Whether Andree Jeglertz chooses to accept or not, Manchester City is the team to beat this season.
With a six-point gap at the top of the Women's Super League table, they have put themselves in the best position to beat six-time champions Chelsea.
So, what has changed?
Collective responsibility
In conversation with Sky Sports recently, Vivianne Miedema was asked to put her finger on City's difference this season, and her answer was interesting. “I think we all take our responsibility,” she said. This is what you notice when looking at City in hand.
Their plan is clearly to press, recover the ball quickly, attack quickly, and play with your intensity in your face, but it is people who all know their role very well.
That comes with time on the training ground – City are not burdened with European commitments this season – and a manager whose second experience in the women's game at club and international level has seen City fall short under Gareth Taylor.
Jeglertz is clever and his tactics – Yui Hasegawa in the role, Kerstin Casparij as a winger, Bunny Shaw as a boxer – make the team merciless, able to kill games and direct opponents. And yet the picture above, where the color red wins, shows that the top balls of the league still have room for improvement.
They twice gave away chances to win against Arsenal in October but won 3-2 and beat Manchester United 3-0 in the derby the following month. Chelsea's first-day defeat was their only defeat in the first half of the season.
New thinking monsters?
Man City have long been criticized for their lack of bite. Taylor often referred to “the soft touch” during his time on the job. They showed great sympathy for the Chelsea situation, something Jeglertz would not stand for.
He is a wonderful person to talk to, relaxed, measured and positive – but hungry for success. He spoke recently about the continued pursuit of profitability, and emphasized how this group is “always on the hunt”. He encourages his team to be like the chasers, not the chasers.
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Highlights from the WSL match between Manchester City and Aston Villa
This mindset to keep improving is what makes them restless and unsatisfied. In last week's win over Leicester, they were made to wait until the 74th minute before scoring three goals in an unforgivable 20 minutes. Where fear once existed, only patience exists.
And there is a need for more, too. Jeglertz doesn't want City to continue to lead and be aggressive; he wants to control games by always being at the forefront of their attack. Even at 4-1 with the result in the bag against Aston Villa at the weekend, the coach understood the opportunity to get more goals and expressed it on the touchline. They scored two more goals after 80 minutes.
It's a pleasure
“Have fun,” said Casparij Sky Sports when asked what has changed this year under Jeglertz. “All the attacking players we play on instinct,” she said – something Jeglertz champions in a system that develops character.
There is no sense of restriction in his philosophy, and while the beginning of the season may make them agree more than they want, they seem to have a balance now.
In the hole on game day – which Sky Sports he was lucky to be able to go – players go to every first game, but relaxed. You get the sense of it before the game and during the game too, the best equipment to withstand the pressure time and the fast turnover. The lateral spine is full of heads of all kinds; speakers and doers.
They are the fourth team in league history to win 10 of their first 11 league games, more than any other opponent. The collaborations have never been the same.
Shaw is hitting new heights
Number one Bunny Shaw is back after an injury that limited her playing time last year. She is more than ever, the average position per game, and clearly on target to win her first position since 2016. In total, the contribution of 15 goals is more than any other player.
Each part of the title has a free property. The 28-year-old is comfortably among the best in the world right now, but she's not alone. Miedema, Hasegawa and Aoba Fujino are all having their best seasons in City blue – no coincidence. Lauren Hemp and Carolyn have been menacing when appropriate, too.
When you look from the dugout to the bench and see the likes of Alex Greenwood, Grace Clinton and Gracie Prior, you know this is a team set up for success. Shaw may be the star of the show but this squad is now as deep as Chelsea's as they play fewer games. There is no substitute for enjoying the moment in terms of recovery from the end and preparation for the future.
Halita Casparij
The true mark of champions comes when the level of class improvement is seen all over the field. Some of the best creators and producers in the league feed off Shaw's scoring prowess. Miedema is approaching something close to her best, but Casparij takes special mention here.
“I think I'm getting a lot of freedom in our style of play and our structure,” she said Sky Sports lately. “It gives me a lot of opportunities to move forward.”
Casparij is the key to unlocking opposition sides who are set up to restrict space in the back five, provide pace and width and deliver aggressively. She completed 128 final passes, the third most of any goalkeeper, and provided 45 crosses. Only Ella Toone of Manchester United could assist her in four openings (five).
Both Casparij and Fujino serve forwards with the highest regularity and efficiency, illustrated by their expected assist value (xA) in the chart above. And it means Shaw is playing alongside two of the best chance creators in the league. For the first time in a long time, it seems to be a perfect combination.
What will happen next?
Manchester City return to the Women's Super League after their winter break at home to Everton in January. But the crunch time is coming next month. Jeglertz's side will face Chelsea and Arsenal in the semi-finals at the start of February, with a chance to all but eliminate either side from the competition. They were never set up to do that.
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