Football in the UK and Ireland season 2020/21

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Ireland: The Women's National League got underway on Sunday, with wins for Shelbourne and Peamount, and Wexford won 4-1 over the new women's team from Bohemians.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2020/0808/1158086-shels-make-winning-start-as-wnl-season-kicks-off/

England: The Women's FA Cup 2019/20 competition will play to a finish, after a 6-month delay.
The quarter-finals begin on 26 Sep 2020, with only Leicester City representing the Championship in the last eight.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53527234

And dates are announced for FA Cup 2020/21 - that starts even earlier, with the extra-preliminaries on 6 Sep. The top two divisions' clubs will enter in the 4th Round, from 31 January 2021. https://www.thefa.com/news/2020/aug/10/womens-fa-cup-2020-21-season-details-100820

The Women's Community Shield is probably returning after twelve years, the match originally held from 2000-2008 as the, cliché alert, traditional curtain-raiser to the season. This time, it'll be a double-bill with the men's Community Shield, hence it's a curtain-raiser to another curtain-raiser. (All those years of training, to be a curtain-raiser...?) The last winners were Arsenal.

FA Cup winners and more: Arsenal in 2007
(Marion O'Sullivan, cc-by)​

Usually champions v FA Cup-winners, or otherwise the league's top 2, the game on 29 August is set to be Chelsea v Man City. It'll be on TV on BBC One (the men's is on BT Sport?), so it'll have a good potential audience anyway.
Incidentally, the Shield is one of the few men's games I've ever heard to be rescheduled due to women's football, on the day of the Euro 2017 final. Would've been similar in 2021, except that's not really necessary now ... (yes, February was a looong time ago) ... https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51467975

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Jill Ellis should the fav, but it’s been reported that she wants way too much money, perhaps the FA been negotiating with her for a lower salary?

England could surely use Wiegman’s ‘hard core’ conditioning methods, but it might not be their cup of tea

and wish we could say we ‘don’t have Phil Neville to kick around any more‘, but low & behold, he’s now on the inside track to become the Matildas head coach
Rumor ; Jessica Fishlock to Reading, but don’t look like many Americans are coming; apparently the FA has done complicated rule that says only the ones that played on the USWNT can come

 

What? The FA only wants U.S. players that have played on the national team?

 

this article might explain it best
NWSL to FA WSL Loans: The Complexities and Uncertainty for Players Seeking Regular Competition during a Pandemic » Our Game Magazine

 

They probably need hard core! What’s the point of stealing out conditioning coach in the first place??

 

not much info or vids coming out of pre season, but here's one featuring MU's friendly 4-0 over Glasgow/ Ironically it's Glasgow that's going to play in the upcoming CL tourney


btw.....one CL team, Athletico Madrid, had to suspend practise today since 5 members(including staff) tested positive. So don't know yet how this is going to effect the upcoming in 9 days, CL tourney

 

it's confirmed, Sarina, Sarina
Sarina Wiegman appointed as new England Women's head coach

 

I wonder if it will mark the end of a cycle for Netherlands or if they will find another coach who will guide them to similar achievements (although an Euro title and a 2nd place at the WWC are quite an high bar for anyone).

 

Most of the Dutch players are still in their prime and will be for another few years, at least, so let's hope they hire a coach with ambitions! It certainly won't be easy to match what Wiegman has done--the next Euro championship will be a battle royal with probably eight teams capable of winning it. The Dutch will be formidable, but the margins are always small when good teams play one another and any team needs a measure of good fortune to win a title, that's for sure.

 

Need a manual to see?

 

mancity confirms lavelle.

https://www.goal.com/en-qa/news/man...winner-rose-lavelle/4f8mjl2x8n64132j7mm5jm2n0

 

I definitely questioned some of Stoney's decisions last season, but a lot of Man United fans are being unbearable, unreasonable, and arguably incorrect with their remarks about her and the team's transfer activity relative to that of other teams. A bit frustrating to see.

 

How do you rate them coming into the new season? Strengths, weaknesses? They played hard last year, and I like the coach. They certainly don't have the marquee talent of the three top-of-table teams, but ManU showed their mettle last year and I imagine will do the same this year.

 

The thing with Lavelle is, can she stay healthy? She was with the Washington Spirit of the NWSL for three years and was hurt constantly--always getting better just in time for national-team duty. I doubt her total minutes played totaled one year out of three. I think that's why Washington just traded her to OL Reign--it's no use having a talent if she's seldom on the field.

 

I'm honestly a bit confused what OL Reign is doing paying a relatively large amount of money (for women's football) for an injury prone player that's not done much at all in club football for years. I guess they're banking on Lavelle finally staying healthy and fit for an extended time; maybe they'll end up looking like geniuses.

 

I wouldn't rule them out finishing 3rd, but that's probably too hopeful on my part. I think finishing 4th and closer to the big 3 is a reasonable expectation. Some Man Utd fans have the same opinion, but they're more upset than I am about staying in 4th. Other fans think teams like Everton and Tottenham will jump above Man United based on their new signings, which confuses me because I think only City can claim to have made notably better, more high profile signings than United have.

