WSL 22/23 | Leicester v United - 3pm on Sun 23 Oct

jojojo

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Leicester City's record so far this season is P4 L4 - and yes, they're bottom of the league. Fair to say that they need points and we need to show no mercy.

Match is live and (in most countries) free to view on FA player.

Alessia Russo is still out injured, and won't be back in full training for a couple of weeks.

Grace Clinton has started training again, but not yet back to full training.

Blundell may be ready for the weekend (she went off at HT against Reading, which Marc Skinner says was precautionary) but they won't rush her back.

Ona Batlle went off late in the Reading match. She's being monitored under concussion protocols so she may be out as well.

A possibility then that we'll have both fullbacks missing. We've responded to this in the past with Leah Galton dropping into the left-back role and using Thorisdottir as a fullback. But we do have Tounkara as another option and Maya Le Tissier has played at fullback as well. It'll be interesting to see how Skinner handles any reshuffle needed.
 

Grande

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Leicester City's record so far this season is P4 L4 - and yes, they're bottom of the league. Fair to say that they need points and we need to show no mercy.

Match is live and (in most countries) free to view on FA player.

Alessia Russo is still out injured, and won't be back in full training for a couple of weeks.

Grace Clinton has started training again, but not yet back to full training.

Blundell may be ready for the weekend (she went off at HT against Reading, which Marc Skinner says was precautionary) but they won't rush her back.

Ona Batlle went off late in the Reading match. She's being monitored under concussion protocols so she may be out as well.

A possibility then that we'll have both fullbacks missing. We've responded to this in the past with Leah Galton dropping into the left-back role and using Thorisdottir as a fullback. But we do have Tounkara as another option and Maya Le Tissier has played at fullback as well. It'll be interesting to see how Skinner handles any reshuffle needed.
It may be a good game to get Tounkara blended in and Bø Risa back on track. Still, I’m expecting a strong side, there is no slacking off if we’re going to challenge the top teams.
 

jojojo

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Arsenal have just beat Liverpool 2-0. So we need to win by at least two goals to go back to top place.

Meanwhile Thorisdottir comes in for Batlle (injured) - otherwise it's the same starting lineup as last week.
 

RORY65

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Do you think Battle being out is making a big difference. She has been sensational so far.
It's a big factor, Batlle is arguably our best player and so dynamic while Thorisdottir is pretty slow for a centre back and so definitely stodgy for a full back. In fairness we are missing a few key players but this game has been more consistent with a lot of our away games last year, get ahead early on and then not do much afterwards. Multiple times last year we got punished for that but if we can hold on today that would be some sign of progress even if it's not been a great performance.
 

DomesticTadpole

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It's a big issue, Batlle is arguably our best player and so dynamic while Thorisdottir is pretty slow for a centre back and so definitely stodgy for a full back. This game has been more consistent with a lot of our away games last year, get ahead early on and then not do much afterwards. Multiple times last year we got punished for that but if we can hold on today that would be some sign of progress even if it's not been a great performance.
Think Lucia Garcia will suffer for Ona being out, they have a great understanding. You'd have thought they would want that second goal to go back top.
 

RORY65

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Think Lucia Garcia will suffer for Ona being out, they have a great understanding. You'd have thought they would want that second goal to go back top.
Absolutely, they've built a really good partnership for Spain and now for United.
 

RORY65

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1-0. Good to hold on to the 3 points relatively comfortably but we will need to play better in the coming weeks.
 

jojojo

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We've certainly missed Ona, but I don't think our subs have helped much either. When Blundell went off Galton dropped back.

It looks like Skinner doesn't trust Tounkara yet and that's a shame, because if he can't play her against Leicester I'm not sure what happens if we find ourselves needing her later in the season. Not sure why it was Rachel Williams who came on rather than Leon etc etc. It just feels like we're too content with "being Ok" so unless Toone is on fire not much happens from us.

Obviously though we never know the backstory, particularly behind subs. It just felt too much like those games last season that turned into draws.

At least we held on this time. Maybe that should be enough :D
 

Van Piorsing

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Another clean sheet. Switch on for Arsenal & Chelsea in november and this could be very interesting season. There's definitely some squad depth to sustain a lot.
 

Van Piorsing

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We got a chance of winning the thing?
Stoney almost pushed for title race, but injuries to Heath & Russo was a setback.

Skinner this year has some firepower to damage opponents and defense looking promising to say the least.
 

Lightbringer

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This win was a grind out win that Sir Alex used to pull out all the time :-)

Lets get Ona, Lessi and Grace back in contention and it will look better.

SInce we have 2 more games shortly this was a huge win for the squad.
 

croadyman

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Another clean sheet. Switch on for Arsenal & Chelsea in november and this could be very interesting season. There's definitely some squad depth to sustain a lot.
We need Russo & Ona sharp for those games,like someone above said don't know what Skinner's issue is with Tounkara
 

Van Piorsing

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We need Russo & Ona sharp for those games,like someone above said don't know what Skinner's issue is with Tounkara
There's absolutely no articles on her in the late news. She had a torsion of the wrist in July and that's it. Nothing major. Not speaking fluently English shouldn't be a problem as Ona also isn't fully fluent.

Depth of the squad looking good this season, but she should definitely play in November fixtures for better sake of the team.