Man City Women 2022/23 season review: Transition year ends in disappointment

Manchester City's 2022/23 season ultimately ended in disappointment, finishing fourth in the WSL and missing out on Champions League qualification for the first time since 2014.

The season started with back-to-back WSL defeats, but a 14-game unbeaten run put them right back into top three and potentially even title contention by the spring.

However, things unravelled once more for Gareth Taylor's team in the final two months of the campaign, with three defeats in the last six WSL games sealing their fate. A shock loss against Liverpool left them with a mountain to climb, before defeat to Manchester United in the penultimate round of fixtures was the final nail in their coffin.

In the Champions League, City frustratingly didn't get any further than the first qualifying round after defeat to Real Madrid for the second year in a row. Aston Villa, who took four points off the sky blues in the league, sprung another shock in the FA Cup, while City were closest to silverware in the Conti Cup, but were knocked by an extra-time Arsenal winner in the semi-finals.

Outlook heading into the 2022/23 season

Things didn't look good for City ahead of the 2022/23 season. Georgia Stanway, Caroline Weir and Lucy Bronze all confirmed their departures before the end of May. By early September, Barcelona poached Keira Walsh in world record transfer, while Ellen White retired in August.

That meant five of City's regular starters from 2021/22 were no longer at the club, which meant they had to hit the transfer market to try and recruit replacements. Seven new faces came in, but gelling so many new players, most of whom were arriving in English football for the first time and needed time to adapt and settle, was always going to be an uphill task.

Man City Women 2022/23 transfers in

Man City Women 2022/23 transfers out

Man City Women 2022/23 player of the season

Khadija Shaw

Khadija Shaw joined City in the summer of 2021 but ended up sharing game time with Ellen White during her debut season, often playing second fiddle to the England veteran. But White's retirement last year ushered 'Bunny' into a regular starting place and she absolutely grabbed it with both hands.

The Jamaican had previously been prolific in France for Bordeaux and has an astonishingly good goal record at international level. Now, she was able to show that in City colours too.

Shaw was leading the WSL Golden Boot race until the closing stages of the campaign when she was overtaken by Aston Villa's Rachel Daly, but still finished on 20 in the league. In all competitions, that was 31 in total, more than a goal per game and a new single season City record - she smashed the old mark of 24 set by Nikita Parris during the 2018/19 campaign.

Honourable mentions: Laura Coombs, Alex Greenwood, Chloe Kelly, Yui Hasegawa

Man City Women 2022/23 goal of the season

Filippa Angeldahl vs Bristol City

Filippa Angeldahl, who has come on leaps and bounds at City over the past 12 months when it once appeared there might not be a future for her at the club, couldn't have struck her half volley against Bristol City in the FA Cup any sweeter.

The ball sat up nicely for her begging to be hit, after a Chloe Kelly cross was only partially cleared. The goal was actually rather inconsequential on the game as a whole, given that City were already 3-0 up when it was scored in first half stoppage time and would go on to score another four.

But it is one of those strikes you could watch on repeat and never be bored of.

Man City Women 2022/23 performance of the season

Man City 2-0 Chelsea

Aside from a shock defeat to Liverpool on the opening weekend of the season, Chelsea only lost one other WSL game in 2022/23. It wasn't against Arsenal, nor Manchester United, who have still been unable to beat the perennial champions. It was Manchester City who inflicted that result.

City went into the March contest with Chelsea at the Academy Stadium on an excellent run of league form, having taken 35 of the last 39 points available to them. They had suffered cup setbacks, notbaly exiting the FA Cup to Aston Villa just a week earlier, but Taylor's team rallied and pulled it out of the bag when Emma Hayes' team rocked up in Manchester.

It was a deserving win befitting of the occasion, wrapped up by first half goals from Filippa Angeldahl and Lauren Hemp. That result put City ahead of Chelsea in the WSL table, albeit having played a game more, and level on points with leaders Manchester United. At that stage, with only six games left to play, a title challenge and top three finish was in City's own hands.

Man City Women 2022/23 signing of the season

Yui Hasegawa

Yui Hasegawa was brought in from West Ham at the very end of the 2022 summer transfer window, the day after Keira Walsh was sold to Barcelona. The Japan international was intended to be the direct replacement for the England star and, although previously known as a 'numebr 10', was successfully repurposed as a deep-lying play-maker.

