Matchday 1 and already some big surprises Aston Villa 1 Man United 2 Everton 1 Brighton 2 Arsenal 0 Liverpool 1 Bristol 2 Leicester 4 West Ham 0 Man City 2 Chelsea 2 Tottenham 1 1.Leicester 3 pts 2. Man City 3 pts 3. Chelsea 3 pts ---------------------- 4. Brighton 3 pts 5. Man United 3 pts 6. Liverpool 3 pts 7. Everton 0 pt 8. Tottenham 0 pt 9. Aston Villa 0 pt 10. Arsenal 0 pt 11. Bristol 0 pt ------------------- 12. West Ham 0 pt
Well, the idiotic referee completely ruined today's ManCity vs. Chelsea match. She gives ManCity's Greenwood a dubious yellow early in the first half then gives her another--in the first half--for time-wasting! She's out of the match with a red! ManCity had a 1-0 lead at the time and so was down to 10 players. They defended beautifully, then very late in the match Hemp gets sent off with a red and City are down to 9 players--and they give up a stoppage time goal and the match ends 1-1. Absurd match by the referee. Apparently, the league wants to speed up play and has instituted new rules against perceived time wasting. However, players have been taking their time on free kicks for ages, and so need to adjust to any new directives. And referees obviously should give them time to adjust. You don't just start handing out red cards in the first half of the second game of the season. Stupid, absurd, unacceptable. At the least, you give a player repeated warnings. I think Greenwood may have been told earlier on a corner kick to speed it up, but the red was just a ridiculous decision that ruined what should have been an excellent match. What's more, nobody is intentionally time-wasting for advantage in the first half of match. Crazy.
Second yellow card after taking 26 seconds to take a free kick. Greenwood also dummied kicking the ball and that's when the referee had enough and booked her. Quite harsh, but correct in theory. PGMOL has told referee to act on time wasting. And after last week performance at Arsenal v LIverpool, she was surely told to do better. If we look on a bell curve that refereeing was on the extreme right off the curve. And unfortunately the refereeing in the WSL has been so poor that from the game I watch at least 70% of them are on the left side of the curve instead of being in the center. So too lenient and fouls etc. This is the one game where it went the opposite way, although I was told the Brighton v West Ham saw also many bookings for time wasting.
Harsh, but I did think Greenwood was really slow on the play. Busy low fiving Aleixandri and just standing behind the ball while making no effort to actually take the FK. Then, the slow backwalking and the dummy. So avoidable from Greenwood in my opinion.
She should have made clear to Greenwood that she was going to get a 2nd yellow if she didn't hurry up. I'm quite sure she didn't do that. It's a dumb and ultimately unnecessary way to ruin a game. It's a new rule, it's time-wasting--supposedly--in the FIRST HALF, for chrissake. It was a poor decision.
Matchday 5 All the results from Gameweek Five!Who were you most impressed with? 👀 pic.twitter.com/OaBAoygbTU— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) November 5, 2023 Man United and Man City dropped points. Table Chelsea three points clear of four teams. At the bottom of the table, Bristol and Aston Villa fighting for the relegation place. The #BarclaysWSL table after this weekends fixtures 👀 pic.twitter.com/bXiL0uQVx7— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) November 5, 2023
I heard someone say Zelem always plays because she's a machine. Parker on Daly's goal, Karchaoui on Baltimore's goal, and Lee leading to the corner for Bergsvand's goal. Zelem fans need to at least sometimes address moments like the ones above. Now, on Terland's goal, I can understand why Zelem left Symonds to pressure another Brighton player; however, I don't think she was ever likely to make a defensive play there, and the ball found its way to Symonds for the assist, which Miyazawa maybe could/should have cut out. Brighton got away with not giving up a PK early on, but Galton arguably committed a foul before assisting Toone on United's first equalizer. I thought Toone wasn't particularly good overall, but that was a very, very good finish. Some players are just meant to be super subs, but Williams has to be seriously under consideration for a league start. Geyse continues to look great doing a lot of things, but she really can't buy a goal right now.
