"We didn't get the information until really, really recently, which causes us kind of even more frustration," says Gareth Taylor ahead of Leicester City tie in FA Cup quarter-finals; Man City already without captain Steph Houghton, Lucy Bronze, Ellie Roebuck and Chloe Kelly through injury
Wednesday 29 September 2021 09:31, UK
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor is frustrated at "super late" changes to player registration rules which mean Alanna Kennedy and Ruby Mace are ineligible for the resumption of the Women’s FA Cup.
The final stages of last season's competition were delayed following earlier disruption as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with the quarter-finals to be staged on Wednesday.
Clubs are permitted to register up to three new players who have played earlier in the competition, as long as their previous side are not also still involved in the cup.
City summer signings Kennedy and Mace played last season in the FA Cup for Tottenham and Birmingham respectively, both of whom are still in the tournament.
Their ineligibility is a blow to Taylor, who is without a number of players through injury, including captain Steph Houghton, goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck, Fifa Best Player of 2020 Lucy Bronze and forward Chloe Kelly.
"It gives us another issue with Alanna and Ruby not being eligible. It's not ideal," Taylor said ahead of the tie against Leicester City at the Academy Stadium.
"We didn't get the information until really, really recently, which causes us kind of even more frustration.
"I just think getting that information to us a little bit quicker would help. It's obviously going to impact us probably more than anyone else due to the injury crisis we have at the moment."
Manchester City, who won the 2018-19 and 2019-20 editions of the cup, have lost their three games in all competitions and on the back of Sunday night's heavy defeat to Arsenal.
When asked if knowing the rule earlier would have impacted City's approach in the summer transfer window, Taylor added: "I think we had that discussion around we would have changed our recruitment strategy in the summer had we known this information at that point, and it has come super late.
"In saying that, I think we never anticipated this amount of injuries, it's pretty unprecedented what we're going through, so it's a real difficult one to answer.
"But I think, regardless, when you have these types of rules and changes, I think it's wanting to know that information sooner rather than later.
"I just think when you carry a competition over into a second season I think it's really difficult to enforce those types of restrictions on players."
