Spurs Women 2 – 5 Manchester City: Spurs undone by Bunny Shaw hattrick

(Photo by Molly Darlington - WSL/WSL Football via Getty Images) | WSL Football via Getty Images Tottenham Hotspur Women suffered yet another heavy defeat at the hands of Manchester City. Spurs Women have been a real success story so far this season, but the 5-2 loss highlighted the club’s failure to provide backup at the centerback position during the Asian Cup. With Clare Hunt, Toko Koga and Maika Hamano all still away at the Asian Cup, Martin Ho had a real selection headache on his hands.

The previous weekend’s defeat at Everton proved that the backup centerback pairing of Molly Bartrip and Josefine Rybrink was insufficient, conceding three goals to a side we should’ve probably played about even. So who to choose against a City side to whom we frequently concede at least four goals? Martin went with left back Amanda Nildén as Molly Bartrip’s centerback partner in this game.

This meant Julie Blakstad retained her position as left back. Martin also made the big call of starting Drew Spence instead of Eveliina Summanen as the six. Look, the game went about how you’d expect.

City were dominant from the get go, and Spurs relied on counterattacks to create chances. Bunny Shaw opened the scoring in the 8th minute after Spurs failed to clear a corner. Spurs grabbed one back in the 15th minute when Drew Spence played a ball over the top to Olivia Holdt, who cooly took a few touches and shot past the keeper (I love her).