The League standings after seven games: The #BarclaysWSL table right now 👀 pic.twitter.com/zfQ8rIEELe— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) November 23, 2023 Chelsea at the top 3 points ahead of Arsenal. 6 points ahead of CIty. United and Tottenham in fourth place 7 points behind Chelsea and 90% already out of the title race. At the bottom of the table. Bristol and West Ham level with four points. Everton one point ahead of them. Aston Villa two points ahead of them. Brighton three points ahead of them.
Gameweek Eight ✅#BarclaysWSL pic.twitter.com/TjxJ20ThuJ— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) November 26, 2023 The #BarclaysWSL table going into the International break! 👀 pic.twitter.com/IQPaAucjrj— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) November 26, 2023 Chelsea v Arsenal on Matchday 9 at the Emirates Stadium. 50k tickets sold.
Big match today Arsenal - Chelsea on the FA Player (for free) https://faplayer.thefa.com/video/bG...tc2VjdGlvbi0wLWFsbC0taGVyb19jb250ZW50cy0tMA== 1-0 Mead, then 1-1 Kaneryd, the goal should have been refused as Kerr was totally offside...
HT 3-1 On the second Arsenal goal, Charles gave an unnecessary corner, then lliestedt with the head On the third goal, nice pass from the back Walti to Russo
FT 4-1 What did i see 1 - well deserved for Arsenal 2 - confirmation : though Lauren james is a very good player, she is a bad person 3 - except against weak teams, Kerr is too often useless
Injuries has been and continues to be a problem for them. I think she was hoping for a healthy Marcario by now as well. Her hopes of winning the Champions League do not look real good right now. Their concern now should be getting out of the group stage in UWCL.
Yes, Reiten has been hurt but came in the second half. Not sure what her injury was. I was surprised to read that neither Lawrence nor Buchanan started for Chelsea. They've been two of the best defenders in the world for a long time.
Buchanan is a liability for Chelsea. She is not a regular starter for them. I was surprised about Lawrence though.
Lawrence was not good at PSG her last season in my opinion. I miss Li Mengwen more than her. I think Buchanan can be too rash at times, and that hasn't helped Chelsea.
Anyone else think that was a pretty questionable PK decision? Carter knocked the ball away, and I think Charles would have solidly recovered it even with Russo staying up. Also, Russo stuck her right foot out with the ball nowhere near her and created contact with Berger herself.
Referee error for sure, Carter had cleared the ball already before the contact between Berger and Russo.
Matchday 10 Tottenham 1 Arsenal 0 ! Man Utd 1 Liverpool 2 ! Everton 1 Man City 4 Bristol 0 Chelsea 3 Leicester 1 West Ham 1 Aston Villa 1 Brighton 0 Table The #BarclaysWSL table after Gameweek 10! 👀 pic.twitter.com/f2F0GzS3nG— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) December 17, 2023 Chelsea still big favourite for the title. Bristol and West Ham fighting to avoid relegation. After the Christmas break, FA women's Cup Fourth Round Proper Sunday 14 January 2024 Kick Off No. Home Away 13:00 1 Derby County Women VS Leicester City Women 13:00 2 Sunderland AFC Women VS Southampton Women 13:00 3 Burnley Women VS Birmingham City Women 13:00 4 London City Lionesses LFC VS Moneyfields Women 13:00 5 Tottenham Hotspur Women VS Sheffield United Women 13:00 6 Chelsea Women VS West Ham United Women 13:00 7 Crystal Palace Women VS Blackburn Rovers Women 13:00 8 Reading Women VS Wolverhampton Wanderers Women 13:00 9 Arsenal Women VS Watford Women 13:00 10 Luton Town LFC VS Brighton & Hove Albion Women 13:00 11 Plymouth Argyle Women VS Nottingham Forest Women 13:00 12 Ipswich Town LFC VS Charlton Athletic Women 13:00 13 Bristol City Women VS Liverpool Women 13:00 14 Durham Women VS Manchester City Women 13:00 15 Manchester United Women VS Newcastle United Women 13:00 16 Aston Villa Women VS Everton Women
Transfer window open from 1 Jan to 31 Jan Arsenal In: Kaylan Marckese* (end of loan - Bristol) Out:- Aston Villa In: Freya Gregory ( end of loan - Reading) Out:- Brighton In:- Out: Mackenzie Hawkesby (Sydeney FC) Bristol In:- Out: Kaylan Marckese (end of loan -Arsenal) Chelsea In:- Out:- Everton In:- Out:Nicoline Sorensen (retirement) Leicester In: Saori Takarada (Linköping) Out: Jess Reavill ( dual registration -WBA) Liverpool In:- Out:- Manchester City In:- Out:- Manchester United In:- Out:- Tottenham Hotspurs In: Charlotte Grant (Vittsjö GIK), Matilda Vinberg (Hammarby), Wang Shuang Out: Shelina Zadorsky ( loan - West Ham) West Ham In: Shelina Zadorsky ( loan - Tottenham Hotspurs), Kristie Mewis (NYC Gotham) Out:- *ACL injury
ACL injury for Sam Kerr, she will miss out the end of the season and the Paris 2024 Olympics. Fun fact you can get 25 players registered in the WSL and Chelsea have 41 contracts, a lot of those players are actually on loan. Still Chelsea will need to deregister a couple of players to make way for Natalie Bjorn and Kerr's potential replacement.
