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• Aguero: City players must adopt Guardiola mentality to rediscover form

  Manchester City all-time top scorer Sergio Aguero thinks that the players need to be more like manager Pep Guardiola if they are to continue their golden era.

  Aguero's rallying cry came after City's fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions on Saturday, the first time Guardiola has gone this long without a victory in his career.

  The Citizens have lost four straight games for the first time since August 2006, when Stuart Pearce was manager of the club and are 11 points behind Liverpool in the Premier League. 

  But despite their recent run, the Argentine, who 260 times in 390 appearances for City, is confident that his former side can finish the season with more silverware.

  "I think City are favourites to win everything, including the league, the [FA] Cup, the Club World Cup and the Champions League," he told Sky Sports News.

  "Whatever City has to play for, they'll be the firm favourites. I think it all depends on the mentality they have because it's not easy to always be the favourites."

  Last season, City became the first team in history to win four consecutive Premier League titles but, with their form taking a dip and Guardiola out of contract at the end of the season, there is the potential for instability at the Etihad.

  But, according to Aguero, their manager is the key to their past and future success.

  That frame of mind is understandable, given that Guardiola is the most successful Manchester City manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies – 50% of the major honours in the club's history – with a win percentage of 72%.

  "I think City are where they are because Guardiola knows very well how to keep that mentality," Aguero said.

  "For me, he's the key man for the club so that the players have the same winning mentality.

  "Sometimes it gets difficult to win and it's normal, but Pep's team has been up there since he took charge, and that's something many people don't see.

  "I think we have to acknowledge he's the reason his players have a winning mentality. He's strict and he makes the team be consistent every single game throughout the season.

  "We should take our hats off because it's not easy to be there with the players every day, especially considering the players we're talking about.

  "All the time, he's like, 'come on, we have to keep winning!' Living that every day can get exhausting sooner or later, but he's been doing this for days, months, even years, and I think that's why City are one of the favourites because Pep never rests and he never gives a rest to his players.

  "That, for me, is the key to success for any team."

• Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win

  Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.

  City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.

  “Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game

  “I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.

  “[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.

  “At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.

  “I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”

  The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.

  Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.

  “We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.

  “It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.

  “Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”

   

• Michel hails Girona resilience to clinch narrow win

  Head coach Michel hailed Girona's resilience after they earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Getafe on Sunday, despite riding their luck at times. 

  Getafe were the better side for much of the contest but Yangel Herrera's towering header in the first half was enough to seal victory for Girona, who were missing 12 first-team players due to injuries.

  The visitors only had three shots in total, hitting the target twice, as they accumulated just 0.19 expected goals (xG). While Getafe registered 0.61 xG, they failed to test goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga, allowing Girona to clinch the win with a more clinical performance. 

  "Today's performance was not our best, obviously, and everyone could see that, but you have to appreciate how the boys defended," Michel told DAZN.

  "God knows how many crosses they attempted, they had eight shots, and we kept most off the target. That's great defending. With the only real chance we created in the game, it was a goal. We knew it was going to be difficult.

  "They are a team that presses well, they have done it to all teams and that's why they were undefeated at home. We've been very competitive, as you need to be to win here."

  Girona earned back-to-back league wins for the first time in more than two months, and sit 10th in LaLiga going into the international break. It was also an important win for them, having suffered a 4-0 defeat to PSV in the Champions League earlier last week.

  Michel said he is hoping the two-week rest they will have in the international break will help them get some of their key players back from injury, such as Abel Ruiz, Arnaut Danjuma, Viktor Tsygankov or Yaser Asprilla, among others.

  "That's our reality and that's why those were three very, very valuable points. The way the team is at the moment, we need to rest and get some of the boys back," Michel said.

  "I think after the international break we're going to have, I hope, fingers crossed, more players available, and today it was very important to get a positive result."