Man City's selection woes worsen ahead of Women's FA Cup tie after 'super late' changes to registration rules

Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor is frustrated at "super late" changes to player registration rules for the Women’s FA Cup, which are set to exacerbate his side’s current selection crisis for Wednesday’s quarter-final against Leicester City.

Last season’s Women’s FA Cup was delayed because of the pandemic and is being concluded this term, starting with Wednesday’s last-eight ties. Organisers have decided that, because of the Cup crossing over two league seasons, quarter-finalists may register up to three new players who have played earlier in the competition, but not if their former club is also still involved in the Cup.

That amendment means injury-ravaged Manchester City cannot register summer signings Alanna Kennedy and Ruby Mace for Wednesday’s tie, and Taylor is unhappy that the club were not informed of the ruling until “really, really recently”, saying: “It gives us another issue, with Alanna and Ruby not being eligible. It's not ideal. It's obviously going to impact us probably more than anyone else due to the injury crisis we have at the moment.

“We didn't get the information until really, really recently, which causes us kind of even more frustration. Getting that information to us a little bit quicker would help. It has come super late. I think it's wanting to know that information sooner rather than later.”

It has not been revealed precisely when the new ruling was confirmed to clubs, but two sources have told Telegraph Sport that their clubs did not find out until shortly after the closure of this summer's WSL transfer window early in September.

The ruling will also prevent Leicester from selecting three of their summer signings, but Manchester City’s selection issues are extensive. The cup holders are without a host of England stars, including skipper Steph Houghton, Fifa Best Player of 2020 Lucy Bronze, goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck and winger Chloe Kelly, as well as Australia winger Hayley Raso and young right-back Esme Morgan.

Taylor also revealed left-back Demi Stokes and winger Lauren Hemp will need to be assessed before the game after picking up potential knocks during Sunday’s 5-0 loss at Arsenal, but that holding midfielder Keira Walsh (calf) may feature, adding: “We might see Keira [Walsh], but again, we're just waiting on that [but] it would only be potentially for a period of the game. We need to check on Demi [Stokes] and Lauren Hemp as well."

Asked if he is considering calling up academy players to provide cover, Taylor said: “No. Our academy players are not even training close to our programme, so it’s very difficult to kind of thrust someone in at short notice, so we’ll go with what we have and we’ll make the best of it."

It means the club who have lifted three of their past four Women’s FA Cups might only be able to name two or three substitutes for the tie, as they bid to end a run of three straight defeats in all competitions which has already seen them knocked out of Europe and badly damaged their WSL title hopes.

“It's a challenge and we seem to be facing a lot of those at the minute,” Taylor added. "But we've got character, we've got personality, we've got determination and we've got fight. We'll keep facing up to the challenges that lie ahead of us.”