At the start of the year Manchester City were flying. With the side unbeaten in all competitions and two points ahead of Chelsea, their nearest rivals, the prospect of finishing the season empty-handed seemed almost laughable. Yet as the curtain fell, the humbled club were without silverware.

Lauren Hemp warms to occasion as England’s Under-20s thrive in the heat Read more

Between January and May the 2016 WSL1 champions lost to Arsenal in the Continental Cup final, were knocked out of the FA Cup semi-finals by Chelsea, suffered a narrow defeat by Lyon in the Champions League and were beaten four times in the league.

Now their manager, Nick Cushing, is preparing to enter the restructured fully professional top tier and says the task has only got harder.

“We know that we have no divine right to win,” he says before Manchester City’s season opener against Birmingham in the Continental Cup on Sunday. “When we won in 2016 we didn’t think we would now become the dominant team. We knew we’d need to work to continue to be successful.

“We’re realistic. Every year every team is getting better and better. Chelsea are probably setting the standard and everyone else is pushing hard to follow.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest England striker Lauren Hemp joined Manchester City this summer. Photograph: Steve Bardens/Fifa via Getty Images

While Cushing is keen to stress that last season had its pluses he also says there are many lessons to be learned from the way the team slipped away. “We were really pleased with the first three-quarters of the season, not to say we weren’t pleased with the end. There were many positives from our season last year.

“But we have to be realistic. We’ve been a team for five years now and every year we’ve learnt a lot about ourselves. Last year we learnt an incredible amount about where we are as a team, what we do really well and where we need to improve.”

The depth of Cushing’s squad was questioned as the team fell behind. Chelsea’s manager, Emma Hayes, was able to rotate and tinker with a squad packed with experience to deal with the demanding new schedule of a winter season. However, a spate of injuries – both short- and long-term – left Cushing’s young squad increasingly exposed.

The manager points to the seasonal switch as part of the problem but equally does not shy away from the fact that the depth of the squad needed consideration at the season’s close. “Listen, people will always question the teams that don’t win because ultimately the standard is set by the teams that win, I get that,” he says.

Sky is the limit for the Matildas after another impressive outing in US | Lisa Portolan Read more

“Maybe we learnt a little bit about the season last year, changing to a winter season meant we played Champions League football within our season which meant that we played an extra eight to 10 games than we did the year before. So yes, squad depth is definitely something we’ve reflected on and acted on.”

This summer he has recruited to bolster the areas shown to be weakest in the previous campaign. He has brought in the outstanding 17-year-old Lauren Hemp from Bristol City – who has four goals in three games at the ongoing Under-20 World Cup – alongside more experienced players such as the Liverpool captain, Gemma Bonner, the forward Caroline Weir, Wolfsburg’s Tessa Wullaert and the Canadian forward Janine Beckie from Sky Blue FC.

“We’ve acted on different areas where we feel we may have lost physical fitness and freshness,” reflects Cushing. “Because not only did we play 40-plus games last year. Our players also played every international fixture.

“I’ve said from 2014, we’ll always support our players internationally because that’s what we do here. Some could say to the detriment of our season last year with the Continental Cup final and the FA Cup semi-final falling right off the back of international windows and us having 17-18 players away. Maybe our preparation was affected and we’ve reflected on that as well.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Manchester City manager Nick Cushing took charge in 2014. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

The Blues have born the brunt of their players’ success internationally. Last year they lost the right-back Lucy Bronze to the five-times Champions League winners Lyon and Toni Duggan to Barcelona. This summer Izzy Christiansen, one of their best players last season, has teamed up with Bronze in France, while the Danish forward Nadia Nadim announced in July that she had submitted a transfer request. Cushing says there is no update, though the player’s agent has told the Danish newspaper BT that she will be staying in Manchester.

“The evolution of football teams means that players will come and go. We’re really pleased with who’s come in. People can see players wanting to leave and further their careers but we’ve just signed a player from Wolfsburg, a European powerhouse, and she’s decided to come to Man City.

“Players will come and go, the art of it is trying to make sure that when you’re recruiting players you’re recruiting the right players for the team and the right players for the style of football we want to be playing.”

The way City play is important to Cushing, because for him, and the club, the project is about more than silverware: “I think people have seen that we’ve tried to evolve it over the years. We want to make sure we entertain our fans.

“We want to be successful but we have a greater goal of trying to develop Manchester City Women, to develop the women’s game and to fill our stadium with fans that enjoy coming and watching us.”

The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email.

Talking points

• After last weekend’s thrilling 3-1 win against the current Under-20 World Cup champions, North Korea, the young Lionesses went on to top Group B and secure a place in the quarter-finals. A Georgia Stanway penalty put England in the driving seat against Brazil but an injury time goal from Ariadina left them needing a win against Mexico to clinch the top spot. Jacqueline Ovalle put the Mexicans ahead in the 37th minute but a blistering second half saw England score six goals in half an hour, with Hemp completing a hat-trick in the 80th minute. England will play the Netherlands in the last eight.

• Goals from Lindsey Horan – her 11th of the season – and Hayley Raso secured a 2-0 win for Portland Thorns against Orlando Pride and lifted them above their opponents, into third, as the race for the top-four play-off spot heats up. Seattle Reign stayed second as a 48th-minute header from the Welsh striker Jess Fishlock saw off Utah Royals and maintained a four-point gap over the chasing Thorns.

• Arsenal drew 2-2 with PSG to win the friendly Toulouse International Ladies Cup. Goals from Beth Mead and Kim Little put the Gunners ahead twice before Melike Pekel pounced in injury time to level the match. Arsenal had previously beaten Montpellier 2-1.

• Manchester City handed debuts to Wullaert, Weir and Bonner as they beat Barcelona 2-0 in a pre-season friendly. The breakthrough was made with 15 minutes left, Mel Lawley slotting home to give City the lead before Nikita Parris scored the second from the penalty spot.