It's interesting to me how Man United fans went over the top to hype up their players like Galton and James all throughout last season while they underrate their new signings and overrate the newcomers to other teams. (Galton was not the best LW/LM in the league last season no matter how many people say she was; James definitely had consistency issues and didn't bail her team out as much as many fans say she did.) That being said, Galton and James did have decent seasons, and along with Hanson, Sigsworth, Fuso (a bit of an unknown but apparently promising), and Ross (rotational option), I think United's offense is fairly decent. (I will agree with fans that want a proven/experienced striker/goalscoring winger, but some fans are just over the top with their comments and criticisms.)

United's midfield looks quite/really strong to me. Ladd, Groenen, Staniforth (good new signing), Toone, and Zelem with CAM options in Fuso and James give you a strong starting midfield with quality depth. Ladd is a solid defensive shield, and I think Groenen played as an 8 instead of a 10 will be impactful defensively and in build up play. Some question marks arose regarding a lack of run of play goals out of midfield last season, but I think more game time for Toone and the Staniforth acquisition help to address that a bit. Plus, all of the midfielders bar maybe Ladd should be able to consistently contribute to many chances being created for the forwards.

Batlle very much fit the need for a quality attacking full back, and with the potential of Okvist or Smith on the other side, I'm fine with the full back situation going into next season. (I get complaints about Stoney maybe fielding Harris/A. Turner at right back, but again, some comments are just so aggressive.) McManus and M. Turner are both prone to big errors in my opinion. However, they're both very much capable of solid performances, and McManus can be quite penetrative with her long passing. Also, I don't know if there are better, realistic CB options on the market. Ladd and A. Turner can fill in if needed at CB as well.

I had my issues with Earps last season (i.e. prone to judgment errors and a notable lack of urgency whenever her team was tied or behind), and I just don't know much about Ramsey. So, the GK position is a bit of a question mark for me. Wasn't ever really expecting GK transfer activity though. If Stoney regularly starts Earps next season, I hope Earps can regularly play like she did vs Arsenal.

I wasn't a fan of how Stoney utilized Groenen for a lot of last season, and she played the Harris/A. Turner full back pairing for too long. Also, I thought she could have played Ramsey or Mikalsen ahead of Earps for at least a league match or two when Earps appeared a bit off form. That being said, Stoney does appear to be a good coach when it comes to player management, and she does organize/drill her team well.

 

Who exactly Man U is going to beat out for 3rd place? They were a very distant 13 points away when the season was cancelled.
The big 3 have made significant pickups since then compared to Man U. Though they lost Chloe Kelly, Everton were able to get Christenson, Gauvin, Raso among others & were only a few points behind by season’s end. Man U sticks out to English fans since it’s one of the few remaining, dominant domestic player squads/though rumored, they weren’t able to pickup the one Spanish teen sensation named Eva Navarro.

anyways, the WSL will be the place to be for the upcoming season!

 

Everton with some good signings. And I read yesterday that Fishlock has joined Reading.

 

I don't necessarily have a particular team in the big 3 in mind, but I did say it was probably too hopeful. People keep on bringing up a distant 13 points away from Arsenal. It may still be distant, but it's arguably more like 8. United Women had a game in hand on Arsenal Women, and they were robbed of two points on a completely bogus handball call vs Reading, which if called correctly would have opened more of a gap on Everton Women as well. I guess my hope is also going off of how closely United Women played the big 3 last season. Chelsea hardly created much against them and only just got by them in the league and Conti Cup matches while United Women did beat City Women in the Conti Cup while losing 4-3 vs them in the FA Cup match in which they arguably had one or two legitimate goals ruled out. United Women did drop big points vs teams like Brighton, West Ham, and Bristol, but I do expect their finishing and foul management to be better next season.

I said I only thought City Women made more significant pickups than United Women, and even then, they lost Bremer, and Lavelle's a risk given her club football record. Out of Arsenal Women's signings, only Catley and Williams really stand out to me, and I think United Women pretty closely match that with Staniforth and Batlle. Chelsea have gotten Fleming, Leupolz, and Charles; I don't think getting Staniforth, Batlle, and Fuso is much less significant. Christensen and Raso were brought in the winter window, but even then, I'm not overly concerned with them, Gauvin, and the other acquisitions at Everton Women. I just don't get how people can say Staniforth, Batlle, and Fuso compare poorly to the other teams' acquisitions. They simply don't; we'll agree to disagree.

 

Sure, but people keep on saying that while not recognizing United Women's signings as good players as well. I don't even think Arsenal Women and Chelsea Women have made more significant signings than United Women's, but nope, people keep saying that as well. Fishlock is a great get if true.

Edit: It’s true. My opinion still holds, but Fishlock is obviously a great signing for Reading.