Perth International Football Club: Manchester City coach Gareth Taylor praises Mary Fowler, Vivianne Miedema

Manchester City coach Gareth Taylor believes the sky is the limit for Mary Fowler and says the Matildas star has the potential to dominate teams any time she steps on the pitch. But the boss of the Women’s Super League giants admits they need to coax that version of the attacking midfielder out of her more regularly as they target going one better after finishing second to Chelsea last season. Fowler started on the bench during the Cityzens’ 0-0 draw and subsequent penalty shoot-out win over Leicester in the opening game of the Perth International Football Cup. Her Matildas teammate Alanna Kennedy played 45 minutes after coming on as a substitute, while their compatriot Courtney Nevin missed out for Leicester through injury. She emerged from the bench to feverish cheers from the crowd, and showed glimpses of her talent — but ultimately, it was City’s prized signing Vivianne Miedema who stole the show. The Dutch attacker came close to winning it later in her first game for City since her move from Arsenal and scored the winning penalty to book her side a spot in Sunday’s final. It was her Australian teammate Fowler who was the apple of the crowd’s eye though, and while Taylor praised the 21-year-old’s abilities post-game, he did so with a caveat. “Mary’s got the ability to be the best player in every game - this just depends on Mary,” he said. “We try and make her feel confident. She trains well. I think we saw some glimpses at moments, but I think she can do a little bit more; that’s being really honest. “The more you put Mary in situations like that, then you’ll see her start to be the best. Mary will play a big part for us this season.” Taylor said he was glad to see Miedema settle in so quickly in a new environment after the WSL’s all-time leading scorer’s seven years with Arsenal. “She’s got to learn our way now; she’s been in one place for a long time and (they) probably do things slightly different to what we do,” he said. “But fair play to her, the early signs are really positive. She’s a top player, there’s no doubt. “If we can get the ball to her in those situations where she can cause maximum problems...I thought she linked up well with Bunny (Shaw) and Jess (Park) at times and with Yui (Hasegawa) as well. “In a 20-minute spell. I thought she was very good.” While Leicester fell 4-3 on penalties eventually, there were good signs for the Foxes, with new signing Noemie Mouchon impressing and coach Amandine Miquel happy with how dangerous her side looking in transition at times. “The second half is how we want to play, but often you have to wait for the whole first half to get them bored of not knowing what to do with the ball,” Miquel said. “I’m sorry for the fans, on the first half, it was really boring, because we were so well-organised that City had no option, so it’s a bit boring, but for us, it’s the way to then open up more spaces, and that’s what happened in the second half.”