This has truly been a season of two halves for Manchester City.
With little opportunity for a proper pre-season, it began in turmoil with an injury crisis plaguing one of the league’s best teams. They dropped out of the Champions League, plummeted down the table and it seemed like achieving any form of success would be an insurmountable task.
In a 22-game Women’s Super League season, the impact of any points dropped on overall standings is magnified. When those who win the league may only be defeated once or twice across an entire campaign, an unexpected defeat in September can see your goals crumble many months before they could materialise.
Lauren Hemp was there through the hard times and is now here for the good. Despite playing in the Olympics in the summer, the 21-year-old has featured in every WSL game this season, helping to push her side towards their recovery.
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“Looking back, we had a tough start to the season and we’re not afraid to say it,” she tells i. “Obviously we had a lot of injuries and there are no excuses really. We didn’t start off how we wanted to but it’s important that we have turned it around.
“Come the start of this year, we’ve really shown the City side that we want to show and that’s come down to working hard on the grass and in training. It’s really important that we’ve done that.”
At one point in the season, City occupied ninth place, but now they’ve won the League Cup and are battling for the Champions League. They will be level with rivals Manchester United if they win their game in hand, and with four matches remaining, neither side can afford to drop even a single point.
“I quite like playing under pressure,” Hemp adds when asked how the players are coping with the current task. “I don’t see it as a negative, I see it as a positive. I think everyone in the team’s got that mindset.
“We’ve got some world-class players who have all played under pressure and we all know what it’s like and we treat every game as if we can’t lose a single point and what we’ve done throughout the season is have that same mindset.”
The recipient of the past two PFA Young Player of the Year awards, Hemp’s rise has been meteoric and she’s become a key player for club and country. There was always an element of raw talent which stood out whenever Hemp played, but this season it seems to have been nurtured and refined to produce one of the league’s finest wingers.
Gareth Taylor, the club’s head coach has spoken about the need for her to contribute more in front of goal and she’s begun to do that. On Tuesday she netted two for England in Belfast and she’s risen to City’s joint-top scorer in the league.
“It’s something that I want to keep improving,” Hemp says of her abilities in front of goal. “I want to be more consistent and I want to keep providing goals and assists as much as possible because that’s what’s going to help the team.
“That comes to working hard in training, working with all the staff around me, making the best out of me. I think that over my years at City I’ve improved so much.”
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'Leah Williamson deserves the England captaincy - she has grown so much as a person and player'12 April, 2022Hemp’s role has changed even more this year in the absence of Chloe Kelly, her partner on the wings last season. Kelly, another young star for City and England who is adept with the ball at her feet but also has an eye for goal, suffered an ACL injury in May of last year and missed most of this campaign.
She returned from the bench when City triumphed over West Ham in the league before the international break and is now in contention for her first start in over 11 months. The division has been devoid of Kelly’s attacking antics this season, but now she’s back and ready to impress once again.
“She’s an amazing human being and I’ve watched her work hard in the gym over the last goodness knows how long,” says Hemp.
“I know that from recently seeing her on the pitch she’s thriving, and it won’t be long until you see Chloe back at her best.”
After falling at this hurdle last season, City will attempt to reach Wembley once again by beating the Irons in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
Success in football is always difficult to define, but if City can pick up two pieces of domestic silverware and qualify for Europe after the way they started, then it would be an incredible turnaround.
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