WSL 19/20 | United women v Arsenal | Monday 16th Sept

jojojo

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Back to the Leigh Stadium for the first time since we celebrated with our Championship trophy back in May.

However while we were celebrating that, Arsenal were celebrating the WSL title and a league record of W18 D0 L2 - goals for 70 and against 13. Last season the only teams to beat them (in the League and the Cups) were City and Chelsea - no one else even got a draw. Tough game so early, but we showed last season in the LC that we can challenge then - though hopefully we'll take our chances and stop theirs this time :D

 

jojojo

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So last week, while our women were training together - for the first time in some cases - the Arsenal women were playing away in the CL. Unfortunately that match wasn't nearly arduous enough for my taste: they beat Fiorentina 0-4, and Miedema scored twice.

Fair to say that they'll be arriving at Leigh as favourites, also fair to say that I'm expecting us to put up more of a fight than Fiorentina did. :smirk:
 

Danninixon

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Match is being shown on bt sports 1 tonight if anyone can’t make it
 

Andersons Dietician

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Just went and signed up for the WSL player and was looking for the game then realised it was on BT tonight...
Looks like we are going 3 at the back with 2 up top. Galton as a wingback.
 

jojojo

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Bit disappointed that Jackie is out, it's the kind of night where we'd really benefit from having her. I'd have been tempted to give Lauren a start as well, I guess we'll see her at some point.

Nice evening for it. United.
 

Andersons Dietician

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Anyone else feeling that shade what’s her face is throwing Siobhan’s way. The way she said,”She’s a World Cup finalist, you’re going to miss her” Roy Keane would have cringed there was so much snide put on it.
 

Andersons Dietician

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This performance echoing a bit of the men’s team in that we seem to be lacking someone between midfield and attack to make something happen. Looked pretty good defensively though even if there were a few moments where Arsenal turned it on.
 

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I was impressed by Earps double save in the 1st half, she handled the rebound attempt like a goat and it would be huge if she could answer the bell as a clear cut number 1. A shame one Arsenal player against 5 could have double attempts though!
 

nikineil

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To be fair, that was coming. Too much quality in this Arsenal team seemingly for our defense to hold off. Very happy with the performances so far though. Definitely matter of fine margins, both against City and now Arsenal. If Toone had that chance go in, this might have been a different game. Kudos to Arsenal though.
 

ariel

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Managed to see the last 20 min or so (and first time ever to watch the women).

Good defending but it was coming. The last few minutes they didn't even manage to clear the ball. Still, it was a shame.

But the free kicks were a disappointment, really poor quality.
 

Heardy

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Are the ladies really going to suffer this year? I don’t follow the women’s as closely, but it seems there’s a massive jump in quality compared to the opposition last year!
 

Damien

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Are the ladies really going to suffer this year? I don’t follow the women’s as closely, but it seems there’s a massive jump in quality compared to the opposition last year!
Probably still a bit early to say. I thought we did well against City. Horrendous start to the season in terms of fixtures and today we didn't have Lotta or Jackie. Hopefully things'll look brighter once we've settled in and got used to the change from being the big fish in a small pond last season to a smaller fish in a bigger pond this time around.

Next league game is against Liverpool. They're also yet to pick up any points and fellow promoted side Spurs beat them this weekend. I'd say that is a huge game for us.
 

Gordon S

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Are the ladies really going to suffer this year? I don’t follow the women’s as closely, but it seems there’s a massive jump in quality compared to the opposition last year!
Arsenal have been a top team for ages and were a class above the rest last year. Thankfully most coming games will be easier than these first two.
 

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Be interesting to see how United get on their next couple games. Quality was the difference in the first couple of games. United are really well organised, which goes a very long way in women’s football as tactically it’s pretty poor at the top level, especially in comparison to men’s. Arsenal could have scored a lot more tonight if they were clinical.

Reading is probably the most interesting game in terms of working out the level. They’re a strong side and arguably the best outside the big 3. United should beat Liverpool next game, they’re a poor side now.
 

Andersons Dietician

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Given the two games we’ve played and against that opposition think we’ll be alright in this league. We might not be top 3 quality just yet but I think we’ll give them a few scares this season.

Got to love watching the woman’s team as the effort they put in is undeniable. Pretty much every last one of them puts it all on the line and gives it everything. It’s awesome to watch.
 

buchansleftleg

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Well for me the worst performance came from the referee, everyone in defence was excellent.

Ladd and zelim need to develop an understanding as they occcupied the same spaces at times. Jess siggsworth worked her socks off playing wide, but Galton seemed a bit peripheral tonight.

We wilted in both halves towards the end but the referee gave us no protection and gave almost all 50/50 challenges as free kicks to Arsenal.
 

Heardy

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Thanks @Gordon S and @Damien

Hopefully as the fixtures balance out the results will pick up. It’s great to see a United women’s team and they seemed to cruise much of last year. Hope they give a good account of themselves on the WSL.
 

Lightbringer

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Are the ladies really going to suffer this year? I don’t follow the women’s as closely, but it seems there’s a massive jump in quality compared to the opposition last year!
Well, you got some very good responses to this question already, but honestly I thought they were not clear enough about the absolute top quality of City and Arsenal. Arsenal won the league least year with 18 wins and 2 losses. City won both domestic cups last year and finished 2nd in the league and only lost one league game all season long. The FA WSL Cup have only been won by Arsenal and City ever. So these are incredible sides, and United should have gotten something out of the two games, so although it feels tough on us, I think the players have performed great.
 

jojojo

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It was a hard fought match, and the ref assuming that every 50:50 clash was a foul by us didn't help. Still, we looked decent in the first half, and kept pushing forward - but even so we failed to use our strengths, missing chances to give Galton the ball when she had space to run with it. I'm hopeful that with the Oqvist/Galton partnership we'll do better there and with Groenen back we'll see more in midfield.

In the secondhalf there was a lot of one way traffic, and by the time they scored it was just a surprise we'd kept them out for so long. Groenen would have helped. The isolation of our lone forward (Ross then James) meant that most of our clearances were picked up by Arsenal as first or second ball.

Still, no one should have expected us to get much out of City or Arsenal and we've made them work for their points. Tough start and now we've got another weekend off before we play Liverpool on the 28th. That match is followed immediately by an international break - it's a frustrating schedule.

Hopefully the delay will mean that Jackie Groenen (injured against City) and Lotta Oqvist (concussed in training) are fit again.