After a disappointing season in 2024-25, Manchester City have started well under Andrée Jeglertz in the WSL. But can they stay ahead of their rivals in the title race?
Last season was a one to forget for Manchester City’s women’s side. After narrowly missing out on the title on goal difference in 2023-24, a campaign of disappointment led to them missing out on Champions League qualification with a fourth-place finish, 17 points behind league winners Chelsea.
Chelsea also knocked them out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage, as well as defeating them in the League Cup final. This all happened after the departure of Gareth Taylor as boss, but replacement boss Nick Cushing was unable to steady the ship.
It’s fair to say injuries to key players were a major reason behind their failure, with stars such as Bunny Shaw, Jill Roord, Alex Greenwood, Lauren Hemp and Vivianne Miedema all spending time on the sidelines.
Andrée Jeglertz was given the job of turning things around at Man City, appointed as manager in July after the conclusion of Denmark’s Euro 2025 campaign, where his side failed to win a single point in the group stage and exited without making any impact whatsoever.
Jeglertz offered experience, but also a fresh outlook having never managed in English club football before. So far, the gamble is paying off. Heading into Matchday 9 of the season, City sit top of the Women’s Super League, a point ahead of reigning champions Chelsea. But they face a stiff challenge against rivals Manchester United this weekend.
Fixing the Mentality Issue
One of Manchester City’s biggest problems last season was their awful record against the other teams in the top four of the WSL. Across six matches against Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United, City won only two points (W0 D2 L4), the fewest of the four teams in such matches. Compare that to title winners Chelsea, who won all 18 points available in those games, then there was only going to be one winner in 2024-25.
WSL 2024-25 vs the top four
That didn’t tell the true story of those matches, though. In the 4-3 defeat to Arsenal in February, City were level until the 78th minute and had the better chances before the winning goal. Chelsea’s 2-1 win over City in March came via a 91st-minute winner, while the reverse fixture was goalless with 15 minutes to go. They also led 2-0 at Man Utd in May before letting it slip and drawing 2-2.
There seemed to be a mentality issue at play, where City didn’t seem to believe they could compete with the best the WSL had to offer. That wasn’t helped by the fact they also dropped more points from winning positions in 2024-25 (11) than Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd combined (10).
Star striker Shaw suggested as much in an interview with the BBC earlier this week, saying: “There’s a mentality shift compared to last season. This season we just need the three points. Last season we fell short in a couple of the games, but this season the mentality is the biggest thing.”
City fans would have been worried about history repeating itself when, on the opening day of this season, they lost 2-1 at Chelsea in a game they could have easily won had they taken their chances. Jeglertz’s side had more than double the number of shots (17) Chelsea managed (8) and caused the reigning champions problems at the back.
But seven successive league wins have followed, including their first victory over legitimate title rivals since March 2024 after they beat Arsenal 3-2 at home thanks to a late Iman Beney goal. They are now halfway to replicating their WSL record sequence of 14 successive wins in a single season (November to April in 2023-24), but meetings with United, Arsenal and Chelsea all come in the next seven fixtures.
Those wins have helped City capitalise on Chelsea dropping points in draws at Man Utd and Arsenal already, while the Gunners have only managed to win four of their first eight games. Manchester United’s surprise defeat at home to Aston Villa last weekend saw them drop further below City too, with this weekend’s derby giving Jeglertz the opportunity to see his side move seven points clear of them.
Passing Up Possession
Manchester City, much like their men’s side, have become intrinsically linked to a possession-heavy style of play over recent years.
Each of the previous five seasons have seen them complete the most passes in the WSL, while the three highest average possession figures in the competition’s history have all been by City over the last five years.
Last season’s possession average of 65.7% was the third highest in the history of the WSL, but this season has been different. City have averaged the fourth-highest possession figure (54.9%), while their successful passes per game has fallen to 419.3, their lowest average since 2016 (329.6) and 114 passes fewer than their average last season (522.3).
City’s average sequence time in open play has dropped from a league-high 12.4 seconds last season to 10.0 seconds this campaign, while they are averaging 0.7 passes fewer per open-play sequence in 2025-26 than 2024-25 (3.5 vs 4.2).
WSL Playing Styles in 2025-26
Perhaps surprisingly considering such a drop in pass frequency from season to season, a much lower proportion of these successful passes have come in the opposition’s half (41.9%) or ended in the final third of the pitch (22.4%) than last season (47.9% and 25.0%), but a lot of that stems from more belief in their power in transition this season.
Last season saw City predominately line up in a 4-3-3 formation, but Jeglertz’s shift to a 4-2-3-1 has seen their double pivot in midfield provide more fluidity and, in turn, given them the opportunity to win the ball in deeper areas and attack at pace.
