Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think not calling Kelly offside on Coombs' goal was a pretty poor decision from the lines official.
She was on the subs bench. Thought Coombs, who played ahead of Weir and Lavelle, was great in the 1st half, but like Mewis, she found things notably more difficult in the 2nd half.
▷ FA Player (sign-up required) has the other 3 full game videos from Saturday: Villa v Birmingham Everton v Reading Bristol City v Tottenham
Lavelle not used as a sub from the bench. Other players must be performing better than her in training. Basically Walsh and Mewis don't get dropped so you have 4 midfielders competing for one spot : Lavelle, Weir, Park and Coombs.
just giving heads up on this for murican fans, Arsenal vs Chelsea will be shown on tv on NBC Sports Network at 8.30 central time(no streaming available). So far don't look like it's going to be live on FA player either.
It’s 0-0 at halftime for Arsenal vs Chelsea. Only watched the last ten minutes since the big Bayern Munic/Wolfsburg game just finished Arsenal seems to be more than holding its own with Foord hitting the cross bar while some sloppy goal keeping from Berger. Beth England started instead Kerr, looked a little sloe out there, so take it Kerr will come in shortly
So looks like they subbed in Kerr for Leupolz(an DM) instead, so their definitely going on offense Arsenal did start finally the back Little & Roord, but it’s a big question mark if they can go 90 min
Still 0/0 at the 73 min mark. Chelsea looks tired, even Kerr got the ball tackled away after a couple of what seemed, open, fast breaks. Still think their making a mistake keeping Harder on the wing Miedema barely noticeably though, don’t know why she’s not close to the goal on corner & free kicks
And just like that, Miedema woke up, great run down the left side & cross to Mead for the goal Post edit; Harder just scored from an impossible angle from her far right side, not sure if it’s going to be credited as an own goal 1–1 final
Chelsea with a freak, lucky goal in stoppage time to steal a win from Arsenal. I saw most of the first half and it was a complete defensive stalemate up to 40'. Neither side could break through the opposition defense and don't think either of Miedema or England even had a shot. Chelsea's back four are very good, and the midfield gets back quickly. Arsenal was equally solid. I read and heard that Foord nearly scored late in the half. Didn't see the second half...
perhaps due to the endless patronizing fro Millie Bright, I think she’s way overrated, plus the usual disappearing act of the right side FB, Mjelde, it’s exactly where Arsenal needed to attack(glad Miedema caught on as MU scored similarly against the those two horrid, 1v1 defenders). So with Roord & Little back in the starting lineup & doing pretty decent/controlling the midfield. So who took van de Donk’s place? And do think Roord with her physical attributes, might finally getting the starting nod vs the US in the upcoming friendly, or will Wiegman still go with the three technocrats that got so overwhelmed at mid in the WC final?
Roord started in Van De Donk's spot for Arsenal, as they are both attacking midfielders--though Van de Donk has played other positions for the squad over the last couple of years. It will be interesting to see whether Wiegman opts to start Roord over Van de Donk for the Dutch. DvD has been a key performer for the Dutch for three years, and most coaches are loyal to players who've helped the team achieve significant success. It might Roord's time--and it helps that she's bigger than DvD, though DvD certainly plays bigger than her size. As for the Dutch midfield vs. the U.S. midfield, nobody can match up physically and athletically with the U.S., except maybe France. In the midfield, Mewis and Ertz are big and strong--as is Horan, if she plays instead of Lavelle. The Dutch don't really have enough depth--that is an issue--but I'm hoping for a competitive match.
Still don't think the Dutch midfield was overwhelmed until the team went down 1-0 and had to play more open. Van der Gragt's decision on the penalty was frustrating.
Funny thing is that this Thursday, Man United and Man City are playing against each other again! In the FA Cup.
A bit of a random comment. At the end of the Manchester Derby, I thought James had pulled off a great tackle. I read a post today complaining about the challenge and claiming that it should have been a red card. Now, I don't know about the red card claim, but I was too focused previously on what was happening at ground level. James clearly locked in Houghton's left arm and pulled her down as she made the challenge; I now think the play should have been a free kick and at least a yellow.
MU/MC was by far the most exciting of the big 3 games this last weekend. MC plays better usually in Cup games, though they should put more emphasis on league matches as their still a shocking 5th place(shocking cuz we’re talking about what seems like the entire English NT plus Mewis & Laverne) In the first half MC did the right thing by quickly lobbying the ball over MU’s high press. But then whether it was either to sit on the lead or just go back to their patented possession game, kept back passing the ball which led to the give away/Heath goal. Got to wonder too if playing the hectic 1dt half pace might of tired MC a bit? From reading another forum; they’re coach was busy on the phone much in the 2nd half. Dunno if there was some conspiracy theory behind this, but MC was really slow substituting(did their coach think it was going to be an OT game?). Stoney needs to be giving credit for keeping her squad in tip top shape as again a strong 2nd half performance & good enough to keep them in 1st place.