The England youngster is set for a run of games after injury to Ayaka Yamashita and she'll hope to be the difference against Chelsea in the UWCL
It said a lot about Khiara Keating's performance against Chelsea on Sunday that she walked away from the Etihad Stadium with the Player of the Match award, despite Manchester City falling to defeat. After spending the previous eight games on the bench, the 20-year-old was thrust back into the action in one of her team's biggest games of the season so far and she stepped up in a big way to keep City in it until the very last minute.
It also said a lot about Keating's performance that, less than 48 hours later, she returned to the senior England squad for the first time in eight months. Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman was clearly impressed with what she saw from the youngster and she wasted no time in adding her into her squad, bumping the goalkeeping section up to four names as a result.
So far this season, it's been tough for Keating. Summer signing Ayaka Yamashita has been the starting goalkeeper for the majority of City's matches this term and her younger team-mate has had some rather dramatic highs and lows when she's got the chance to play. For the next couple of weeks, though, Yamashita will be sidelined and Keating will be the starter.
It's a huge opportunity for her to do as she did on Sunday and remind everyone just what she is capable of, and it starts in a big way, on Thursday, when she goes to Stamford Bridge hoping to help City progress to the semi-finals of the Women's Champions League for the first time in seven years.
Getty ImagesA challenging campaign
It's been anything but an easy season so far for Keating. There have been some real highs, like Sunday's performance against Chelsea and another outstanding shot-stopping display against Barcelona in December, but also some real lows, with errors in back-to-back league defeats to Manchester United and Arsenal earlier this year standing out.
After City signed Yamashita last summer, then-head coach Gareth Taylor said one of the reasons for her arrival was that the staff wanted to "push and challenge" Keating to kick-on from her breakout campaign. However, the sporadic nature in which he flip-flopped between the two goalkeepers at times can't have been easy for either, and especially not for the dramatically more inexperienced of the pair.
AdvertisementGettyA different experience
It has been quite a contrast to last season. Keating first made one of City's matchday squads back in the 2020-21 campaign, she made her debut as one of five appearances in all competitions the following year and then, while also spending time on loan at Coventry United in the Championship, played another three City games in the 2022-23 season.
It was all building up to her 2023-24 campaign, which was remarkable. Yes, there were a few errors here and there, but the youngster was largely impressive as City's No.1, becoming the youngest WSL Golden Glove winner in history while establishing herself as a fixture in Wiegman's England squads.
Getty ImagesConfidence is key
She's had to deal with something entirely different this time around, which can't have been great for her confidence. Indeed, speaking as part of 's coverage of City's clash with Chelsea on Sunday, Steph Houghton, the former City and England captain who is helping out on the staff of interim boss Nick Cushing after his shock return earlier this month, said she'd specifically spoken with Keating ahead of the match, as she prepared to play at the Etihad Stadium for the first time since that disappointing performance against United in January.
"I just knew that she would probably be feeling a little bit nervous coming back to the stadium," Houghton explained. "Look, I think we expect so much of Khiara as a young 'keeper, because of the standards that she set herself last season. I think as a young player coming into a professional environment, doing what she did last season, being the Golden Glove winner, performing, getting an England call-up, there's a lot of pressure on her young shoulders. I just thought, 'You know what, I'm going to actually get around her today', because ultimately, she's been out of the team and there's so much expectation.
"[I was just] like, 'Go and play your normal game', because we know that she's a good 'keeper. Young players are going to have dips in form and today she showed why she's been one of the best keepers in the last couple of seasons, that's for sure."
That's the sort of message that the City squad and staff need to continue to provide Keating with. It's clear that she is a very talented goalkeeper, with a string of wonderful reflex saves keeping her team level on Sunday until almost the very end, only for Erin Cuthbert to pop up with a stoppage time winner.
Getty ImagesOpportunity knocks
It's that sort of confidence that Cushing will hope Keating can maintain over the next few weeks, with Yamashita ruled out. Instilling that in the youngster clearly helps, going by her display on Sunday, but perhaps a run of games can, too.
Taylor was the manager who gave Keating her opportunities in the first team and he regularly defended and supported her in the media when things didn't quite go as she would've hoped on the pitch. "Young players are going to make mistakes and it's certainly going to be highlighted more when it's the goalkeeper," Taylor said after City's defeat to Arsenal in February. "If you want to blame someone, then blame me. Blame me. I pick the team."
However, it might be that dropping in and out of that starting XI this season hasn't helped her really show her best self on a regular basis. Keating did make errors last season when she was the starting goalkeeper, but she was much more consistent game-to-game than she has been in her 12 starts to date this term.