In place to receive the ball from the back four, Hasegawa was the start of everything for City. When she was singing, so too were her teammates.

"We were aware that we lost a really good 'number six' in Keira Walsh, but Yui has come in and taken the team's performances to a new level," Gareth Taylor remarked in February.

"She does so much without the ball, her anticipation is top class and her quality under pressure is very high. She's a great girl to work with who has been massively accepted by the rest of the group and is really popular."

Honourable mentions: Laia Aleixandri, Kerstin Casparij

Man City Women 2022/23 most improved player

Laura Coombs

Laura Coombs was a major beneficiary of the wholesale turnover in City's midfield, having previously been a fringe player. With no direct replacements for Georgia Stanway or Caroline Weir brought in, she was thrust into the starting XI and made the most of her chance.

The attacking midfielder finished the season with respectable 10 combined goals and assists in all competitions, including the equaliser in front of a record home crowd against Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium in December.

Her performances also caught the attention of England boss Sarina Wiegman. in February, Coombs was called into the Lionesses squad for the first time since 2015 and is now part of the final group of 23 heading to the World Cup in Australia this summer.

Honourable mentions: Chloe Kelly, Filippa Angeldahl, Khadija Shaw

Man City Women 2022/23 disappointment of the season

Finishing 4th in the WSL

Securing Champions League football is the bread and butter for a club of Manchester City's stature and ambition, and that was something they fell short in this season. All the more disappointing is that their fate was decided barring an implausible goal difference swing before the final day even began.

Defeats to Aston Villa and Liverpool were what did the damage. City finished level on points with third place Arsenal, but were pushed down because of an inferior goal difference, so even just a draw in either of those two games would have been enough to get ahead of the Gunners.

Fourth is the lowest WSL finish that City have had since placing fifth in their debut season in 2014. It means no Champions League football of any kind in 2023/24.

Honourable mentions: Champions League elimination, first league defeat to Man Utd

Man City Women 2022/23 statistics

Most appearances

• Khadija Shaw - 30 (22 WSL, 3 FA Cup, 3 Conti Cup, 2 Champions League)
• Chloe Kelly - 30 (22 WSL, 3 FA Cup, 3 Conti Cup, 2 Champions League)
• Alex Greenwood - 29 (21 WSL, 3 FA Cup, 3 Conti Cup, 2 Champions League)
• Laura Coombs - 28 (22 WSL, 2 FA Cup, 2 Conti Cup, 2 Champions League)
• Lauren Hemp - 28 (20 WSL, 2 FA Cup, 4 Conti Cup, 2 Champions League)
• Deyna Castellanos - 28 (19 WSL, 3 FA Cup, 4 Conti Cup, 2 Champions League)

Top scorers

• Khadija Shaw - 31 (20 WSL, 7 FA Cup, 2 Conti Cup, 2 Champions League)
• Lauren Hemp - 10 (7 WSL, 2 Conti Cup,1 Champions League)
• Chloe Kelly - 6 (5 WSL, 1 FA Cup)
• Laura Coombs - 5 (5 WSL)
• Filippa Angeldahl - 5 (2 WSL, 1 FA Cup, 2 Conti Cup)
• Mary Fowler - 5 (1 WSL, 4 Conti Cup)
• Hayley Raso - 5 (1 WSL, 4 Conti Cup)

Most assists

• Chloe Kelly - 14 (9 WSL, 3 FA Cup, 1 Conti Cup, 1 Champions League)
• Lauren Hemp - 12 (6 WSL, 1 FA Cup, 4 Conti Cup, 1 Champions League)
• Khadija Shaw - 11 (7 WSL, 3 Conti Cup, 1 Champions League)
• Laura Coombs - 5 (4 WSL, 1 FA Cup)
• Kerstin Casparij - 5 (3 WSL, 2 Conti Cup)
• Alex Greenwood - 5 (3 WSL, 1 FA Cup, 1 Conti Cup)

Man City Women 2022/23 record in all competitions

• WSL - P22, W15, D2, L5, GF 50, GA 25, GD +25, Pts 47, Position 4th
• FA Cup - P3, W2, L1, GF 16, GA 3, Quarter-finals
• Conti Cup - P6, W5, D0, L1, GF 18, GA 1, Semi-finals
• UWCL - P2, W1, L1, GF 6, GA 1, First qualifying round

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