Update 16 Jan (in bold) Transfer window open from 1 Jan to 31 Jan Arsenal In: Kaylan Marckese* (end of loan - Bristol), Emily Fox (NC Courage) Out: Noelle Maritz ( Aston Villa), Kathrine Kuhl ( Everton - loan) Aston Villa In: Freya Gregory ( end of loan - Reading), Noelle Maritz (Arsenal) Out:- Brighton In: Chelsea Ferguson ( end of loan - Blackburn) Out: Mackenzie Hawkesby (Sydney FC), Nicky Evrard ( end of loan - Chelsea) Bristol In: Shae Yanez (San Diego Waves) Out: Kaylan Marckese (end of loan -Arsenal) Chelsea In: Nicky Evrard ( end of loan - Brighton), Natalie Bjorn ( Everton) Out:- Everton In: Kathrine Kuhl (Arsenal - loan), Rikke Madsen (NC Courage) Out:Nicoline Sorensen (retirement), Natalie Bjorn (Chelsea) Leicester In: Saori Takarada (Linköping), Yuka Momiki (Linkoping) Out: Jess Reavill ( dual registration -WBA) Liverpool In:- Out:- Manchester City In:- Out:- Manchester United In:- Out:- Tottenham Hotspurs In: Charlotte Grant (Vittsjö GIK), Matilda Vinberg (Hammarby), Wang Shuang Out: Shelina Zadorsky ( loan - West Ham), Gracie Pearse ( Charlton - loan), Ria Percival (Crystal Palace - loan) West Ham In: Shelina Zadorsky ( loan - Tottenham Hotspurs), Kristie Mewis (NYC Gotham), Katrina Gorry (Vittsjo) Out: Melissa Filis ( Charlton - loan) *ACL injury
Matchday 11, halfway through the season Leicester 0 Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 2 Everton 1 Chelsea 3 Man Utd 1 Brighton 3 Bristol City 2 (xG 0.6 v 1.3 !) Man City 5 Liverpool 1 West Ham 3 Tottenham 4 (xG 2.5 v 1.6 !) Table 1. Chelsea 28 pts +23 2. Man City 25 pts +23 3.Arsenal 25 pts + 15 --------------------------------------- 4. Man Utd 18 pts +12 5. Liverpool 18 pts 0 6. Tottenham 18 pts -4 7. Aston Villa 12 pts -9 8. Brighton 11 pts -11 9. Everton 11 pts -11 10. Leicester 10 pts 11. West Ham 5 pts -14 ---------------------------------- 12. Bristol 5 pts -17
What stands out to me is United being level on points with Liverpool and Tottenham with that much better of a goal difference. Three of their wins have been big wins, and none of their losses have been big. Zelem has an 82 defensive awareness rating on EA FC. I think that's too high independent of yesterday's match, but if you watch back James' second and third goals, you should find that rating even more questionable. (By comparison, Groenen has a 66 defensive awareness rating.)