"She's just so important to us" Gareth Taylor expresses admiration for City's English international player

Manchester City have started the 24/25 season off with quite a statement, coming up with eight wins and one draw in all official competitions, and most noticeably, topping both Women's Super League and UEFA Champions League tables.

Last season's Women's Super League runners-up have made a commendable start to the new season, and having expressed their desire to win silverware this season after missing out to narrowly last time, the Cityzens are really proving themselves to be serious threats to all their opponents.

The Man City squad have all played a highly vital part in getting the club where it is right now, and one of the names that manager Gareth Taylor has been impressed with is English international Lauren Hemp.

Gareth Taylor talks Lauren Hemp.

"She was magical, with and without the ball. The energy she put in for the team defensively and for Leila (Ouahabi) was top."

"It's similar to last season when we went one down to a speculative goal through Turner last year. Lauren was the game-changer that day as well. She's just so important to us and I just loved her energy today. She always gives a very good performance Lauren, pretty much and today (against Villa) she almost went up a notch. Her effort and endeavour was very similar to the Barcelona game. In this team, you have to do it (defensive work). It's important. We're not a team who can manage those situations without our wingers recovering. We ask a lot from our wingers.

"They're the first to press and have the furthest to travel when the opposition hit long balls. It's something Lauren has grown so much into her role here."

"Her game was already at a really good level and she was well known. She's priceless in that sense to us because she brings so much to the team."

Taylor then moved on to talk about the impressive win for his team over Aston Villa a few days ago, "It's impressive when you do that (make a comeback when losing). Everything tells you to do the opposite. We don't behave in that way, we try to remain calm as much we can because we know that calmness will take us back into the game."

"Of course, we can raise the intensity sometimes and stay still playing with a clear mind and the girls did that well. I thought it was a really good performance."  

Manchester City next meet Crystal Palace, on Sunday the 3rd of November, but before that, players head off for the international break.