City have had seven attempts from fast breaks this season in eight games, just one fewer than 2024-25 (8) from 22 games. Playing deeper and attacking faster has given them more space in attacking sequences, too.
Field tilt measures territorial dominance between teams, looking at the share of possession each side have in their attacking third compared to their opponents. A field tilt of over 50% means your team makes more passes in the opposition’s final third than they make in your defensive third.
City’s field tilt of 73.0% last season was the second highest in the WSL, just behind Arsenal’s 78.4% average. This season, City’s field tilt has dropped by over 14 percentage points to 58.7%, lower than Arsenal (76.6%), Man Utd (60.7%) and Chelsea (60.1%).
Being such a possession-heavy side in the past, Man City had to contend with opponents in a low block, with a compact defence offering little opportunity to find gaps for passes between defenders to their forwards. Now, catching teams in transition more frequently, City players have already attempted 17 through balls in the WSL this season, just two fewer than they managed across the entire 2024-25 campaign from 14 games more (19).
Man City WSL Through Balls in 2025-26
Man City WSL Through Balls in 2024-25
Work Smarter, Not Harder
“If we lose the ball, everybody needs to be ready directly. We will miss passes, but we hunt the ball back.”
Man City released a clip via their social media channels of Jeglertz’s half-time team talk from this weekend’s game at Everton, when the score was 1-1. Within eight minutes of the second half, Shaw’s header put City into the lead after Yui Hasegawa won possession inside the opposition’s half just 12 seconds earlier.
This fell just short of being considered a high turnover (these include only possession steals within 40 metres of the opposition’s goal), but it was a great example of City’s hunger to win the ball back in the opponent’s half and attack quickly.
Just like last season, City are one of the WSL’s most intense pressing sides in attacking areas. No team have made more high turnovers than they have in 2025-26 (121), with their average just a shade above that in 2024-25 (15.1 vs 14.9) when they ranked third behind Arsenal and Chelsea. City also top the WSL rankings this season for PPDA (opposition passes allowed per defensive action) with an average of 9.6, but it’s still not as strong as their average last season (8.9).
It’s worth noting, however, that City haven’t been anywhere near as efficient at turning high turnovers into scoring opportunities this season as they were last term. They absolutely made the most of winning the ball within 40m of their opposition’s goal last season, with 19.9% of their high turnovers ending in shots. This season, that average is down to 5.8% (7 shots from 121 high turnovers), the worst rate in the WSL.
Man City High Turnovers in 2025-26
Of course, much of this will be due to City playing deeper and not pinning teams inside their own third as often as previous seasons, but it’s still something to address in the upcoming months. Maximising opportunities from high turnovers could be the difference between winning the title, qualifying for the Champions League or failing entirely just like last season.
Perfect Pair Fighting Fit
When it was announced that Vivianne Miedema was signing for City on the eve of the 2024-25 season, the prospect of a partnership with Bunny Shaw was mouthwatering.
After just three WSL appearances for the club, which yielded three goals, a knee injury sidelined the Dutch striker until the new year. And although she scored six times after her return, City’s season was pretty much over by that point.
Another issue was her return coincided with Shaw’s absence from the side in attack. In the end, Shaw and Miedema played just 333 minutes (including added time) together last season out of a possible 2,182 minutes (15.2%). They’ve played nearly double that time on the pitch together in the WSL already this season (633 mins), and it’s no coincidence City have been better for it.
Of players with more than one non-penalty goal in WSL history, only Sam Kerr (94) can boast a better minutes-per-goal ratio from non-penalty shots that rivals Shaw (89) or Miedema (106). Together, the City pair have scored an astounding 157 times, or 3.7% of the goals scored in WSL history.
Viviane Miedema vs Bunny Shaw
Having two of the most lethal forwards seen in the women’s game – as well as the hopeful return of Mary Fowler from her ACL injury in the new year – could prove to be the difference for City this season.
Jeglertz’s side are averaging a league-high 2.5 goals per game in the WSL this season, among the top 25 ratios within a single campaign in the competition’s history. Eight of their goals have come via Shaw (5) and Miedema (3).
The only team to stop Chelsea from winning the WSL over the past eight years were Arsenal in 2018-19, and they did that by breaking records in attack – their 3.5 goals per game remains the highest average ever by a team in a WSL season.
If City are to have success in 2025-26 and end Chelsea’s six-season reign as Women’s Super League champions, the form Miedema and Shaw have shown will need to continue.
WSL Stats Opta 2025-26
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