FA WSL 2015 : Season 5

just found this stream line for the FA Cup, on youtube, it's currently 1-0 Chelsea with the 2nd half coming right up

 

Chelsea won logically the first women FA cup played at Wembley but it was an underwhelming game , I really expected more form both teams , at least the Londonian club showed more willing to win with Aluko the only player of the twenty-two able to do something on the pitch. Notts County was poor ,very poor , above all their not supporting the ball carrier...leaving her alone with no options to who give the ball...is quite disappointing for such a historical final I think the problem is the players being tired after their great world cup campaign. Anyway, only the result will stay from this final cause the match was forgettable.

 

I cringe every time I see Ellen White play; she just so slow, yet used primarily to latch on to long balls. I kinda like Gema Davison on Chelsea's side, but they seemed to come with an all tar team whereas only the defenders stood out for Notts County. Still got wonder how an team with zero NT's like Sunderland could of beaten Chelsea 4-0 the week before?

 

When you talked about Aluko being the only worthy player on the pitch, I couldn't help thinking about Ji So-Yun.
I guess Ji So-Yun is playing EAFF East Asian Cup with her National Team, right now, isn't she?

I assume she's still a Chelsea player, right?

 

she scored the only goal in the match. Aluko looked like the most impressive player though, having several chances and setting up the goal for Ji. Here's highlights

 

Oh, ok, I thought she was in Asia for EEAF East Asian Cup, but it looks like, as much as Japan, South Korea has to do without their internationals, because of club's commitments...

 

I follow the FAWSL but not closely enough to be considered an expert but imo players needed a rest of at least two weeks following the world cup. English football rely a lot on physicality (strength, power, pace, endurance etc...) so in order to have great game players need to be in a good physical condition...is just my opinion...Anyway, imo Ellen White is THE definition of English football, as she is more an athlete than a footballer.....she always put an admirable effort when she plays but technically she is average (even less) and overall doesn't excel in anything....but as she is a fighter she'll always be rated high by the British football fans, coaches, media etc...

 

I got laughed down (well sort of and in truth I did it slightly tongue in cheek) for posting this a few weeks back:

I watched Sunderland beat Chelsea. Everyone, including the Sunderland coaching staff, were saying at the end: "What just happened?!" To Sunderland's surprise, Chelsea played only Eni Aluko up front (Aluko had been withdrawn with a slight injury in the Bristol game a week earlier). She's not the best in that position, on her own. They played Ji So-Yun in front of the back four (which is a waste - she was still the class player on the pitch but little threat so deep) and although the first half was fairly even, they offered virtually nothing going forward (Greenwell had Davison in her pocket) and simply could not handle Mead. It takes 2 or 3 defenders to mark her properly and she can still get away from them, be it getting to the ball first, holding it up and winning a foul, beating them to a diagonal or just beating them in a foot race through sheer pace. She hangs off the last defender, she reads the game and gambles and most importantly of all, she FINISHES.
A disgruntled Chelsea fan made a bitter comment about Sunderland being one-dimensional and only having one way to play. Well it works and it has got the better of several top sides. Why haven't they stopped it? It did for Notts County the week before (who looked a much better side than Chelsea on that evidence). There was a hangover/jet lag effect for some England players, definitely. An Arsenal fan said to me the other day that Sunderland would have drawn there if it hadn't been for Kelly Smith (yes, the day of THAT tackle). Hilde Olsen the Norwegian keeper arrived (Laws got injured on England duty before WWC) came to England just 4 days before that County game and has done very well.
Steph Roche was much better in the Chelsea game - she's a confidence player and it is coming. It is also making players like Abbey Joice (who is about 4foot nothing and got tons of skill) up their game because they aren't automatic starters. Sunderland won't win the league, they have more away games than home games coming up but they could realistically finish 2nd or 3rd. Which is pretty amazing, given how late the manager came in and the fact that he is still piecing his squad together. Survival was all they were aiming for. Europe or a Conti Cup Final place doesn't seem unrealistic now.

Mead offers something that other England forwards don't (though she's similar to Taylor, she still has a bit to learn but is quicker). She's used to dealing with setbacks. Coming from the NE shouldn't be a disadvantage but it still seems to be the case? Her time will come.

