Taylor wants Manchester City to maintain their performance levels against Bristol City | OneFootball

Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor wants his side to continue their high performance levels when they travel to Ashton Gate to face Bristol City this evening.

The Cityzens go into the match top of the Barclays Women’s Super League table. They have netted 16 goals in their last four matches including five without reply against West Ham United last weekend.

When speaking to the media in the pre-match press conference, Taylor recognised Bristol City’s threats, however, he has called for his own side to maintain their recent performance levels.

“They’re struggling and are desperate for points but they’ve been close in some of the games, it’s not been huge margins,” Taylor said. “I saw the game last weekend against Liverpool and it was tight. Liverpool had to score a goal from the edge of the box, you score one in 10 of those. Without that, there’s a tight game in there.

“We understand the type of fixture it brings for us but of course, we concentrate on what we do. We are very aware of their threats and how they’re organised.

“Lauren [Smith] did a fantastic job in getting them into the league last season and she will be the first one to admit how difficult it is for them to maintain status in the WSL, let alone push for higher things.

“For us, it is about maintaining the levels that we have shown. I was so impressed with us last weekend against West Ham; the way we approached the game, the way we attacked the game, the goals we scored were fantastic.

“Some of the football that we are playing is the idea that I always had when I first came here. It has taken time, we saw glimpses of it last season, we’ve seen glimpses of it previously but to do it consistently like we have done and to have gone on the run that we have with the record, we want to extend that. To go into double figures for consecutive wins in a 22-game season is really special. Full credit to the players because they really trust in what we are doing.”

Manchester City have won 6-0 and 8-1 on their previous visits to Bristol City. While The Cityzens’ record is excellent, Taylor is only really focusing on the here and now.

He said “They were different. Even a season ago, it’s hard to compare. When we come up against opponents, of course we will see a recent history, it’ll show the last five or 10 games. Even the last two games last season were probably completely different. Most of our group is very similar, theirs is slightly different; they’ll have lost a couple of players and brought some in.

“I think they’ll become important [games] for the players that played last season. Being in that environment, we played two games there; one at their training ground which is a really good facility and one at Ashton Gate. We get to play at Ashton Gate again which is a good environment, a good pitch considering the number of games they’ve had there this season with men’s, women’s and rugby. This time of year should be a good time to play there as the pitch will be in good condition.

“We never look beyond the next game, we never look too far back. It’s easy to do that but we know that we have to play the game that’s in front of us, we have to earn the right. Of course, we have done that really well recently, we’ve scored 16 goals in four games. That’s really impressive when you look at some of the games; beating West Ham here 5-0 last weekend is not easy, so great credit to the team for doing that. First thing for us is win the game, the next game in front of us and then the next one after that, it’s as simple as that. I’m so pleased at the moment because the performances are good. It’s really pleasing that the players’ hard work and effort is paying off.”

Manchester City’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Bristol City kicks-off at 6.45pm this evening.