I get your point, but I just don't agree. The first two shots should have been saved, and I do think an elite keeper could/should have been able to read Fleming's cross and get out there to claim it or punch it out ahead of England. If Benameur Taieb made proper saves/plays, no goal would have been scored. No matter how good a defense is, there will typically be multiple shots on goal in a match. You expect an elite keeper to pull off the routine saves and occasionally pull off spectacular saves. I don't think Benameur Taieb made the routine saves her team expected her to make.
Extensive Man United thoughts following the 1-1 draw vs Tottenham 1) I thought Toone and Batlle had very mixed performances today. Batlle was a bit unfocused defensively to start out the match, but she did make a lot of good defensive plays. However, offensively, she struggled to impact with her usual progressive passing/ball carrying, and she didn't directly create anything, which has largely been the case during her time at United. Toone made quite a few good defensive plays as well, and she had a few good passing sequences. However, she also made a number of poor passes, and on two or more of those defensive plays, she immediately tried a flashy skill move only to get the ball knocked away from her. 2) I can't recall any notably poor moments from Blundell, but she also didn't have impressive moments like Batlle did. Before Percival's goal, Mannion and Thorisdottir also didn't stick out in my mind in any way apart from Thorisdottir clearing a Williams header away from goal in the first half, but neither looked particularly good on that equalizing goal. Earps was great in the air today, and she made one great save on a quite fantastic long range effort from Graham. (Why exactly was Graham taken off?) 3) Galton and Hanson were largely non factors with Galton being a bit better. Great cross from Galton that almost led to a Russo winner at the death. Russo's quite comfortably my POTM. Great spin move for a dangerous shot in the first half before her top notch goal, and she had a nice cross early on in the second half that Galton couldn't put on frame. 4) I just don't get how Zelem's played every single minute in the league so far this season. I'll give her credit for her quality steal on Ubogagu and subsequent great pass to Thomas that eventually resulted in a blocked shot. However, should she still have been on the pitch to make that play? She was routinely bypassed in midfield, her passing wasn't particularly good, and she didn't cover herself in glory on that Graham shot that forced a great save out of Earps. 5) I really do like Ladd, but I just don't see how some fans don't recognize that she's not as good/consistent of a defensive shield for the backline as they think she is. She had a number of good defensive plays, which you see routinely out of United's other midfielders, but I think Tottenham still pretty frequently played through United's midfield into space right in front of the backline. Ladd also was as guilty of not doing much with her passes as Zelem, but that's typically kind of expected. She gave up the free kick that led to Durham's equalizer in the Conti Cup, and I think the ref may have called the foul for Percival's free kick on Ladd after there was no advantage for Tottenham. (Of course, the ref may have made a poor call on Russo, but it still looks like to me that Ladd may have made some contact with her raised foot after Williams turned past her.) 6) Nothing much to say about Stainforth and Thomas' cameos. Some good moments from both of them. Skinner continues to not like using all his available subs. 7) I don't get this idea at all that some fans have of Boe Risa being a superior/vastly superior player to Groenen; I certainly haven't seen such evidence from her MUTV televised preseason matches and her matches vs Reading, Birmingham, and especially Durham. However, her not getting on the pitch at all today is quite ridiculous. 8) Once Groenen is fit again, I'm going to stick by an earlier front six that I posted here. Galton-Russo-Toone up top and Ladd-Groenen-Boe Risa in midfield. I don't get some fans still thinking Groenen shouldn't be a regular starter after they watched the Durham and Tottenham matches; I mean I'd still start Ladd and Boe Risa despite their misplays because of their overall capabilities, but oh well though. (The Durham match was only on MUTV though; so, fewer fans may have watched that one.) At some point, Skinner has to try out a midfield without Zelem in it in a league match. The preseason draw vs Brighton, the big loss vs Chelsea, and the dropped points vs City and Tottenham only had one of the deeper midfielders starting all of them, and that was Zelem. I know that's simplistic analysis, but I do think it's a relevant point to justify trying something different in at least one league match.
