Football in the UK & Ireland season 2019/20

Discussion in 'Women's International' started by shlj, May 27, 2019.

  1. shlj

    shlj Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    London
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    The silly season has already started in the FA WSL with many moves already disclosed.

    Jackie Groenen to Manchester United being the big news as she was on the shopping list of Lyon, Juventus and probably many more teams.
    The United brand is strong to get quality player like her as obviously they are a team in their second year and therefore have not had any real result on the pitch yet after playing in the second tier last year.
     
    blissett repped this.
  2. shlj

    shlj Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    London
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    More transfer news :

    Nikita Parris Man City to Lyon
    Leonie Maier, Jill Roord and Manuela Zinsberger FC Bayern to Arsenal
    Ellen White Birmingham to Man City
    Abbie McManus Man City to Man Utd
    Meg Sargeant & Charlie Wellings Birmingham to Bristol
     
    blissett repped this.
  3. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Wow, dismantling Bayern to make an even stronger Arsena; it is sure true that the balance between Frauen-Bundesliga and FA WSL is shifting in this last seasons: not only English clubs go furhther and further ahead in Women's Champions' League, compared to the German counterparts who were consistently beating them before, but now a lot of international talent is transferring from one country to the other.

    I assume Zinsberger, Austrian NT #1, will be a starter in Arsenal and this confirms that Van Veenendaal will have to find a new team: does anyone know where she's headed to?
     
  4. L'orange

    L'orange Member+

    Ajax
    Netherlands
    Jul 20, 2017
    I have not seen anything on where Van Veenendaal will play next year. She is a quality keeper--won the Euro title with The Netherlands and will start for the Dutch in the World Cup--but was no. 2 for Arsenal, behind Peyraud-Magnin, who is still with the squad and also on the French NT. Can you make Zinsberger the starter and mostly leave Peyraud-Magnin on the bench? I don't know. I assume they'll both play, more or less. Also, I have seen no confirmation from Arsenal that Maier has been been signed; maybe it is going to happen, but there has been no announcement.

    I'm not sure any of the new signings will make Arsenal better next year--maybe Zinsberger, whom I haven't seen play much, but then Arsenal gave up very few goals last year. Indeed, Arsenal had an amazing year that couldn't have been much better except for maybe winning the FA and/or Continental Cup. Their biggest problem was having so many injuries. They might be better next year simply by being healthier throughout the squad--and let's hope so as they'll be interesting to watch in the Champions League. I think they might rue losing Bloodworth (to Wolfsburg), as she is an extremely versatile, athletic and durable player--but the Gunners have a lot of depth.

    It's clear that the FA WSL is outpacing the Bundesliga. The English league has more depth: With ManU getting serious, the WSL will soon have four top-quality squads and then another two or three second-level teams that are more than respectable. The German league is dominated by two teams, with a significant falloff after Wolfsberg and Bayern Munich.
     
    blissett repped this.
  5. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Talking about injuries: I happened to see players get away with thuggish fouls in FA WSL (even specifically targeting Arsenal players) that wouldn't have been allowed in other leagues without earning a RC.

    The only thing that could slow down FA WSL raising is if good players refrain to join the league because they don't feel they're enough protected from professional fouling by the referees. We're not there yet, but I guess the league has to be careful not to build this kind of a bad reputation. :coffee:
     
  6. Batfink

    Batfink Member+

    May 23, 2010
    Attilan
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Wow... I've read a lot of baseless comments around BS, but claiming the WSL currently "outpacing the Bundesliga" is one of the more head scratching things I've seen lol.

    I mean... ignoring factors like the German leagues push of of youth talent development, what have all these superior WSL clubs really done, besides spending a lot of money on recruiting players from rival leagues..? I've seen matches from both leagues, and still find the quality of WSL football far from being the constantly high standard many claim.

    With no WSL clubs even coming particularly close to wining the UCL, or showcasing a single dominating display versus one of the competitions historically/current elite sides. (no, a draw vs Lyon doesn't count as a dominating display)

    But without accomplishing anything truly impressive on the field, the opinion has now become... WSL supposedly far superior to the Bundesliga, all because it has more than 2 teams on a constant cycle of passing league titles between themselves each season...?
     
  7. Batfink

    Batfink Member+

    May 23, 2010
    Attilan
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    #7 Batfink, May 29, 2019
    Last edited: May 29, 2019
    See... I don't want to deflect the positive energy within this thread, but even if you look at the former Bundesliga players who've been attracted towards the WSL's stronger financial incentives, they still appear to all have had far tougher times within Germany's top division than they've ever faced within England's top division.

    This seen best with somebody like Miedema, a quality young player within the Bundesliga for one of it's top teams, but never the top scorer, or the leagues best player; now absolutely walking away with the awards in WSL.

    And I know people will claim that this all because she's a better player now, within a better team... but again... she was regularly playing in the Bundesliga for it's league wining club, when the same league saw it's 3rd best team capable of winning a UCL.

    So why is she finding it so easy in the WSL right now, if it's supposedly currently filled with so much more depth than anything witnessed within the Bundesliga..?
     
