Twelve days ago four matches against Chelsea stood between Manchester City and a piece of silverware, a place in the UEFA Champions League semi final and the chance to earn points in chasing their league rivals. Now City’s only hope for silverware is the Adobe Women’s FA Cup, they are out of the Champions League and their prospects to return to the competition next year are slim. And still there is a feeling that Manchester City competed well in the four games against the team from West London, a team still on for an historic quadruple even handing Sonia Bompastor’s side their first defeat.
The four match series concluded on Thursday night with the most one sided of all the matches between the two as Chelsea ran out 3-0 winners and 3-2 victors on aggregate to see Nick Cushing’s side exit the competition. The Halfway Line heard from Nick Cushing after the defeat.
Cushing ‘immensely proud of the group’
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Playing any team four times in twelve days is a challenge, but playing Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea is another level of difficulty. Cushing was asked for his thoughts after he saw his side exit the competition after arriving at Stamford Bridge defending a two goal lead, he replied:
“Of course, disappointed that we didn’t progress, but immensely proud of the group. (They were) hugely positive in the commitment, desire and determination of a team that has had a lot of stress and a lot of strain and a lot of games against a top team over the last two weeks. To be in the game and pushing it till the end and still believing shows me that the character this group has.”
Cushing continued, describing the mammoth task that had faced his side as ‘the ultimate test’, he noted:
“It has been the ultimate test, and it is the ultimate test when you play the best team, the most consistent, in form team, it shows you where you’re at, right? But it’s also difficult for me to say where we’re at, because we have so many key players missing. But you know, that’s not an excuse.
I’m proud of the group. We’ve shown that the togetherness and the fight and the spirit and the determination is there. We’ve caused Chelsea real problems in all four games, we’ve lost on moments, I think arguably, probably the last 20 minutes of the of the league tie was probably the the most one sided part of the four games.”
‘Maybe fortune hasn’t favoured us with getting injuries to key players at key times’
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On the night Manchester City could name only five substitutes such was the injury crisis they are currently enduring. Cushing was asked to clarify why he only named five substitutes on the bench, he answered:
“We’ve got key injuries, right? And obviously, when you come into a Champions League quarter final, you want to put your best players on the pitch and (we) have (lost) Alex Greenwood and Lauren Hemp, and a goalkeeper, Yamashita, that’s competing for the number one shirt and then lose Aoba Fujino and not have our number nine that has contributed to the most goals that we’ve had. It’s tough, right?
But I’m not making an excuse here. I knew the task and the challenge that I had when I took over. And the one thing that I always want from my teams is to show the real fight, determination and belief. And you can see that there, the team pushed that game right till the end.”
When asked to compare what his has available to his opposite number Cushing responded:
“I think tonight you saw a team that had fresh legs, in the sense of Kiera Walsh, Erin Cuthbert, you know, (Mayra) Ramírez, who all came off the bench and played 20 minutes at the weekend, and our players rolled right the way through, if not, came off with injuries.
We started the game with two homegrowns today with less than 10 appearances in a Champions League quarter final. But listen, this is unfortunate. You know, we’re in a period where maybe fortune hasn’t favoured us with getting injuries to key players at key times.”
‘I believe this club should be and will be fighting for trophies’
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While City came into the four matches as underdogs, the results they have come away with will still be disappointing, Cushing was asked to reflect on how his City side bounce back from this, he reflected:
“I think we need to keep doing what we’ve always done, right? You know, if I look at my tenure as the head coach from 2014 through 2020 I never finished out the top two. I was involved in multiple Cup finals and two Champions League semi finals.
I believe that this club should be and will be fighting for trophies, whether it be league titles, champions leagues or the two trophies available in the league. So has to continue to do what it’s always done. That will be a process for the end of the season.”
Cushing concluded:
“We know what we got to play for now. We have to play for an FA Cup Final, first against Manchester United. We’ve got to play for the Champions League place and chase down Manchester United and Arsenal, starting with Brighton on Sunday. So there is clarity on what we have to achieve. We now have to find the solutions to make sure we’re competitive in all those games.”