Rotation and Roord's return key to City success
Gareth Taylor showed he's not afraid to make changes as Jill Roord headlined a rotated Manchester City against West Ham.
Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor has often been accused of not rotating his side enough at crucial times during the WSL season. But on Sunday at the Joie Stadium, the City boss rung the changes as his side dominated West Ham in an important 2-0 win.
The story of the day, among City’s five line-up changes and an early disallowed West Ham goal, was a first start for Jill Roord since her ACL injury in January. It wasn’t the first sign of Roord this season, as she made her official return in a nine-minute cameo against Brighton last weekend.
The 27-year-old has endured an eight-month spell of rehab and recovery and comes back into the side ready to win but understandably still finding full fitness.
Nevertheless, her impact was felt in a 46-minute spell against West Ham. The Dutch international took up a position on the left of a three-person midfield - a role occupied by national compatriot Vivanne Miedema in City’s first two WSL games. Just like Miedema, she was allowed to drift centrally, where she is her most dangerous.
Lauren Hemp, Mary Fowler and Roord linked up in neat fashion throughout the first half, including the chance before City’s opener where Roord burst away from midfield, opening up space for Fowler and Hemp to combine for a good chance that wasn’t taken.
Taylor’s decision to drop Miedema, ahead of the Uefa Women’s Champions League group stages getting under way, signals the start of an intriguing dynamic as both players fight for game time.
Taylor has been working on conjuring up a coherent front five ahead of Yui Hasegawa that can function well with and without the ball. Jess Park, Laura Blindkilde Brown, Miedema, and Roord all offer an array of different skill sets to experiment with. Blindkilde Brown also came into the starting line up against West Ham as did Mary Fowler, who replaced a rested Bunny Shaw.
Roord’s dynamic profile combines size, tidy feet and finishing. There's an elusiveness to her without the ball, but once she sniffs a chance of receiving it, it's hard to miss her as she eats up the ground. Her goalscoring exploits have always showed a finishing touch that looks very Frank Lampard-esque. The killer instinct she has for goal helped her grab six WSL goals in 2023-24 before injury ended her season early.
Even though it didn't register on the stats sheet, Roord's returning ingenuity created good openings with her renewed connection with Hemp striking brightest for City against a disciplined West Ham side.
“What we’ve got now due to the unfortunate injury is an upgraded version of Jill [Roord],” said Taylor in his post-match press conference. “She looks fitter, stronger, healthier, she looks really engaged in the game and she's really enjoying the game.”
Miedema would replace Roord just after the interval in a pre-planned substitution, and though the latter was looking weary towards the end of the half, she showed in her first start in more than half a year, that her re-introduction might be the additional boost that City need in a season of navigating WSL and Europe.
West Ham’s early disallowed goal, which was ruled out after Viviane Asseyi picked up the ball in offside position, was an important reminder of how City can be punished when they switch off. But Taylor will be pleased on how much his side created. City once again racked up over 20 shots and an xG of 2.62. Turning that into three or four-goal margin wins is the ongoing challenge.
“I think what’s normal practice with ACL injuries is [that] when you look at all the players in the WSL who have sustained that injury, its not straight that you will come back and hit the ground running,” added Taylor.
“It’s hard to expect that from each player, they take time. We’ve had it with Chloe [Kelly], we’ve had it with other girls who had that injury. Its not like they come back and smash it straight away, but in saying that, I won't be surprised if Jill did.”
 | A guest post by
|
Good article. Man City have had some good additions to the squad, I wonder long term if the manager is going to be able to manage the rotation as successfully as Emma Hayes did? I don't think Arsenal have made much progress in that respect.