So, I'm reading that poor officiating was costly in the Everton vs Leicester match. Will have to check out the highlights later.
FA Women's Cup funding going up to £3M Big news for small clubs playing in early rounds who used to lose money just by taking part.
Matchday 17 results and table: Gameweek 1️⃣7️⃣ ✅The result of the weekend was ___________ 💭#BarclaysFAWSL pic.twitter.com/Aclea0WR3J— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) March 13, 2022 Where is your team currently sitting in the #BarclaysFAWSL table? 👇 pic.twitter.com/77NROBDoCq— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) March 13, 2022 Arsenal and Chelsea will fight for the title and it will go the final day probably. For the 3rd place, Man Utd are ahead three points of Spurs and five points ahead of City who have a game in hand. Again this will probably be decided on the final day. Relegation is a done deal. Birmingham have to catch up 8 points in 5 games over Leicester and it is not going to happen. Chelsea are under pressure for a quick sale otherwise they could go into administration and get a 10 points deduction if it is not done before 31st May.
So If everything will be decided on the final day then that means Chelsea (even with one game in hand) cannot drop any points from here on and same with United specially since City look to have found their rhythm lately.
Yes no one can really afford to lose points right now, it is so tight for the title and the third place...
Fans will pick on the passing from Man United Women as a whole in the second half, but I was primarily frustrated with Earps' distribution/goal kicks. I think better play in that department would have helped to alleviate some of the building pressure. She was just handing the ball back to West Ham in United's half with those kicks out of bounds. I don't know what Thomas was trying to do with her giveaway that led to Svitkova's late header chance. Look at where Moore was when Svitkova took her corner for Fisk's equalizer. I think she was pretty much right where she needed to be to head Fisk's header away/off target, but she made the cardinal sin of being drawn towards the delivery. Any movement there should have only been to put herself more onto the far post. I've asked this before here; why do teams so often not put and keep players on the far post? It'd have made a little more sense if Moore had moved up following a United player's clearance out of the box, but she moved up before anyone had headed the ball. Just confusing/frustrating. It obviously doesn't matter, but I want to confirm if that West Ham corner was actually a warranted corner when the match replay is available.
Man United do have a centre-back injury problem and it does not help them. Chelsea and City wins yesterday make the title race and 3rd place race even tighter. Next week-end, FA Cup quarter-finals.
The table right now: Chelsea back in the driving seat, City with the momentum for the third place. The latest #BarclaysFAWSL table 👀It's getting tight! pic.twitter.com/Mk3cb2g8oD— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) March 16, 2022
Some more thoughts from Man United vs West Ham 1) I think some fans are overdoing it with Zelem's performance at CB (and at the same time overstating her importance to United by saying the team missed her in midfield), but she did well all things considered from the run of play. I didn't think much of her corners with poor defending rather than a good delivery leading to Toone's goal. 2) Thought Groenen and Boe Risa did pretty well as a pivot, and while Moore made a critical misjudgment on the equalizer and somehow fouled Yallop well after she already forced the turnover, I think she and Groenen did as much as they could to hold it together. Some fans are saying the midfield could have maybe helped to retain the ball better and take the sting out of the game, but as mentioned in my earlier comment, the very poor giveaways were by Earps and Thomas. Groenen couldn't play in Galton on two longer balls, but she also did carry the ball forward well on a couple occasions and played simpler passes to Toone and Galton to try and settle things down. 3) Batlle struggled with her passing today, and I think that was well captured by her pass against Toone's momentum straight out of bounds. I also thought Batlle and Galton struggled as a defensive unit after Toone's goal. Yallop's half volley, Svitkova's header, and the cross leading to the equalizing corner (pretty much all of West Ham's danger moments) came from Batlle not being able to close down/challenge the deliveries. Was Batlle tucked in so much more to give help to Caldwell/Zelem, which I don't think was needed in those moments, and/or was Galton supposed to track back better/more along the flank? 4) United pushed too much for a second goal in stoppage time in my opinion. I know this is a bit of hindsight, but Fuso probably should have cut back and played simply to Toone or aimed that pass towards the corner for Thomas to chase rather than trying to play her in. Then, I think Toone should have taken on her defender and tried to win a throw in or played the ball more along the sidelines towards the corner for Galton. Within the next attack, West Ham won the game changing corner. At 0.25x speed, I can at best see the slightest of touches from Blundell. We got refs who can't spot a ball like two feet over the line, but they can spot the smallest of deflections on a header that was going well wide anyways.
