The Cityzens have lost three of their last four league games, leaving them 12 points off the leaders and outside the European places

Manchester City's final game before the Women's Super League winter break could have sparked this season's title race into life. It came a day after Chelsea had dropped points for the first time, thus presenting the Cityzens with the chance to close the gap on the leaders to three points. Beat Everton, who had picked up just one league victory all season, and City would be right there on the tail of the Blues, despite the champions' near-perfect start. But instead of being a catalyst for a tantalising tussle for the title, it would prove to be the beginning of the end of City's tilt.

Rocked by Alex Greenwood's knee injury just a few days earlier, the City defence looked lost, and Everton took full advantage in a stunning 2-1 win. When the title hopefuls returned to league action some five weeks later, the back line was exposed again, this time by local rivals Manchester United in a damning 4-2 loss. Victory over Aston Villa the following weekend offered some respite, but if City's bid for a first WSL crown since 2016 wasn't already doomed, the final nail was hammered into the coffin by Arsenal on Sunday, in a 4-3 thriller.

"Of course, it's a blow," head coach Gareth Taylor said after that defeat. "You never want to lose games against teams you're competing with for those places, but that's our objective now, to be in the [Champions League] qualification places at the end of the season."

This is the team that pushed Chelsea to the final day last season, one that came into this campaign driven by the disappointment of falling short and, through the first half of it, looked like a real threat in all competitions, even shocking European champions Barcelona in October. Now, though, they're 12 points off the pace in the WSL and not even in a Champions League qualification spot. Why has it all unravelled?

AFPRavaged by injuries

There's one really obvious issue to point to here and that is the injuries City have sustained. Perhaps the tone was set back in July, before the season had even began, when summer signing Risa Shimizu was stretchered off at the Olympics with an ACL injury, just two weeks after being unveiled as a City player. Bad luck is also encapsulated by the fortunes of young defender Naomi Layzell, who had a breakout game with a goal and assist against Barca, only to be forced to leave the field with an ankle issue before full-time. She would be sidelined for two months.

In the time since, Greenwood, Vivianne Miedema and Lauren Hemp have all undergone knee surgeries, star striker Khadija Shaw only came back from an injury last month and Laia Aleixandri hasn't quite rediscovered her best form yet since returning from a problem sustained on international duty before Christmas.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesLack of depth

It's not just the importance of these injured players that has knocked City, but also the quantity of them, as Taylor doesn't have the deepest squad. That's not a passable excuse for their struggles, as they are a huge club with the finances to stock a big squad. However, it does offer an explanation for why they have endured such a devastating few weeks.

That's not changed much despite them being active in the January transfer window, either. Yes, they've done well to bring in Brazil forward Kerolin, named MVP in the NWSL in the 2023 season; defender Rebecca Knaak, who looked particularly good against Arsenal; and Austria international Laura Wienroither, to add necessary depth at full-back. Aemu Oyama, a star for Japan at youth level, is an exciting signing for the future, too.

But the departures of Alanna Kennedy and Chloe Kelly mean they're still a little short in some key areas, especially while players like Greenwood and Hemp are on the sidelines. In hindsight, this squad probably needed to avoid any mid-to-long-term injuries this season in order to really go toe-to-toe with Chelsea in the title race, particularly given how efficient the Blues have been.

Getty Images SportQuestionable squad-building

"This season, we're probably feeling the strain of being a Champions League group for the first time," Taylor said on Tuesday, speaking about that lack of depth. "That changes the schedule a lot. But squad depth, and quality of squad depth, is always going to be really important for any team to compete on multiple [fronts]. We've probably had to turn to young players quite a bit.

"Most coaches will always say they want that depth of quality to be a little bit better, but the teams that have done well, if you look at Chelsea, they've been able to build a squad over the last five, six, seven years, through the successes they've had. When you win the league, it gives you that two months then to be able to invest, knowing that [you're] going to be playing in the Champions League [group stage] and in multiple competitions, while the other two teams who qualify for the Champions League [qualifying rounds], there's no guarantee you're going to be in that competition. By the time you have qualified for [the group stage], the transfer window has closed. You're hedging your bets a little bit."

This makes sense to some degree. After all, having Champions League football makes it easier to attract top players, while giving minutes to a squad built for four competitions becomes tougher if you then lose out on European qualification. Yet, Man City are not a small club. They should be able to attract players regardless, they are certainly in the financial position to be able to build a big squad and may well have avoided some of those qualifying defeats if they had one.

Getty ImagesCrumbling defence

As it is, that lack of depth and the injuries suffered has impacted the back line more than any other area of the team. The time spent on the sidelines by Greenwood, Layzell, Aleixandri and Shimizu has left City with only one senior right-back for most of the season, and often just two centre-backs until Knaak's January arrival, while Leila Ouahabi is the only left-back in the squad to have played a game for the club. Again, this comes down to squad composition as well as absences.

As a result, City have conceded an uncharacteristically high number of goals, with 18 shipped in 13 WSL fixtures. That's an average of 1.38 per game, up from 0.68 last season. Most notably, in the four WSL outings since Greenwood's injury, which began with that defeat at Everton, City have conceded 12 times. That's an eye-watering three goals per game.

It's no huge surprise that Taylor's team don't look as sturdy at the back without their captain, and Aleixandri's surprising dip in form hasn't allowed her to step up and lead the defence as well as many might've have imagined – not yet, at least. As they say, form is temporary, class is permanent. But some of the problems have been preventable, too. For example, when Kennedy came in for Greenwood for the Everton game, City didn't adjust their high line. That inability to recognise that tweaks were necessary, in order to account for the two centre-backs having differing strengths, proved costly.