  8. Batfink

    Batfink Member+

    May 23, 2010
    Attilan
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    #8 Batfink, May 29, 2019
    Last edited: May 29, 2019
    Just comparing the English FA Cup final to Germany's DFB Cup final, I felt like the standard of play witnessed between 1st place Wolfsburg vs 7th placed Freiburg, significantly higher than 2nd place Man City vs 7th placed West Ham.

    And looking back at the UCL again, I maintain if not for them meeting Lyon early, that Europe's perennial #2 team Wolfsburg would have been able to get to another final.

    LOL, I'm not even arguing that Bundesliga the best league either, actually agreeing that like England, Germany would see an even better competition if all it's nations top clubs financially back the women's teams.

    But as a pretty hard critic of Germany's current top 2 clubs, I find it slightly disingenuous to see an entire competition deemed competitively irrelevant, all because it's top club never wining UCL's consistently, or consecutively reaching it's final.
     
  9. Batfink

    Batfink Member+

    May 23, 2010
    Attilan
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    I know when Bayern's women first found themselves injected with some serious money, they won the league pretty quickly, but have still done absolutely nothing noteworthy within UCL competition. So maybe your talking about WSL clubs going through the same process of growth too.

    But the idea the Bundesliga lack's depth beyond it's top 2 isn't exactly correct, as I'd argue it's actually a lack of wide spread high level professionalism that currently holding back everything below Wolfsburg and Bayern.

    This a factor the WSL doesn't have to really consider, with it's FA's very different stance on club ownership, seeing... I think... 14 of the nations clubs within the top 30 list of worlds richest football clubs lol. With Germany only having... Bayern, Dortmund, and Schalke 04 on the same list, with only Bayern having a genuine women's team.
     
  10. Batfink

    Batfink Member+

    May 23, 2010
    Attilan
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    #10 Batfink, May 29, 2019
    Last edited: May 29, 2019
    So again, I'm not trying to derail the positive fandom of this thread by excusing the genuine lack of challenge to Wolfsburg's domestic crown, but suggesting anything beyond the Bundesliga top 2 clubs not respectable, or comparable, to anything witnessed within the WSL is simply not true.

    Not when a WSL 7th placed West Ham's money couldn't even see them look like a current relegation level Bundesliga team during their FA cup final. And not when this supposed WSL superiority in depth has accomplished absolutely nothing of any significance within the UCL either.
     
  11. L'orange

    L'orange Member+

    Ajax
    Netherlands
    Jul 20, 2017
    West Ham being in the FA Cup final was an anomaly. It wasn't going to compete with ManCity in the final and everybody knew it. I didn't say that the 7th-place FA WSL team was good. What I said was that we're going to see the WSL with more good teams than the Bundesliga. That is already true, IMO, as Arsenal, ManCity and Chelsea are strong, and Birmingham City had a more than respectable side. ManU is going to be a strong competitor in the next few years as that organization is clearly starting to spend money on its women's program--and I'm sure that Liverpool and Tottenham are going to follow suit. So within, say, five years, there could be at least 5 top clubs in the WSL, and a fairly strong second tier as well. I doubt the Bundesliga would be able to make the same claim.

    Let's face it, it's all about which organizations are prepared to spend the money to get the better/best players. The more clubs that do, the stronger the league. Not everyone can, certainly, because they don't generate the earnings on the men's side that the big clubs do--and there are a lot of big, wealthy clubs in England. In Germany, I'm guessing that Wolfsburg (Volkswagon) has a bigger women's budget than BM and outspends everybody else by a considerable margin. If Freiburg and Potsdam and others are willing to spend more, they can be good, so we'll see.

    As for the Champions League, let's face it: Lyon has dominated--but Chelsea gave the French squad a very hard time a few weeks ago and might have won the tie were it not for a couple of own goals. They were much more competitive than Barcelona, which didn't surprise me, really.

    As for Miedema and why she has become such a prominent player in the FA WSL compared to when she was in Germany, she's a more experienced player now--and on a very strong squad. She was a teenager when she played in Germany--she's only 22 now. She's got a cast of excellent players around her at Arsenal (Little, Van de Donk, Nobbs, Mead, Evans), which is a dream for any center forward.
     
  12. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    In the national leagues that are part-way through the 2019-2019 season:

    [​IMG] Scotland: Glasgow City have started with 10 wins out of 10 in the SWPL1, while Hibernian and Celtic vie for position, both on 25pts. The Celtic women's team have committed to going professional, and Celtic surprised Hibs with a 3-0 home win this month.

    The league cup final brought together the top 2 of recent seasons, prior to the season break for the Women's World Cup.

    Hibernian v Glasgow City - SWPL Cup Final (10/5/19)
    - www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ne_bhwcalo
    [​IMG]



    [​IMG] Ireland: The tables have turned from last season in the WNL, with Peamount United having a perfect season so far, after they finished 3rd in 2018. The defending champions Wexford are 5pts behind - in the teams' first meeting, Peamount got a 2-1 win, before their reverse fixture on 15 June. No World Cup break in Ireland or NI.

    [​IMG] Northern Ireland: Champions Linfield are unbeaten in the Women's Premiership after 6 games, ahead of Glentoran.

