Manchester City ramped up pre-season preparations with a 4-0 behind-closed-doors friendly win over Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.
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Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, Kerolin and a Vivianne Miedema (two) were on the scoresheet at the Joie Stadium as we continued to fine-tune ahead of our 2025/26 Barclays Women’s Super League campaign.
The first chance came inside the fifth minute when Forest’s Caragh Hamilton drove into the box and found a yard of space before Gracie Prior darted across the area and made a heroic block to prevent the ball testing Ayaka Yamashita.
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Moments later, and fresh from returning from England’s triumphant Euros campaign, Jess Park came close when she met a dropping ball which Shaw had blocked into the air, but the former couldn’t keep her effort from looping over the bar.
Following the fast start by both teams, the remainder of the first half was hard fought with opportunities at a premium until Bunny broke the deadlock when collecting the ball behind the visitors’ defence, flicking it over Emily Batty and dispatching into an empty net.
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Shortly after the interval summer signings Sydney Lohmann and Iman Beney combined inside the box which allowed the latter to slot home, but the assistant referee adjudged the Switzerland international to have strayed into an offside position.
City remained comfortable in possession throughout and doubled our lead with just over 30 minutes remaining when Kerolin weaved into the area and found the back of the net.
Andrée Jeglertz then brought on Laura Coombs and Vivianne Miedema and the WSL all-time top goalscorer extended City’s advantage further with a composed finish from the edge of the area.
And the Netherlands international rounded off the scoring when meeting Kerolin’s cut-back to fire low into the net as we banked another 90 minutes ahead of our WSL opener against Chelsea on Friday 5 September.
HOW WE LINED UP
City XI: Yamashita (Keating 46’), Rose, Prior (Greenwood 46’), Ouahabi (Layzell 46’), Casparij (Thomas 70’), Blindkilde Brown, Hasegawa (Lohmann 46’), Murphy, Beney (Coombs 61’), Park (Miedema 61’), Shaw (Kerolin 46’).
Unused substitutes: Cumings, Shimizu, Wienroither, Pritchard.
JEGLERTZ REACTION
City’s head coach Andrée Jeglertz said after the friendly: “I think there were parts in the game which were good.
“There were also parts which showed how far we have come with the team and what we need to improve.
“Especially in the second half when we are being a little more dynamic and less static we threatened them a bit more in different ways. That part is much better.
“I think we are progressing in the tempo that I expected, you’re always thinking it’s a little bit of a rush.
“Coming from Sweden with three month pre-seasons and coming here to having six weeks is a totally different thing.
“But the players are easy to teach because they are very eager to learn, eager to do the things we talk about and they have questions and are part of the process.
“It’s not just my idea of getting the best out the players, and by also having them in the process it’s helping us take the next step.”