 

What's amazing is that Sunderland was last season a 2nd division team. It shows how well balanced the English league is; 2 time defending champion Liverpool are only in 6th place & 7th, Bristol City(2nd places 2 years ago) faces now deregulation.
None of the WPSL teams have much of a chance to win the CL compared to the monster teams like Wolfsburg, Lyon or Rosengard, but playing a very competitive team every single game is a good thing. Compare that to Lyon(with most of the French NT starters on it) looks sometimes sluggish out there, especially against some of the easy opposition in the rest of the league and lately it certainly don't help or them win in the CL, when they take on much tougher opponents.
The well balance in the WPL, I believe helps the national team and they proved it at this last WC. I've watched a few games of the fawsl website and I love the quick pace that the teams play with, is there any other forum/message board on the WPL around the web?

 

rrrrraaaaaahhhhh X-S
Why so many different acronyms?? Can we stick to (FA)WSL? Especially since WPSL is already claimed over in the States.

 

Imo you are wrong here, Sunderland is doing very well firstly because, in a badly organized (I am talking only about the schedule) league they had a big advantage compare to the teams which had players at the world cup for the reason I mentioned in my precedent post.....more rest, more time to get prepared physically/tactically... once the other teams will catch them up I really don't think Sunderland will still doing so well...even with Mead..lol

True, WSL teams can't do more than four passes in a row....technically they still too poor to compete against French, Germans or Swedish clubs.

What helped England in the world cup is not their league...too "young" to have a real impact on the lionesses...but their easy path to the semi-final (well they loss against France on purpose so they knew what they were doing) but mostly because they had a coach who called their BEST players..is not a coincidence if Katie Chapman made it hard for anybody to pass their midfield, Jodie Taylor SHOWED what I said the first time I saw her many years ago, that she is by very very far their best centre forward.....and Lianne Anderson provoked the penalty against Germany...all three players banned for life by Hopeless Powell remember....At the highest level the talent make the difference not the "balanced league"....

ps: please stop saying OL= France, once again French coaches NEVER used OL tactics or formation so to compare both is absolutely false.

 

well their one site calls it FYEAH FYFAWSL figure out those initials? lol but your right , for short it should be WSL, though a few back they did call it the Premier League(now checking, that's their 3rd division

I've just watched the stream lined game, Sunderland vs Liverpool(season opener) and your absolutely right; Mead really looks like their only one attacker. She did it all, coming down either the middle, right or left. It's all about latching on to long passes and then having the speed to out run the defenders, and of course Mead has a phenomenal accurate shot to boot!(her last goal against Chelsea was simply incredible)
Not to put down the rest of the team, Sunderland's 5 midfielders(none of them looked like outside/wingers) won the battle against Liverpool's equally strong side with the likes of Fara Williams & Oshoela, and they had an excellent cb in Sharp. Whats sad to hear was that majority of Sunderland's players are part timers and had to hold down a full time job.
But that they won their first game(away vs Liverpool) shows they'll are in it from the start and got the feeling they can win the WSL title. Yeah, Sampson got to take it easy with bringing on Mead to the NT, but once she's on it, watch out!!!(the rest of the world)

 

Sunderland's coach only got the job a month or so before their FA Cup game and the WSL1 started. The club had apparently expected someone else to be taking the role (another current WSL coach). So the team v Liverpool in the opener is quite different to the team now, not entirely in personnel, but in fitness/organisation etc. And, as I mentioned, they are still building. They still very much rely on Mead's finishing and some still work (the captain is a teacher etc.) and they still play with 5 in midfield but with more recognisable wingers/supporting wide forwards. But they are gradually building their group of full-timers and they are resolute defensively, which is always your aim as the first brick in the wall. And their realistic ambition was merely to stay in the league in their first season, so that's a big box ticked.

 

here are couple of questions on the English league; what's the difference between the FA & Continental Cup? and why is their another league some teams are playing in called the WSL Cup.

PS did download and watch the recent Man City/Chelsea match. Surprised that Man City was only in fifth place considering all the talent on their squad; Bardsley, Bronze, Haughton, Duggan, J Scott. But I guess that's cause they missed so many games because of the WC. But true to form, they beat Chelsea 2-1

you might not be an admire of the 'long ball' but you can't under estimate it's value. We just saw Sweden win the euro u20 with majority(at least highlights) of goals from long balls. The WC 's top 3 teams, USA, Japan & England, all used long balls with success. While US might scored the least amount of goals on long balls, it's only because the opponents feared it so much that they played Bunker instead. Japan's easily most effective weapon was the long(and I must say, incredibly accurate) balls to the lone wolf, Ogimi, or the runner, Kawasumi.

