City play in the Community Shield on Saturday – a new event on the women’s calendar – against a Chelsea side who won the last season’s WSL on a points-per-game basis after the competition was halted due to the global health pandemic.
City have made some smart signings over the summer, bringing in World Cup winners Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle, giving the squad additional vibrancy and technical quality.
But Taylor says he is taking nothing for granted ahead of the new campaign and believes Saturday’s curtain-raiser against Chelsea will mean little once the league campaign gets under way at Aston Villa in a fortnight’s time.
“I think it’ll be close throughout the season,” he said ahead of the weekend’s showpiece Wembley match.
“It won’t be easy. A lot of clubs have strengthened, but so have we. It’s hard to gauge.
“All we are doing is looking at ourselves. This game is a nice opportunity to start on the front foot - but it won’t change anything with regards to what we want to achieve this season.”
Taylor was appointed as City’s Head Coach back in May, but with the spread of COVID-19 forcing society into lockdown, it’s been an unusual start to his time in charge.
The players kept fit remotely during their time away, before returning to the CFA to start training as a group again six weeks ago.
Taylor admits it’s been a testing period, but has been hugely impressed with the attitude of his players throughout.
“I’ve learned a lot about the women’s game,” he said. “I am the same coach - I’ve coached in the same way.
“The girls are thirsty for knowledge. If you can articulate why we do a certain concept, once they see the rationale, you’ve got them.
“I’ve been really impressed with the attitude, application and professionalism. They are very low maintenance.
“We’ve been low in numbers for practice games and they have all chipped in. I was really impressed.
“I’m not new and I know a lot of the staff and players, so that’s helped.
“We’ve had six weeks training now and we’ve been able to work fairly normally.
“The support from the key workers around the CFA has been amazing - big shout out to them, they’ve made it very easy for us.”
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