https://www.skysports.com/football/...erage-attendance-and-wembley-sell-out-by-2024 Women's Super League: FA targets 6,000 average attendance and Wembley sell-out by 2024 As well as 6,000 for the WSL, the FA has targeted an average attendance of 1,000 for the Championship and the goal of selling out Wembley for the Women's FA Cup final, by 2024; the FA says the aspiration overall is to build the "best women's leagues in the world" The three-year strategy - which has been led by the WSL and Championship board in conjunction with clubs and other key stakeholders - states the main objectives being to "produce and attract world-class talent", "maximise and engage audiences" and "grow commercial revenue and financial sustainability". As well as 6,000 for the WSL, it includes an average attendance target of 1,000 for the Championship and the goal of selling out Wembley for the Women's FA Cup final, by 2024.
28 games to be played 28 November in the FA Women's Cup Round 2 1 Norton & Stockton Ancients LFC v Leeds United Women 2 Salford City Lionesses v Newcastle United Women 3 Chorley Women v Bradford City Women’s 4 Hull City Ladies v Liverpool Feds LFC 5 Brighouse Town AFC Women v Farsley Celtic Women 6 AFC Fylde Women v Burnley FC Women 7 Sheffield FC Women v Huddersfield Town WFC 8 Long Eaton United LFC v Netherton United Ladies 9 Stoke City LFC v Norwich City Women 10 Stevenage FC Women v Loughborough Lightning Women 11 Cambridge City LFC v Stourbridge FC Ladies 12 West Bromwich Albion Women v Lincoln United Ladies 13 Lye Town Ladies v Northampton Town Ladies 14 Wolverhampton Wanderers Women v Nottingham Forest Women 15 Leafield Athletic LFC v Lincoln City Women 16 Queens Park Rangers FC Women v Billericay Town Women 17 Ipswich Town LFC v Crawley Wasps LFC 18 Gillingham Women v Actonians LFC 19 Ashford Town (Middx) Ladies v Oxford United Women 20 Hashtag United Women v AFC Wimbledon Ladies 21 Hounslow Women v Clapton Community Ladies 22 Kent Football United Women v Chesham United LFC 23 Portsmouth FC Women v AFC Bournemouth Women 24 Eastleigh In The Community Ladies v Exeter City Women 25 Ilminster Town Ladies v Southampton FC Women 26 Plymouth Argyle Women v AFC St Austell Ladies 27 Cheltenham Town LFC v Southampton Women’s 28 Chichester & Selsey Ladies v Bridgwater United Women DATES OF ROUNDS Third Round Proper Sunday 12 December 2021 Fourth Round Proper Sunday 30 January 2022 Fifth Round Proper Sunday 27 February 2022 Quarter Final Sunday 20 March 2022 Semi Final Sunday 17 April 2022 Final Sunday 15 May 2022
WSL: Game videos of the week from Matchday 7. (sign-in needed) Tottenham v Arsenal | Full Match Manchester City v Chelsea | Full Match West Ham v Reading | Full Match (The others will be on the FA Player, at some point.) In the Women's Championship, it was 1st vs 2nd - Durham began the match as the division leaders, 1 point ahead of Liverpool: Durham v Liverpool | Full Match
On Saturday I went to a game with 2 846 spectators and on Sunday there were about 60... the worse thing is having a very loud player's dad next to me saying come on girls and giving them instructions, most of them poo for 90 minutes. Parents should leave the coaching to the coaches. FA WSL table: #WomensFootballWeekend ✅Rate your team's league table position out of 10... ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/DrsN96R2sl— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) November 14, 2021 Right now: Arsenal and Chelsea fighting for the title. Leicester and Birmingham fighting for the relegation place. Brighton, Tottenham and United fighting for the third place. Reading, Man City and Everton are level with 7 points two of those teams were pre-season Champions League places candidate with City going for the title.
I’m shocked how bad Man City is. I blame injuries but this is far beyond bad! Especially the defenders and GK.