Sunderland(or most of the WSL) can't match up with a monster team like OL(with 14 WC players) Wolfsburg. If you look now at Wolfsburg; they currently have arguably the best player from each these countries; Norway's Hansen, Sweden's Fisher, Poland's Pejor, Belgium's Wullart, Japan's Ogimi, plus sizable amount of top German & Swiss NT's and Germany's best non NT player in Simic(her former club Potsdam, pretty much fell apart, upon her leaving)

 

Even France use long ball....Henry or Abily for Thomis usually.... long ball are only an option for big teams and have no problems with that but when you have nothing else you can't be considered a big team.....Anyway, I saw Sweden U19 final against Spain and they (the Swedish) were definitely able to do at least four consecutive passes....

 

"what's the difference between the FA & Continental Cup? and why is their another league some teams are playing in called the WSL Cup."

The FA Women's Cup, or as it is now known due to new title sponsor, the SSE Women's FA Cup, is open to all senior teams in England who are registered with The FA. Pre-qualifying rounds for next season's competition will start in late August with up to 300 teams taking part. It's been being played since 1971.

The WSL Continental Cup (sponsored by Continental Tyres) is a confusing thing but it's is effectively the league cup for the WSL. So, WSL1 & WSL2 clubs play in a round-robin group stage (3 groups) and then the top teams go to knock out to decide the winners. Final will be on 1st Nov.

WSL Cup? Think you mean the WSL Development Cup. This is basically for WSL Development teams' league cup (reserve sides). The WSL Devt league is a winter league. Birmingham beat Sunderland in the final at the end of last season.

 

probably the same, but I mean't this link below, just asking cause Beth Mead scored 7 goals in July, but 2 of them were vs Everton in what the soccerway website calls the WSP Cup(but this is being played currently & in group stages)
http://us.women.soccerway.com/national/england/wsl-cup/2015/group-stage/r30946/

I would suggest watching a few more games of the WSL, and you'll see they do make more passes. You'll probably like Chelsea the most. I can see where Ji gets a lot of admiration; she's a fantastic passer, able to find the open team mate even in crowded area. But then, Chelsea got something for every one; the athleticism of Aluko, the speedy winger, Davison, the rough n tumble mid, Chapman, plus a lot of clever passing
Man City is even more stacked; 5 major ENG NT's, plus some strong supporting roles from players like Christensin, Cordbatz & Paris. but they screw up by not letting the speedy Jill Scott come down the flanks instead of the straight mid she looks like she's playing right now, and sadly Lucy Bronze don't come up on the attack like she did for Sampson at the WC. This team really could use some innovation in using Bronze & Scott.
Here is the link to downloading WSL games(if interested)
http://fyfawsl.tumblr.com/tagged/match downloads
Sunderland will play this Saturday(don't know if it's televised though), Mead's has scored 7 goals in her last three games, can't wait to see what she does next!

 

FA WSL Cup

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FA_WSL_Cup

 

some fantastic goals scored in the tv game of the week between Arsenal & Man City. Lucy Bronze finally got her first goal of the season & figures prominently in another. But check out A Scott's goal for Arsenal & Toni Duggan's for MC, their some of the best goals scored all year, anywhere!
here are highlights

 

good article on English soccer. Unbelievable story on Fara Williams; seems like she was homeless for 6 years, even though she started for the NT,
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/aug/01/game-changers-england-women-football-team

 

the English NT has just announced their roster for their upcoming Euro qualifiers vs Estonia. The last game I've watched her play, I was very impressed by Man City's Isabel Christiansen, and wah lah, she's been selected for her first cap! here's the NT's official web page
http://thefa.com//england/womens-seniors

No sign yet for Beth Mead joining the fray. But she's only 20 years old. Right now England's got ridiculous easy schedule in Euro qualifiers. Hopefully they'll tag in some friendlies against top rated teams

 

Chelsea coast to victory over Sunderland to confirm Women’s Super League title http://t.co/COUdYSQU2R (Photo: Getty) pic.twitter.com/0S1pvMqnrB

— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) October 4, 2015

 

Chelsea and Manchester City must lead a general uplift in WSL, not buy overwhelming domination