00:29I'm here with Nick Cushing to take a look back at the UEFA Women's Champions League game just now against Chelsea.
00:34If you put your hands up, please, we'll start with a question. Emma?
00:36Hi, Nick. I imagine it's difficult to talk right now about your emotions, but can you just sort of tell us what you're feeling, what you're thinking right now?
00:47Of course, disappointed that we didn't progress, but immensely proud of the group.
00:53Hugely positive in the commitment and desire and determination of a team that has had a lot of stress and a lot of strain and a lot of games against a top team over the last two weeks.
01:06And to be in the game and pushing it till the end and still believing shows me that the character this group has.
01:14What have you learned from this experience?
01:26It's been the ultimate test and it is the ultimate test when you play the best team, the most consistent, informed team.
01:31It shows you where you're at.
01:33But it's also difficult for me to say where we're at because we have so many key players missing.
01:39But that's not an excuse. I'm proud of the group.
01:42We've shown that the togetherness and the fight and the spirit and the determination is there.
01:47We've caused Chelsea real problems in all four games.
01:51We've lost on moments. I think arguably, probably the last 20 minutes of the league tie was probably the most one-sided part of the four games.
02:06But yeah, with so much stress on the group to still be in it and pushing it for me shows the character this group has and I'm proud of the group.
02:18You were able to miss seven subs for the first play and only five tonight. Was there really no one else available?
02:31Injuries. We've got key injuries, right?
02:33Obviously, when you come into a Champions League quarter-final, you want to put your best players on the pitch.
02:38To have Alex Greenwood and Lauren Hemp and arguably a goalkeeper that's competing, Yama, that's competing for the number one shirt
02:45and then lose Alba for Gino and not have our number nine that has contributed to the most goals that we've had.
02:51It's tough, right?
02:54But I'm not making an excuse here. I knew the task and the challenge that I had when I took over.
02:59And the one thing that I always want from my teams is to show the real fight, determination and belief.
03:04And you can see that there. The team pushed that game till right till the end.
03:10Nick, just on that topic of injuries, I know Chelsea might not have quite as many injuries as you both have,
03:15but they are still missing quite a few players and you're still able to lift a very strong bench at that.
03:23Does depth make the difference between the two teams at the moment?
03:28Depth is definitely the difference between the two teams at the moment, just purely based off numbers, right?
03:34I think tonight you saw a team that had fresh legs in the sense of Kiera Walsh, Aaron Cuthbert, Ramirez,
03:42all came off the bench and played 20 minutes at the weekend.
03:47Our players rolled right the way through. We've not came off with injuries.
03:53We started the game with two home-growns today with less than 10 appearances in a Champions League quarter-final.
03:59But listen, this is unfortunate. We're in a period where maybe fortune hasn't favoured us with getting injuries to key players at key times.
04:10You've got to find solutions to that. I'm proud that the group ran this game close.
04:15You said after the first leg that you feel that it's best when she's close to goal.
04:20It seems like you start attacking midfield today. Can you explain that?
04:26Just because I accept responsibility for the league game.
04:28If you look at the way the team was and the bench that we had and the ability to impact the game from the bench,
04:33you saw in the first game that we had that ability and in the second game, due to experience and due to the magnitude of the tie,
04:44we didn't have that with the team that's elected.
04:46So we went to play a 97-minute game today to give us a chance to be in the game right the way till the end,
04:52knowing that we're playing against the team that will be champions-elect, in my opinion.
04:58And I think that we had the ability to bring Laura Coombs off the bench and bring Jess Park off the bench,
05:02which gave us the sustained intensity that we needed for the whole game.
05:07You've not been back here long, but you do know this club well.
05:10What does Manchester City need in the long term to be able to compete with clubs like Chelsea and the rest of the benches?
05:17I think we need to keep doing what we've always done, right?
05:19If I look at my tenure as the head coach from 2014 through 2020, I never finished out the top two.
05:26I was involved in multiple cup finals and two Champions League semi-finals.
05:31I believe that this club should be and will be fighting for trophies,
05:37whether it be league titles, Champions League or the two trophies available in the league.
05:41So it has to continue to do what it's always done.
05:45That will be a process for the end of the season.
05:47For now, we know what we've got to play for.
05:49Now we have to play for an FA Cup final first against Manchester United.
05:53We've got to play for the Champions League place and chase down Manchester United and Arsenal,
05:58starting with Brighton on Sunday.
06:00The clarity on what we have to achieve is there.
06:03We now have to find the solutions to make sure we're competitive in all those games.