Roebuck has been missed and badly (particularly in both matches vs Chelsea), and I'm guessing Stanway wouldn't be one of the furthest players back losing the ball to pressure on Kerr's goal if she didn't have to fill in on the backline due to injuries. I have to say though that I think City should have won a penalty when the score was still 1-0; Berger was late on Hemp, and I don't think any touch on the ball excuses that challenge. Both Berger and whoever played that short backpass (Cuthbert?) got lucky there.
I mean they have real defenders on the bench while mids are tasks to defend instead. And why even bother signing all these adequate internationals if they are just going to sit on the bench. Yes all the injuries is not helping but their squad is still collectively much better than most of the league but because of Gareth Taylor's inability to make adjustments and his zero tactical skill is why they are to me unsurprisingly bad right now. They were the same too last season if you think about it. Winning against poor teams but gets trashed by good ones eg Chelsea and Barca. The only difference this time is several squads specially the inferior ones made much needed adjustments and so City is now having difficulty beating them.
I feel for Leicester this weekend. Judging from FBref's match report, they took it to a Champions League hopeful and lost the match on a last minute free kick.
Yeah Gareth Taylor needs to go with such bad decisions considering he has true defenders sitting on the bench as well as new signings. Not to mention lack of confidence on younger academy players also eager to prove their worth besides the bench players.
Well, they did also beat Barca in the second leg, and they drew Chelsea 2-2 with only a ridiculous Berger save (literally title-winning) stopping them from winning that match. Roebuck in goal and the ref calling that PK on Berger would have made this match so much more competitive, and Roebuck in goal would have made the FA Cup match much tighter as well. I also think City are really missing Kelly and Bronze on that right hand side.
I wasn't too impressed by Boe Risa vs Everton, but I definitely think she was better than Zelem. However, after a few minutes of Zelem really struggling and picking up a yellow, Skinner elected to sub off Boe Risa instead of Zelem. He had a clear, reasonable opportunity to take Zelem off, and he still left her on the pitch. (Now, for people who think Everton got back into the game because Boe Risa was subbed off, I completely disagree because I thought Everton played through United at a decent clip from like the 15th minute onwards.) I thought Batlle had some struggles vs Emslie in the first half, and she got soundly beaten by Magill for the setup to a good chance from Duggan. However, she was largely great defensively, and full props to her on creating a direct quality chance for Thomas in the second half. Random comment, but I don't get how some people see Staniforth as a more defensively capable player than someone who was thrown into the deep end at 6 for a team that ended up a late penalty away from making it into the Olympic semifinals. Just confusing.
I wished they can snag Lindsey Horan for the remainder of the season to boost that midfield then ManU might have a chance once again at least to qualify for CL. Of course Groenen needs to be healthy too. And Galton needs to up her game. She hasn't been that good lately. In regard to Zelem, she is mediocre at best. Not a player I would start every single game let alone gets 90 mins. The defense as a whole is shaky at times but the keeper is ultimately very poor at saving utterly savable shots.
Batlle with another high quality direct chance created for Russo today. After that was saved, she made a great block on Stokes' clearance attempt and then finished the ball really well past Taieb, who had another big mistake on United's equalizer. United won thanks to big defensive mistakes on both goals, but the overall performance today from them was arguably better.
Dang, I didn't notice it live, but for any refs out there, did Stokes controlling the ball make the situation a completely new phase of play? Batlle looked offside on Russo's shot, and she obviously challenged for the ball and won it off Stokes.
If Stokes had cleared first time and still had it blocked, would the ruling have been any different? Batlle still looked offside on Russo's shot to me, but a view from the lines official's vantage point would of course be great.
Right; that’s what I figured. I then asked about if Stokes theoretically hadn’t controlled and just cleared the ball first time and had it blocked by Batlle. That would seem like challenging/interfering from an offside position to me, but maybe I’m wrong. Poor play from Stokes regardless, and I still can’t understand what happened with Taieb on Fuso’s goal. That’s like something I would do when forced to be in goal in recreational/Sunday league football. (Great save on Russo before Stokes’ error though.)