83’ Emily Fox forced to hobble off with a troubling looking right ankle/foot issue. That could be an even more significant event tonight then the 3 points were potentially going to bag. Fox is perhaps the most irreplaceable player on our Team. Also Catley came off at the same time after she played with a sore hammy for a good 20 minutes or more. Hope that wasn’t too foolish of her to do.
FT BEN 0-2 ARS A very physical and hard-to-break-down opponent led to a fairly unimpressive performance by us. But we left with an absolutely vital 3 pts. Dim moment: losing Fox (pray it’s not serious) Bright spot: Taylor Hinds. She had a really good game I thought. Played on both left and right sides effectively, and showed that we do have a little bit of depth behind McCabe at LB. (and maybe behind Fox at RB?!)
Interlull news so far, positive & negative... Katie McCabe got a hattrick in IRL 4-2 BEL Olivia Smith came off the pitch on golf cart during CAN 0-1 SUI, in quite a bit of distress, unable to put weight on her right leg Emily Fox went 90 in USA 1-2 POR. Will anyone ever give this woman a rest?!... I watched, she looked a little lost, then again so did the whole team. I'm starting to get the feeling this may not be our year, but we shall see... it's not quite November yet Edit: Also just heard that Lotte Wubben-Moy left England camp due to illness. Let's just assume that's nothing much really.
Arsenal women get the job done away from home 1-4, despite having to deal with illness and injury to key players. Great weekend for us gooners!
LEI 1-4 ARS Never in doubt. Largely one way traffic. 0-3 at HT. They troubled us 3 times total all match, by my recollection. A couple of sweet goals on the break. Little continues to be an absolute vital rock for us this season, so I was slightly worried when she sat down and came off late. But The cushion allowed Renee to rotate to the max, manage minutes… ahead of a crucial next 10 days with Chelsea at home (must-win title-6-pointer) and Bayern away.
Don't see any mention here (apologies if I missed it) of our loanee's ACL injury----which sucks. Get back soon, Michelle.
Yeah I didn’t mention Agyemang, partly because all I’d heard about it was Wegman saying it looked horrible. Sounded season ending. I think ACL. On another front I also heard that Smith’s hip injury might not be as bad as it looked at first?? Also very limited info on that one I’ll confess.
Tomorrow the boys have a big game @Sunderland, but reminder that a few hours earlier the gals have a HUGE game vs Chel$ski. KO time at 7:00am ET on Espn+... slightly ouch but kudos to anyone who is up for it True 6-pointer at the top of the table. We trail them by -5pts so if we lose we're at -8pts with 14 matches to play, against a juggernaut. And if we win, we close to only -2pts. Hard for me to say a match is truly "must win" at this stage, but it sure feels that way. Sadly we'll be missing key players like Williamson (or course) and Little* (new injury). Others are still nursing old injuries like Kelly. BUT a glimmer of good news on that front: Smith, Maanum & Wubben-Moy are now available... just! *Cooney-Cross is also available and either she or Pelova will have to cover for Little, but that's a rather big drop-off in quality, so I'm a tad concerned about our defensive strength, at DM and RCB. p.s. I'm no expert on Chel$ski's squad but on quick check it seems Kerr is really back now and they have basically everyone available, minus James and Reiten. But Baltimore, Beaver-Jones et al may be trouble. So... "Use the Force Luke"
Two Yanks in the front line: Macario & Thompson. And Alyssa just chipped our GK for 0-1 at 9’. Chel$ki started like gangbusters. Hit the post at 2’. We’re a bit shell-shocked. COYG!!!!
HT ARS 0-1 CHE We really came back into the game. Plus they eased off a bit. Still we have nothing to show for it. All to play for in 2T!
54’ 1-1 Stina once again! Roofs it. Commentator: “You’re not savin that Hannah Hampton!” Edit: but NO! Even without VAR they (tge AR?) manage to cruelly rule a handball on Stina as she controlled it. Dubiously IMO. Back to 0-1. But we’ve got our tails up now!
87’ after unrelenting pressure from us in 2T… 1-1 Russo from Maanum. But we rightfully should be winning 2-1. Rarely do I feel robbed but today I do. Unless we somehow score again in added time.
91’ an amazing play by Russo, returns the favor to Maanum who nets! But NO, she’s offside by her foot. Ugggghhgh
Didn't watch----I was running a 5k race this morning. Heard the refs weren't kind to us --- per Tim Stillman.
True. There was one seriously bizarre moment, a full 5 mins actually, where apparently they'd chalked off our goal due to a supposed handball by Stina, but neither the world feed production team nor the (presumably remote) commentators knew that had happened because the scoreline said 1-1 for about 5 mins before it suddenly went back to 0-1. At first I thought it was a very belated VAR decision until I realized they don't use VAR in the WSL yet. Too bad because I'm 99.9% certain that on video they would've see it was a non-handball. And as a result of that botched call alone, at the end I felt we were gypped out of 2 pts while Chel$ski were wrongly awarded 2 pts, i.e. a potential 4 pt swing that didn't happen. And which we badly needed. p.s. How was your 5K? And you knee
That’s a kind of insensitive term. I’m not trying to give you shit I’m just pointing it out because I know you are actually sensitive to these kinds of things as much as I am.
Not quite as fast as I wanted to be but not horrible for my first competitive 5k in a while. Knee was fine [touches wood].
I'll confess, (and thus, in defense of NB here, even though I know you weren't attacking him) I was today's year old when I realized this upon reading your post. Granted, I don't think I've heard/used/thought about that term since I was really young. But yeah, the not-so-nice etymology makes sense.
Ah, thanks. I think I know which word you're referring to. And I've been hearing and using that term (rarely) for 50+ years, and frankly never gave any thought to its derivation. But now on considering the spelling for the first time(?!) I see what you mean. I'll try to modify my usage going forward, i.e. use a synonym like "robbed"
I'm a bit of an etymology nerd, as you know from our "champ vs chomp" discussions, but I hadn't thought about that particular origin.
Today 12:45pm ET is UWCL MD3 as we go to Bayern who are flying high* (Viewable on P+ or CBSSN) And we’ll have to do it without 19YO Kitty Reid In XI or on bench… She’s the latest in a long steady series of female ACL ruptures. Also Kim Little is still not available. * BM ha been beating up on domestic opposition, but we’re on the end of complete shellacking by Barca just 5 weeks ago so YNN Ps. Slightly interesting coincidence is that the women are in the midst of a 3-game run of: CFC, BM, THFC… Whilst the men are about to play the same trio in the opposite order.