Last Sunday, Manchester City hosted Brighton and needed only 16 minutes to find the back of the net three times. Two assists from left winger Lauren Hemp, a brace from Khadija Shaw and a goal from Niamh Charles left everyone fearing what awaited the visitors.
What could’ve been a comfortable win, however, turned into a contest when City conceded two goals before halftime.
City, why are you like this?
The game on Sunday wasn’t an isolated event. Just a week earlier, they played against Arsenal and came back twice from behind.
Bunny Shaw has been pivotal in their strong start to the season. The Ballon d’Or nominee has been one of the best WSL signings in recent years. Currently, she’s leading the league in goals with seven, continuing where she left off last season when the Jamaican was awarded the Golden Boot after tallying 21 goals.
Yet, what makes City so difficult to stop is not just their attacking quality, but their ability to regain control when a game becomes uncomfortable. If we take a look at the second half, after conceding twice, the hosts pressed aggressively and used possession more purposefully to regain control of the game.
Andrée Jeglertz praised his team’s response highlighting the belief and confidence that allowed them to walk away with three points. Once they took the lead, Man City looked composed and prevented Brighton from building on their momentum, with long spells of possession.
City’s strength lay not in dominating every phase of the game, but in the fact that they managed the final stages well enough to protect their lead.
Hemp continues to perform consistently with her goal contributions speaking for themselves throughout her career in the WSL. She is a one-of-a-kind threat.
Lauren Hemp, the architect behind the attack
The 26-year-old has been absolutely dominant since the start of the season and the numbers show she’s one of the most productive creators.
Hemp is closing in on the WSL’s all-time assist record and her latest performance offered another reminder of her influence on City’s attack. She tallied her 51st and 52nd career assists in the first 16 minutes of the game after setting up Shaw twice. That left her just three behind record-holder and teammate Beth Mead.
However, Hemp is more than an assist machine. According to Opta, she’s created 67 big chances, more than any other player in WSL history. Moreover, last season alone, she created 49 chances. She’s very versatile when it comes to creating danger. The winger is good at dribbling, carrying the ball into dangerous areas or choosing to cross. She topped the league in the latter with 33 successful crosses while finishing with 23 carries ending in a chance created, leading the league in this department too, ahead of other notable wingers such as Lauren James or Johanna Rytting Kaneryd.
That variety in turning an attack into a dangerous situation has brought her within touching distance of the WSL assist record.
Resilience shouldn’t be needed every week
Manchester City’s winning mentality is undeniable. Even so, that mentality doesn’t excuse the lapse that allowed Brighton to be back in the game. They didn’t need to make the game harder for themselves, not more than necessary.
Proving you can win even when your performances are not perfect is not the smartest path to take in a competitive league such as the WSL. Maybe their next challenge is not to prove that they can win no matter the circumstances but rather to make their resilience a safety net just for emergencies, not something they need every week.
