As the dust settled on a disappointing FA Cup defeat to their local rivals, Manchester City were forced to face up the reality of yet another trophy-less season. With a 7-point margin between themselves and the Top 3 with four games left to play, even European football next season could be beyond them. It has been a disastrous campaign that went off the rails the moment Lauren Hemp injured her knee against Tottenham Hotspur back in November, and spiralled into such a chaotic mess that the club saw fit to replace Gareth Taylor with his predecessor, Nick Cushing, in a desperate, ‘Hail Mary’ attempt to steer the City ship back on course.
Whilst Taylor can have no qualms with being handed his P45, the timing of his departure is as befuddling as when they chose to extend his contract last year. To do so in the days leading up to their League Cup Final with Chelsea, their best chance of silverware this season, with little time to prepare the squad, was setting up whoever they chose to air-lift in to fail.
If the re-appointment of Cushing on an interim basis was purely that, to man the tiller until the next manager arrives in the summer, then surely it would have been more prudent to have kept Taylor at the helm until the season’s end. If it was an attempt to achieve a combination of winning the League Cup, progressing in the Champions League or clinching the FA Cup, it was a move that has backfired spectacularly.
Cushing’s rescue act falls short of success
Whilst performances may have been an improvement at times, symptomatic of a fresh voice in the dressing room, the results did not mirror the endeavour. The League Cup Final was lost, a strong start at the Etihad Stadium in the Women’s Super League was wiped out by a second half Chelsea onslaught, culminating in Erin Cuthbert’s last gasp diving header. And whilst he can boast to being the first (and so far the only) manager to claim a win against Sonia Bompastor’s formidable Chelsea side, that cheque will not cash into anything tangible in trophy cabinet come May, especially after the manner in which their first leg advantage was swept away in a devastating 45-minute collapse at Stamford Bridge.
The simple truth is that in the four-match Chelsea gauntlet that would define their season, Cushing won the one match that did not matter, and lost the three that did. With the FA Cup now off the table, any hope that Cushing’s return would somehow salvage something tangible from the wreckage that remained appears to have been extinguished.
Whilst Cushing may have failed to save Man City’s season, he is not blame for their present predicament. With no window to bring anyone in, and no time to implement his style, anything achieved would have been a miracle. This is not of Cushing’s design, but rather, the endgame of a club who indulged a manager for far too long when the warning signs were there to see, and moved too slowly when it became clear they were teetering on the event horizon. Appointing Cushing at this late stage of the season was tantamount to appointing him captain of the Titanic long after Rose had let Jack go.
The failures of the club extends not just to the dugout, but also onto the pitch. Cushing can rightly feel aggrieved to being forced to play without a full deck of cards. How he must have wished to have been able to call upon the vast array of talent sat behind him in the stands, as Manchester United saw out their 2-0 win with ease. Too many keystone players suffering long term injuries have badly exposed Man City’s shallow quality of squad depth, and poor recruitment in both windows has only exacerbated the issue further.
Poor recruitment provided invitation to disaster
The need to find a strong alternative to Bunny Shaw was clear after the denouement of last season, but the gamble on Vivianne Miedema’s recent injury record has sadly backfired, leaving Man City without a recognised striker at times. Despite having the lifeboat of the January window to plug the clear gaps in the squad, Man City instead became weaker, losing Alanna Kennedy to the NWSL and Chloe Kelly on loan to Arsenal. What signings they did make have done little to solve the injury crisis.
Rebecca Knaak is another name added to the growing list of injuries, and Laura Weinroither has barely featured. Kerolin is an exciting prospect, but she was a signing in an area where Manchester City (at the time) already have plenty of cover, not an area where drastic surgery was needed. Applying a bandage to the arm whilst blood is gushing from the leg is not a smart use of resources. As the season winds down, young talent like Gracie Prior and Lily Murphy have stepped up commendably, but the fact they are having to be utilised highlights the scrambled squad-planning by those in charge of the chequebook.
A painful post-mortem awaits when the curtain finally falls at home to Crystal Palace, as well as a need to determine who should lead the club next season. Cushing’s current role is of an interim, and results since his arrival have done little to suggest he warrants being elevated any further in that capacity, despite his past record. His arrival was the last desperate act of a club hoping to retrieve something positive from season which began with so much promise. Ultimately, it was an act that fell woefully short of its hopeful trajectory, leaving the club empty-handed once again and with much to ponder over the summer to come
