The Blues boss is unequivocal in his desire to see his players succeed at the European Championships and hopes they reap the benefits of his considered Spring Series selection policy.
“We rotated the team towards the end of the season,” he said.
“We gave Karen Bardsley three games off, we rested Lucy Bronze and Toni Duggan, we brought Jill Scott and Demi Stokes off at Liverpool. We did that because we want our players to do well at the Euros.”
Izzy Christiansen, Nikita Parris and captain Steph Houghton join that quintet in Mark Sampson’s Euro 2017 squad and the City boss admits he is eager to see how his charges perform in the Netherlands.
“I’m looking forward to the Euros,” added Cushing.
“England want to progress from their third-place finish at the World Cup, but that’s difficult because there are some really tough teams out there.
“The French, the Germans, Spain and Holland have all found some form.
“It’s going to be exciting to watch.”
With a well-deserved summer holiday on the horizon, Cushing is looking forward to the break, but the game won’t be far from his thoughts.
City are the best represented team in the Lionesses squad, with eight players, a stat which will no doubt please the manager, who is proud of the way in which the Club develop talent.
“Our strategy is to bring on young English players and young British players.
“Abbie McManus falls into that category and Mel Lawley, Keira Walsh, Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, Demi Stokes, Nikita Parris – all those players that we’ve overachieved with really.
“We want Abbie and Keira to become a senior internationals, we want Nikita to get on the pitch and be consistent. That’s why we push them every day.
“If we continue to push them, they will not only become senior internationals but we’ll continue to win at club level.”