    In 3rd place are Sion Swifts, whose goalkeeper Nicole McClure is in the Jamaica squad and is the first player in the NI league to be selected in a Women's World Cup. Swifts are in the league cup final, following a 2-1 win against the holders, Linfield, in the quarter-finals:

    Linfield (blue) 1 - 2 Sion Swifts, League Cup
    - www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9-TwADFmNE
    [​IMG]
     
  13. shlj

    shlj Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    London
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Miedema has also explained that the type of football Bayern was playing was not suited to her, hence leaving Bayern.
    Very similar to Bergkamp at Inter then Arsenal where he found his home.

    The FA WSL certainly sees a lot more investment from clubs. The percentage of non English players has been around 30 to 40% for many years now. Got the numbers on an excel file somewhere.
     
  14. hotjam2

    hotjam2 Member+

    Nov 23, 2012
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    according to stats, Miedema had two good BM seasons, scoring 14 goals a piece(2nd in league scoring to Mandy Islacker) as an 19-20 year old. Then actually struggles in her first year at Arsenal with just 4 goals
    Netherlands - V. Miedema - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Women Soccerway

    but then Arsenal went on a spending spree, raiding alone Turbine Potsdam for t Evans, Kemme, Walti purchase, as well as a bunch now from BM & two time NWSL mvp, Kim Little.

    but that English clubs like to raid the Bundesliga shows a flattery for it(their certinly not buying American players, lol). Still the Bundi is loosing a lot of talent due to not keeping up with the budgets, as I've just read, even the smaller French club, Bordeaux, has raised up it's budget for next season to 2 million euros(remebering reading a few years back BM's budget was 2.3)
     
  15. shlj

    shlj Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    London
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Miedema was unfit most of her first season from the Euros and performed accordingly.
     
  16. L'orange

    L'orange Member+

    Ajax
    Netherlands
    Jul 20, 2017
    Miedema said not long ago that she did not like her German team's playing style. It was oriented around sending a lot of long balls down the field, which she was always trying to run down. That's not a style that any center forward really likes, but especially a player like Miedema, who relies a lot on her technical skills and positioning and thus benefits from good service from a possesion-oriented team.
     
  17. shlj

    shlj Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    London
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Non English players percentage through the years.
    Obviously as the number of teams increases the overall number of foreigner has also increased. And the rule regarding Non EU/EEA players have changed two or three times since 2011...
     

    Attached Files:

    L'orange, flax and blissett repped this.
  18. L'orange

    L'orange Member+

    Ajax
    Netherlands
    Jul 20, 2017
    Arsenal today announced that right back Leoni Maier, lately of Bayern Munich, has been signed.
     
  19. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
  20. shlj

    shlj Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    London
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Yeah, you can see they took the picture with her a long time ago. Obviously Maier is training with Germany right now.
    Next one should be Jennifer Beattie.
     
  21. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa

    What does it all MEAN

    [​IMG] "Wales Women 1-0 New Zealand: Kayleigh Green's last-gasp header secures victory and ends goalless spell"
    - https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48501183
    - https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/wales-women-1-0-new-16379102 (Archived)

    [​IMG]
    Green: On target for Wales yesterday (photo: James Boyes, cc-by)

    Squad-juggling aside, it's quite a scalp, days before NZ begin in the World Cup.
    Wales' goal drought went back to the Russia 3-0 in June 2018.
    Yes :thumbsup:
     
  22. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    That Wales should have been at the World Cup instead of England? :D

    Wales beats New Zealand beats England is a very simple application of the transitive property. We all know it always works in football, don't we? :giggle:
     
    sbahnhof repped this.
  23. shlj

    shlj Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    London
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Yes according to some posters here.

    I watched the game, Wales lack creativity.
    And they don't select two players who had a little bit of it because they don't agree with the training methods.
     
    sbahnhof repped this.
  24. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    #24 sbahnhof, Jun 5, 2019
    Last edited: Jun 5, 2019
    ...N...no, that's not it.

    [​IMG] Northern Ireland's new national manager is Kenny Shiels, after Alfie Wylie stepped down. Shiels had some success with Kilmarnock in Scotland, but was often in trouble with the SFA for being outspoken and calling Celtic "the monster of Scottish football". :alien: NI and Wales are in the same group in the Euro 2021 qualifiers.

    [​IMG] England: Clubs on the rise and fall:
    [​IMG] Grimsby Town (new women's club), Wolves Women (integrating further)
    [​IMG] Yeovil Town (leaving the WSL and dropping 2 divisions)
    Guiseley Vixens (the National League team is liquidated)

    The National League final was won by Blackburn Rovers over Coventry United, but both clubs are set to go up to tier 2, the Championship.
     
  25. shlj

    shlj Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    London
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Yeovil victim of their success as a semi-pro team promoted to the FA WSL and "forced" to go full time pro on limited finances. The list of teams demoted to lower divisions on financial basis is getting bigger and bigger.

    But the FA are getting there. The Barclays FA WSL is now getting close to being a copy of the Barclays EPL.
     
    blissett and sbahnhof repped this.

Share This Page