Eurotrash V: Gaultier edition

Well give us some of the notes then. Spotted this very inadequate video (who's your #8? she can shoot) let us know if you find better. A Japanese account I saw says that the Beleza DFs were naive to the long ball dangers, and Arsenal had a much better time at MF than against INAC.

Also in the video let us know if you spot yourself in the crowd

 

Beleza had about 55 to 60 % ball possession, so Arsenal had to rely on playing on the break with those direct balls that surprisingly unsettled the defenders quite often.

The first goal comes at the 3rd minute with Kim Little sending Ellen White who was a winger on that day and she comes in beautifully on her left foot and bangs it in the back of the net. Beleza then had possession for most the time. Jennifer Beattie got yellow carded when doing a normal challenge with a header that she won...

The equaliser comes from a pass from Byrne to Flaherty and no one calls her as a japanese player comes and press her. She puts the ball in corner. And the resulting corner Fahey misses the ball and Grant puts it past Byrne. Comical or stupid take your pick.

Second goal, with Beleza pressing high and preventing Arsenal from playing a passing game one of those long ball from Grant goes straight to Jordan Nobbs on the right wing again and she finishes well.

Third goal not on video : Kim Little on the left bamboozle a few defenders and find Jennifer Beattie unmarked at the far post, she controls it and finishes from 13 yards confortably.

Overall a good game for the ladies for were forced to try to be patient in build up play and also work hard defensively simply to win the ball back, something you don't really have to do in England because the game is a lot more based on power and direct football. No slow build up play like in Japan. The team did not have that many chances and scored 3 out of them with Jordan Nobbs hitting the crossbar from 25 yards as well.

Beleza had a very technical team as expected that created a few chances but were not percussive enough in the final third and didn't shoot many on target as well. But their ball retention was class and they kept winning the ball back very high and Arsenal center forward was playing nearly at the halfway line putting the Arsenal defensive block in a very low position. very unusual feature for the Arsenal team where it is normally at least 10 meters higher. That's why the winger's pace White and Yankey was used on direct and long ball to create space as our midfield 3 Chapman, Nobbs and Little had difficulty creating any.

Another interesting fact was the difference in refereeing between between Japan and England with the Beattie yellow card and also the fouls against Arsenal for normal english physical play...A different football culture indeed, this was good because players had to stay on their feet and couldnt really launch into physical tackles.

And to finish, Faye White was there on the whole trip but still injured, so spend time tweeting on the arsenal ladies account and Ludlow was also injured for that game hence Beattie starting up front with Little dropping into midfield. Most of the team played well with Yankey and Nobbs the main players on the day. The midfield partnership of Little and Nobbs was disappointing and not for the first time actually.

And I was seating 10 meters away from tv cameras so can't spot me and my 8 Nobbs shirt.

Arsenal team was 1. Emma Byrne, 22. Alex Scott 7. Ciara Grant 5. Gilly Flaherty 19.Niamh Fahey, 17. Katie Chapman (cap) 8. Jordan Nobbs 16. Kim Little , 9. Ellen White 14. Jennifer Beattie 11. Rachel Yankey
subs 2. Stephanie Houghton 28. Angharad James 24. Lily Agg 30. Bianca Bragg not used 13. Rebecca Spencer injured 4. Jayne Ludlow 6. Xxxxxx

 

Lol! (I think this may be the first time I've ever used that term )
You're like a dog with a bone, Sylv. It makes me giggle.

Good account of the game too, thanks.

 

The longer version with painstaking analysis of the passing failures has been let off otherwise it would have needed an extra page lol.

A recent story from a friend who was invited at the FA awards. She was chatting to a down to earth Birmingham player and **** came around and started speaking to the Brum player my friend until she asked her how do you know x. My friend being a fan said she was just a fan and good old ***** just moved away swiftly as my friend wasn't deemed important enough...

 

Thanks Bonnie.

 

Did I say children's hospital? I meant blood donation event.

 

I thought maybe you meant Perceival not Garefrekes.

 

Thanks for the generous details. Somehow I expect England v Japan will be a key game in London. Polar opposites.

 

Yes, those two are easily confused. Why?

 

Big sigh.

Well, on the other hand, she was playing for Umeå, so maybe the desert thing isn't too far from the mark.

 

Bad news for Lea Rubio of PSG and Lauren Bruton of Arsenal both injured with ACL, also Bruton is only partial with a meniscus injury as well. Both will be out for a long time and Rubio's shot at the Olympic dream is now finished.

 

I was trying to make the photo work for scale.

 

Did she really have a chance? From what I have seen France have a pretty solid mid-field to choose from. Plus Henry isn't even on the radar and I thought she looked like the real deal in the last CL final. Is there a problem with her and the coach? or is she just injured a lot?

 

Rubio had a small chance as she was the up and coming midfield.
As for Henry, she won't be back until Bruno Bini is gone. She has done something deemed not acceptable for the internal cohesion of the team.
Same with Bouhaddi who had fights with other France players.

 

LOL, when you say "Bouhaddi who had fights with other France players", you do mean verbally right?

Shame about Henry though, I thought she would be a direct replacement for Soubeyrand. Unlike Rubio, Henry appears to have top level athleticism to go with the prerequisite French standards for high technical ability.

 

Right. Here's the short version: Post 1, and Page 26.

That about sums it up. Some pretty humorous things happened in between— the word 'fantalizing' was invented, a foolish bet was made— but here's the conclusion. Obviously Temptation has been overcome, because I'm still walking around in spite of my occasional fits of nostalgia.

(Just in case you're actually curious about "facts", Bälinge ended the season with 5 points from 5 draws, the worst performance from any team in the top league. They got relegated, then went bankrupt. It was traumatic. Lohman took the field only a couple times, possibly out of embarrassment.)

 

Amandine is indeed the replacement for Soubeyrand and has played really well consistently at defensive midfield at the highest european level. I remember counting the number of balls she won in the final vs Potsdam in London and it was 14 or 15...Shame, her private life messed up her France chance but everyone makes choices...

You don't remover a player from an international squad for verbal fighting that wouldn't be serious.

 

Stop being so coy. On two counts.

 

It is well known in France that Bouhaddi had a big fight with 2 former Juvisy teammate and it didn't go well with the coach Bruno Bini.

Regarding Henry, there was a pre world cup article in a local paper where she hails from. It says that she is not on the final squad list for the world cup which is a cold shower or a warm shower according to her.

"Obviously, I was a bit disappointed, but I was expecting it" she says.
"It is difficult to explain, this decision was made due to a non football context"

http://www.lavoixdessports.com/Foot...article_amandine-henry-privee-de-gateau.shtml

There has never been any more explanation from the coach or the player on why she has been banned.

 

Bresonik is now modelling for underwear

 

A fight with TWO other players? She is a GK? So this was off the field, right?

Edit - in an attemot to understand this fighting, I went to the France website, and found this video

Ahhhhhhhhhh

 

Mummy Landis walking her two little defenders (Percival and Weber)

 

A gem photo indeed.

By the way, did you happen to see the running fight between Laudehr and Perceival late on in Saturday's game? Perceival had the last word; Simone was very slow picking herself up.