FA Cup quarter-finals Arsenal 4 Coventry United 0 Sunday Ipswich (3rd tier) v West ham Man City v Everton Chelsea v Birmingham
FA Cup results and draw: Ipswich 0 West Ham 1 Chelsea 5 Birmingham 0 Man City 4 Everton 0 And the draw is Arsenal v Chelsea West Ham v Man City Games to be played 17 Avril
And League result Chelsea - Tottenham P-P due to Covid cases at Spurs Man City 4 Everton 0 The #BarclaysFAWSL table 📊@ManCityWomen and @ManUtdWomen go level on points! 👀 pic.twitter.com/Nzb47nsz2l— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) March 23, 2022 Manchester United and Manchester City are now level on points . United with a +19 goal difference and City with +17.
1) Who was the atafootball male commentator for United vs Everton? He was completely fine with talking about Groenen being a Cruijff fan and a Springsteen fan and being a former judo player/champion, but he seemed allergic to giving her credit for having a great match. He went out of his way to give Zelem a lot of credit, and he credited Ladd at the end as well. The Ladd mention was definitely justified, but I thought Groenen stood out more. Cool penalty and a nice corner assist (to go along with many not so great takes, which the commentators did note to their credit) from Zelem, but I thought the praise was very much overly complimentary. She had nice open play moments (i.e., some nice challenges and a good ball in preceding Thomas' disallowed goal), but she also struggled often enough with her passing and giveaways. Groenen was called out (fairly) for not playing the ball to Toone (Russo wasn't an option though because she was offside) after winning the ball back and carrying it forward well initially, but I don't recall the same happening for Zelem on her non dead ball misplays. Before Groenen was subbed off, she made a good forward pass followed by a good dribble and a backwards pass; no comment. Right after that, Zelem made a sideways pass; she was praised for having a fine match. I know I'm making too much out of this, but it was so frustrating to me. 2) Thomas was pretty hard done by today. Completely legitimate goal incorrectly ruled out for offside, and on another day, she could have easily picked up two assists. Also did very well to win the PK. I'll admit that I didn't catch Graham on the first replay either for whatever reason, but a professional lines official should have absolutely gotten that call correct. Thorisdottir wasn't particularly close to being offside. Toone with a big miss right in front of goal off great work from Thomas; I think she could/should have controlled the ball and then gone for goal. I do absolutely agree with the male commentator in questioning why Galton went for a volley instead of a header on another great second half cross from Thomas. 3) Batlle's offense has definitely stepped up a level this season. Great give and go with Groenen (why on earth was no Everton player even remotely near her?) and then a nice cross for Russo's first. Then, Batlle's run and cross (looking for Groenen) preceded Graham's miscontrol and Thomas stealing in well to win the PK. Blundell did a good job finding Batlle on that run for the PK goal, but again, she struggled on the goal United conceded. After her goal, Emslie never got that much open space right into shooting position in United's box again.
It really doesn't matter how Zelem and Toone are doing on the pitch; Skinner will keep them on, especially in Zelem's case where she's only not played the full 90 in one WSL match this season (86 minutes vs Arsenal at LSV). Meanwhile, Wiegman, who brought Groenen in as a regular starter for the Dutch (and I think that's a big part of Wiegman's legacy), has only played Zelem 20 minutes in what was an absolutely ridiculous blowout vs Latvia (and most of the matches she could have played Zelem in have been blowouts). I will say that Zelem was fine today from open play, but I swear any commentator who says poor deliveries are unusual for Zelem needs to stop that. I think the fact that she has so many set piece goals/assists is more of a testament to how many corners/free kicks United win and how she takes pretty much all of them. Toone and Boe Risa were average in my opinion, and that was frustrating. Toone did pick up another assist, but she did have a big miss in the first half and then couldn't pick out Galton in a lot of space in the box for a high xG chance. Groenen was doing what she's known for and largely doing it well, but you just knew that Skinner was going to sub her off first. I didn't agree with Russo coming off either; I would have taken off Thomas or even Galton. Thought United struggled as much as they did vs West Ham at the end defensively, but this time around, luck was on their side.
Also, Bryne did not control this match well at all in my opinion, especially in the first half. No calls on obvious fouls on Russo and Thomas (the Thomas one was right outside the box), and I think the Koivisto yellow card challenge on Groenen may have been a by-product of letting Brighton get away with a lot. There was an uncalled Le Tissier challenge on Galton that I thought was borderline while the FA Player commentator thought it was great, and then, right after, United got called for a tame challenge on a Brighton player. That got some jeers from the LSV crowd.
