Manchester City followed their 3-1 opening-weekend win over Birmingham City with a 4-1 victory against Aston Villa at Villa Park on Sunday evening. As the only side to win both of their opening two games, City ended the week at the top of the WSL table.
The WSL champions took an early lead through Canadian centre-back Jade Rose after Villa’s new Japanese goalkeeper, Akane Okuma, spilled a loose ball from a corner into the danger area. Rose reacted quickest to score.
Mary Fowler doubled the advantage a quarter of an hour later, taking her tally to two goals in two games.
City looked in control, but Villa came back into the game three minutes before half-time. Summer signing Amalie Vangsgaard punished some weak City transition defending to pull one back and give the home side a foothold.
Villa stayed within touching distance of City thanks to a strong defensive shape and maintaining a threat on the break early in the second half. Mia McAulay and Chastity Grant offered pace, while Vangsgaard’s hold-up play caused City problems – especially down their left-hand side, where Carlotta Wamser was making her debut alongside Alex Greenwood, who was playing at centre-back for the first time in months.
City kept Villa at bay and, inevitably, Khadija “Bunny” Shaw added the third in the 73rd minute, before Lauren Hemp forced Mathilde Harviken into an own goal deep into injury time to make the scoreline more emphatic.
The win looked comfortable in the end, but it still left us with five things to ponder
1. Carlotta Wamser’s full debut
City began the summer window by moving quickly for established WSL talent in Beth Mead and Niamh Charles. A quieter few weeks followed and most assumed the club’s transfer business was complete, only for an injury crisis to prompt a surprise move for German full-back Wamser.
Of the three senior wide additions, Wamser has been the most involved so far. She came off the bench for a bright cameo in City’s opener last week and was rewarded with a full debut against Villa.
Some teething issues were inevitable for a young player adapting to a new country and a new league. Wamser lost her marker for Villa’s goal and her relationship with Hemp, while promising, is still a work in progress. Beyond that, she was excellent. She gave City much-needed pace and mobility down the left, which they lacked for long periods last season.
Wamser ran the line repeatedly, offered an outlet outside Hemp and recovered ground when Villa countered. Charles, who is injured at the time of writing, will have a serious fight to regain her place in the starting XI if Wamser sustains this early form.
2. More rotation from the bench
City’s title challenge last season was built on a small core of players who started the majority of games. The WSL champions gave fewer minutes to substitutes than any other side in the division, taking full advantage of the absence of Champions League football.
City won’t have that luxury this season, but they are still only playing once a week until the competition’s league phase starts later this month. Wamser was the only change from last weekend’s starting XI, but Andrée Jeglertz was quicker to use his bench on this occasion. Iman Beney, Sam Coffey and Mead came on in the 63rd minute, with City holding a one-goal lead. That was the sort of move that rarely happened last season.
Grace Clinton’s return from injury in the 83rd minute made it the second consecutive game in which City had used four substitutes. City’s rotation players need to be ready for starting minutes once the schedule becomes more demanding, and Jeglertz is already giving them responsibility while games are still live.
3. Set-piece dominance continues
City scored 17 goals from dead-ball situations last season – more than any other WSL side last season. They have started this campaign looking just as sharp.
Shaw scored twice from corners in the season opener against Birmingham City. Against Villa, Rose opened the scoring from another corner. Two games is too small a sample for firm conclusions, but City have begun the season looking every bit as dangerous from set pieces as they were last year.
4. Mary Fowler returns with a bang
Australian forward Fowler spent most of last season recovering from an ACL injury. Even after she returned, City reintegrated her carefully and she was unable to make a decisive contribution to the title run-in.
Kerolin’s departure to Barcelona over the summer opened the door for Fowler to take a bigger role. Injury recovery aside, there were questions over how she would adapt to City’s new style of play. Under former manager Gareth Taylor, Fowler often played as a wide winger. Jeglertz is now using her in a narrower right-sided role, with the right-back holding the width outside her.
Jeglertz has said the role is designed to get Fowler closer to the box where she can make a difference, and has called her an “X factor”. Fowler has responded by scoring in both of City’s opening WSL fixtures.
5. City are creating without Vivianne Miedema
City wobbled badly when they lost Vivianne Miedema at the end of last season. She shaped how they attacked and defended, and her absence nearly cost them the title.
They lost 3-2 to Brighton and needed a last-minute set-piece winner to scrape past Liverpool on the penultimate weekend of the season. City ultimately won the league when Arsenal drew with Brighton a few days later, but Miedema’s importance had been made obvious.
Miedema then suffered a knee injury with only a few days left in the summer transfer window, prompting City to search across Europe for an emergency creative replacement. Paris Saint-Germain resisted City’s attempts to sign Nigeria international Jennifer Echegini, while Everton quickly rebuffed a deadline-day move for Ornella Vignola. City finally failed with a late bid for Atlético Madrid’s Fiamma Benítez.
On the pitch, though, City have created consistently without Miedema. They have scored seven goals in their opening two games, with Japan international Aoba Fujino operating as the direct replacement. Fujino cannot replicate Miedema’s exact profile, but she has given City greater mobility, helping them connect play and break up opposition attacks.
Fowler’s passing from the right half-space has also added much-needed creativity, while her goals could help replace some of Miedema’s threat in the box.
With their expected title rivals already slipping up, City have a chance to build early momentum.
