Football in the UK and Ireland season 2019/20

One positive (?) consequence of the storm:
https://www.independent.co.uk/trave...-atlantic-winds-british-airways-a9325396.html

"A British Airways flight has likely broken the fastest-ever subsonic New York to London crossing time after reaching speeds of more than 800mph.......
Passenger plane records over the Atlantic tumbled overnight on Saturday and Sunday as Storm Ciara hurtled towards Britain on the back of a 200mph jet stream.......
According to Flightradar24, an online flight tracking service, a British Airways Boeing 747 departing JFK airport on Saturday reached Heathrow in 4 hours 56 minutes shortly after 11.20pm.
It was just a minute faster than a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A350 flight which landed at Heathrow moments later, and three minutes quicker than another Virgin plane which arrived at 5.12am this morning."​

Note that the ground speed of 800 mph is apparently faster than sound, but to break the sound barrier the plane needs to go more than about 770 mph relative to the air. The plane in question was likely going less than about 600 mph relative to the air.

 

The league had a three week winter break for minimal/very minimal fixture congestion. I still don’t get why they couldn’t have tried to fit in some postponed matches the weekend before the league started again. (Edit: Or the weekend after the last round of fixtures before the break. I get that players probably had plans in advance, but it’s just weird seeing all these postponements on top of the league stopping for three whole weeks without international football being the reason.) Hopefully, things work out smoothly enough.

 

Yeah, I guess I just disagree with everyone here. In my opinion, three weeks is a long break for the number of games that even the top teams played the first half of the season. I’m a big Groenen fan, but I believe she got a solid two week plus break from any football matches and a considerable break from any competitive matches. I’m well aware of and can relate to the mental side of things, but that doesn’t change my opinion at all. A two week winter break would have been fine in my opinion, and I think you still could have managed that even with fitting in some postponed matches. Maybe I’ve watched Premier League football too seriously for too long though, and women do get paid a lot less to deal with any fixture congestion.

 

Yeah, I know. I think it's ridiculous how long the German break is, but I suppose they're just trying to stretch the league matches until May. If there weren't so many postponements and comments I've seen elsewhere about supposed fatigue due to the fixture list, I wouldn't be pointing it out so much. I'm also someone who wonders if they could use this upcoming weekend for some postponed matches though; so, I'm just a bit strange.

 

Forewarning: Rant time again.

Haven’t rewatched United-Brighton yet, but I may be one of a select few who hasn’t fully jumped on the James bandwagon for this calendar year yet.

It’s admittedly easy to given her very good cameo vs City and if you just look at the goal plays of the last two matches. However, she was hardly present vs Bristol, she skied a great chance to equalize vs Chelsea, she wasn’t much of an influence vs Reading apart from capitalizing on a poor clearance in addition to handling the ball for the free kick preceding the infamous PK call, and she wasn’t much of an influence today outside of an inaccurate cross (only based on what I remember live) that somehow led to a goal.

Now, the team as a whole has had its struggles, but when fans keep saying she’s been carrying the team and is the only one taking shots/risks, I’m expecting someone who impacts the game on a number of occasions and not on just defensive errors/lucky plays. I saw James carry the team vs City this calendar year. Other than that, I honestly think she’s struggled as much as anyone else on United.

James has had a solid/great season so far, but in my opinion, she has definitely not carried her team in the new year apart from a very good half hour cameo vs City. I do recognize I’m likely alone here in my opinion, but I felt like getting this out more in full.

 

I haven't seen MU play much at all, but with respect to James I think she's too young to carry a team. She's still only, what, 18? She surely needs to mature a bit more--in every way--before reaching her full potential.

 

Why has Arsenal struggled lately? A big reason is that there's been no Kim Little on the pitch. She missed both recent matches against ManCity and I think missed the Chelsea game prior to those two contests (must confirm that). Arsenal coach Montemurro had claimed she had a knock or two and needed rest--but now we learn that she had a foot problem and has just had foot surgery, which will keep her out for I'm not sure how long--a while. It's a big blow as you can't replace a player of her quality, and it's shown.

 

What unusual circumstances are you referring to?

 

I figure she moved because she wanted more playing time, even be a starter. After all she was 16 or 17 at the time. Coaches in Arsenal probably didn’t want to make her stater at that young age even if she’s got potential.

 

Foot surgery. Sounds like 2 months or more.

 

The thing is I just don't think she has carried the team this calendar year or even the season as a whole. She has had a few matches where she has carried the team (i.e. City in the Cup), but outside of those, she hasn't been much of an impact or even non-existent.

After last night's match, people complained about James being the only player to take shots and take risks, and some of them aimed heavy criticism at Groenen, Zelem, Toone, and co. What's surprising about those comments is that James didn't register a single shot yesterday while all of Groenen, Zelem, and Toone did get at least one shot on target. It's true that all three lost the ball on a number of occasions, but that was largely because they were also trying to make things happen. Plus, James lost the ball on the dribble at least fix or six times as well.

I kind of get the age comments, but when fans keep raving about you being the best player on the team, it's kind of a bit strange in my opinion that you're given a lot of leeway on average performances (and she's had quite a few). Has Mbappe been given this much leeway at PSG and with France and earlier with Monaco? Maybe he has; I'm not sure. Again, James has been pretty good; I just think her overall performance level has been overblown, and some people keep using age to hype her up and to give her leeway.

 

Don't think Little missed the Chelsea match.

 

Liverpool nearly defeated Arsenal and would have gotten out of relegation.

 

I think they are still out of relegation (last place goes down); a win would have given them some breathing space though.

 

What do you think of Chloe Kelly(Everton)? She seems to have an long, accurate shot. With 9 goals so far this season. you could say she’s carrying her team, and now they’ve just surpassed Man U for 4th place in the standings. Yet she’s another fringe NT member of Neville.

another interesting prospect at fwd was the gal that scored the 1st for Liverpool yesterday(can’t remember her name), she seemed incredibly fast, but alas, that was only her 2nd goal of the season

btw. Anybody knows the condition of Beth Mead?(she took a terrible tumble thereby clutching her knee). It would a terrible blow for Arsenal if she goes out too. Yesterday, they were missing Little, Roord, Walti & Zinsberger from their lineup(but it was reported that Little had successful surgery)

 

Someone said on the Arsenal blog that Mead "could be out for a while," but no specifics. The club typically doesn't say much injuries until time passes and it is obvious something is wrong with a player. For example, Montemurro said recently that Little and Walti were just being rested when in fact they were injured--so we'll have to see what they say about Mead. Referees need to start pulling out their cards more often--I've noticed a number of bad fouls that don't get punished, especially in the first half of matches. In the Arsenal match against ManCity, Stanway plowed into Mead early in the game--it was bad--and no card. That is unacceptable.