Man City need 'pick me up' after damaging week

Manchester City dropped to fourth in the WSL with defeat by Arsenal

It has been a week to forget for Manchester City - and manager Gareth Taylor admits they need a "pick me up".

A bitter transfer saga involving England international Chloe Kelly dominated headlines and was followed up by a costly defeat by Women's Super League rivals Arsenal on Sunday.

Kelly's loan move to Arsenal went through hours before the transfer window deadline closed on Thursday but it was not a smooth process.

The forward posted on social media that she just "wanted to be happy again" and that she did not see her future at City beyond the summer.

Taylor later said the issue was "really disappointing", while Kelly posted further comments about the club's handling of the situation.

Kelly was not involved in Sunday's league meeting between the sides but the fallout played a part in its narrative.

City conceded two early goals and despite an admirable fight back, lost 4-3 at Joie Stadium - harming their pursuit of a top-three finish.

"Yeah, we do [need a 'pick me up']," Taylor admitted as City dropped to fourth in the table and were leapfrogged by Arsenal - who they meet again in a League Cup semi-final at Meadow Park on Thursday.

He added: "We have an opportunity on Thursday in the semi-final of the cup competition. It's a chance to be in the final.

"[The mood is] not great, of course. The players we have are very honest. We know we didn't perform and execute to the level we know we are capable of.

"You win, you move on to the next game with confidence. You don't win, you have to pick the players up to be ready for the next game. We usually strike back and fight back every single time."

From title challengers to top three hopefuls

City's title hopes are all but over - with leaders Chelsea 12 points ahead of them after winning at Aston Villa.

It is a humbling situation for City, who were tipped to challenge Chelsea this season having gone toe-to-toe with them last year, losing out only on goal difference.

Taylor said in September that City knew "what they needed to do to go to the next step" in order to win the WSL - but here they sit, miles off it.

Many factors have contributed, not least injuries to key players including Alex Greenwood, Vivianne Miedema, Khadija Shaw and Lauren Hemp at varying times this season, but City's lack of progress is concerning.

This latest home defeat by Arsenal, two weeks after a shock defeat at Etihad Stadium by Manchester United, only emphasised their problems.

Individual errors, defensive frailty, an insistence on playing out from the back and, most importantly, failure to pick up points, has proven costly.

"Of course, yeah, it's a blow. You don't want to lose against teams you are competing with for those [top three] places," said Taylor.

"But that's our objective now, to be in the Champions League qualification places at the end of the season.

"We don't want it to be the case. You saw fight in the team but there were too many errors and too many duels not won."

With distractions off the pitch and performances not clicking on it, Taylor admitted confidence is hard to find.

Captain Laia Aleixandri was robbed of possession in the first minute as Mariona Caldentey put Arsenal ahead and goalkeeper Khiara Keating failed to get to the ball before Lotte Wubben-Moy as the Gunners went 2-0 up within eight minutes.

"Yeah, I think it affects the team and probably affected Laia a little bit because she got caught in that situation early on," said Taylor.

"But if we are gaining some positives, and it's difficult to pick them out, then the fight back was really good. We got back to 2-2 and even 3-3.

"There were a lot of things that weren't right and certainly that start, going 2-0 down in eight minutes, is really difficult to deal with confidence-wise."

'What is the Arsenal way?'

Renee Slegers celebrated with Arsenal fans in the stadium at full-time

For Arsenal, however, it was another test passed under Renee Slegers' leadership.

The Dutchwoman has steadied the ship after a rocky start to the season - and after a first defeat under her management against Chelsea, this was a demonstration of her side's character.

They showed Slegers glimpses of the "Arsenal way" - something she discussed with her players during the week.

"I was hurt of course after the loss against Chelsea. We analysed it. I asked 'who are we? What is the Arsenal way? What is our identity? How will we win games against top opposition?'" said Slegers.

"It wasn't the end of the world from a performance perspective against Chelsea but the loss of the three points meant a lot.

"I think the group is so strong from game to game and also within the games that we can show resilience and come back - which is what we did today."

Arsenal were given a template to beat City as they had seen United press high and cause panic to their backline at Etihad Stadium a few weeks ago.

But Slegers insisted this was not a "copy and paste" of what United did.

"Definitely, we saw that game. But we have our way and our strengths," said Slegers.

"We wanted to play to our strengths so we got those early goals from a pressing situation.

"On the other side, we were critical of our defending later on to allow them to come back into the game.

"It's definitely a big part of how we want to play - the press and the defensive solidity."