I'm not sure which was worse at the start of the 85th minute - Zelem's delivery or Bance literally touching the ball behind her with open space and Toone out of the equation with any sort of good forward touch. I wouldn't have ruled out Blundell catching up with Bance, but the pressure from Toone, while it was good hustle (and that was the best aspect of her game today), should not have been able to cause that kind of mistouch from Bance.
Week-end results That was some weekend! 🤩What was your favourite result from Gameweek 1️⃣9️⃣? pic.twitter.com/pTsb1h5pCD— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) April 3, 2022 Table All eyes on the #BarclaysFAWSL table 👀Where does your team currently sit? pic.twitter.com/vi6x0JHIz6— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) April 3, 2022 Chelsea very much in control of the title race. United three points ahead of City who have a game in hand. Birmingham are 7 points behind Leicester and will need a miracle to save themselves. Liverpool have won the Championship and will be promoted next season.
In the third tier Northern Division, Wolves are six points clear of Derby County and two games in hand. In the Southern Division, Ipswich are one point clear of Southampton who have two games in hand. The two winners play-off and the winner gets promoted and will replace Watford or Coventry. Watford are six points clear of Coventry who have a game in hand. Watford have 11 points from 2 wins and 5 draws, while Coventry have 5 points from 3 wins and 6 draws. Coventry went into administration and where deducted 10 points.
Sorry, another time I just use this space to vent a bit. I can't with some comments. I just read someone calling out Groenen for not scoring yet and then praising Toone for her goalscoring, grouping her with Russo as the only two who seem to score for United. Well, Toone's got 1 goal in her last 9 WSL games (3.4 xG, FBref) to go along with big "sitter" misses vs Arsenal (when she could/should have squared it to Bruun as well), Everton, and Brighton. Galton got criticism as well in the comment, but she's scored 6 times in her last 8 WSL games (4.5 xG, FBref). Interestingly enough, Galton started the WSL season with 1 goal in 10 games (3.1 xG, FBref). Seems like the opposite of recency bias is at work here. I think people can definitely criticize Groenen for her poor finishing her first season at United; however, last season, it was far more a case of players not feeding her in great positions, notably Press, and this season, her focus has clearly just been more on the defensive and retention/build up side of the game. A better inquiry is wondering why she has scored five times for the Dutch while being at United (six if you include the 3-3 closed doors pre Olympics match vs Canada). Part of that is because she had a striker who could actually pick out her runs.
FA Cup semi-finals week-end West Ham v Man City today 12.15pm Arsenal v Chelsea tomorrow 12.30 pm Both games are live on BBC.
I get people rating Ladd highly, but what special power does she have that makes United fans say things like the late leads the team have given up this season were because she wasn't there? 2-2 vs Durham in the Conti Cup and 1-1 vs Tottenham away in the WSL saw late leads given up off free kicks from Ladd fouls. 1-1 vs Arsenal away in the WSL with Ladd on the pitch. (Batlle still hadn't returned to play, which caused Ladd to shift over to RB and gave Miedema all that space. I think Ladd should have stuck to Miedema anyways, but I do understand her decision to cover Batlle.) Not a late lead, but 0-0 turning into a 1-0 loss vs City away in the WSL came with Ladd on the pitch. Ladd played a poor back pass to allow Leicester a brief 2-1 lead in the Conti Cup before Zelem equalized; adding more fuel to my question about Ladd's special power, some fans blamed Baggaley more on that goal than Ladd. Contrary to the popular opinion that Ladd was the driving force behind United's great midseason run of form, I think Mannion-Turner as a steady CB partnership was the most critical difference. A lot of fans want Ladd to return to her CDM role immediately once Caldwell is fit again. To be honest, I think Ladd at CB vs Everton and Brighton has looked arguably the best she's looked all season. She had a few loose passes vs Brighton, but her overall passing has rarely looked better with the space and time she's afforded at CB. She's largely influenced the game defensively in a similar fashion from CB compared to CDM. I'd keep Ladd and Thorisdottir as the CB partnership and go with Zelem and Groenen as the double pivot to close out the season. (Some might say you have to go with Ladd at CDM vs Chelsea, but honestly, Caldwell at CB and Ladd at CDM doesn't give me much confidence either.) I'd personally then go with Boe Risa at CAM and a front line of Galton, Russo, and Toone, but I know Skinner won't do that.
Anthony DiCicco @DiCiccoMethod 10h 22,134 attend a women’s football match…in the fourth division?! That’s not fantasy, that’s Newcastle TODAY.