1 win at Manchester. From then on, she was in a last day battle Chelsea won in post -embarrassing comfort United 6-0 in Old Trafford.
The side of Gareth Taylor has shown cracks in the mentality in more than one occasion, the strongest example that came when the team failed to provide a three -fold position in the 2022/23 campaign. A damaged injury Arsenal They were able to limp the house at a third place, which means that a pair of city with full force had once again qualified in Europe.
It seems as if the party lacks obedience whenever the pressure begins to rise, and the story is repeated once again.
January transfer window has seen The city makes three purchases In the defender Rebecca Knaak, midfielder Aemu Oyama and in front of Kerolin. The club also bid farewell to goalkeeper Sandy Maciver and quarterback Alanna Kennedy.
While Kerolin may be a signature of the ceiling growth, the city is not exactly struggling for depth forward. To paint a picture, even in the absence of Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw and Lauren HEMP, Chloe Kelly was still struggling for an opening at eleven. With those returning players and Vivianne Miedema again to its maximum, the last thing the team needs is another striker in the mix.
Mary Fowler and Aoba Fujino have both removed their trade with greatness so far, so to choose to pay the high wage demands of Keroli seems a naive decision for a club that fights so hard in the heart of defense.
Knaak's signature is embedded in Kennedy's departure, which means that the club is too thin in Groud in the back. The city has fought in the absence of Alex Greenwood, and is showing on the statistics sheet. The team has received 14 goals this season, far from Chelsea and Arsenal's Six, and five of United.
The investment must move to strengthening the defensive areas if the club will make a promising fee for the title.
Old -age saying says that when it rains it is spilled, and that was certainly the case for the growing list of city wounds before Christmas.
Captain Alex Greenwood And before Lauren HEMP both underwent surgeries before winter break, with Vivianne Miedema and Khadija 'Bunny' shaw each fighting with annoying worries. Naomi Layzell has also been avoided for nearly three months after damaging his ankle in the club's 2-0 win over Barcelona in early October.
Taylor praised his party's ability to “Fits the circumstances” Among the injury problems, but a 2-1 loss to Everton before Christmas may suggest differently. Injuries can be used as an excuse, but when you are still campaigning a team with Vivianne Miedema's likes, Mary Fowler, Jill Roord and Jess Park, you can't really use them as an excuse.
The city has the depth to replace these stars, and very often Taylor is based on individual talent to attract the team from a difficult situation. When Shaw was removed at the closing stages of last season, City was destroyed and showed minimal resistance despite having the talent to do so.
With all the things considered, the return of Greenwood and HEMP should provide Cityzens much more hope to overcome the gap at the top of the WSL ranking.
That is to say, the city has little or no control over the fate of WSL. Even if the club will win each of their remaining WSL matches, they still rely on Chelsea to throw at least 8 points.
With a joined point ahead, and the hot arsenal on their tails, Taylor may need to shift his primary focus to the cup races. The side is still up and runs in UEFA Women's Champions LeagueThe Metro Women's League Cup and the Adobe Women's Cup. If the championship is not in question once again, the club must ensure that they at least in the fight for silver elsewhere.