They really fetched a referee team from there? That's really insulting for the kind of media attention this fixture gets.
WCL 23/24 qual | PSG v United - 7:00pm - Wed 18 Oct
- Thread starter jojojo
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To be honest, we did well over the 2 legs against one of the top European team.
Had our flaws but proud of the girls.
Had our flaws but proud of the girls.
Mearps had a mediocre game when it mattered the most, hope she was not thinking of the Emirates tonight :-(
Agree - we were always the underdogs here but there wasn't a big gap between the teams, we had our chances
Slightly lacking on the defensive side against top talents is the main difference
Meanwhile Rosengård beat Spartak Subotica with 5-1, meaning the current swedish 6th place team will play the UCL group stage 
I’m mad, really mad. We weren’t at our best but the referees were shocking.
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How did both the assistant ref and main ref disallow Galtons goal?
Meanwhile Wolfsburg (last year's WCL and Bundesliga runners up) go out to Paris FC.
Meanwhile Rosengård beat Spartak Subotica with 5-1, meaning the current swedish 6th place team will play the UCL group stage
That sucks in general, not for Paris FC who deserved it. But there is too many absolute shit teams that nobody wants to see making it. And that would be fine it Pölten hade beat United. Rosengård beat PSG, but to have these shitters play each other is wrong.
We have to DIG IN DEEP now and make the top 3 again which is looking like massive mountain to climb atm even that alone. Dont even think about winning any Q rounds after that.
I am glad the lasses bounce back better than me, because I am broken right now. Will need to take a break from womens football for a while.
Even the women can't win in the CL 
Against City, Everton, Leicester and Birmingham.We´ll get to play in the english conti cup group stage instead
Is there a law that we have to be in the same group as City? Every year.
I'm obviously disappointed and frustrated by the result, the soft goals we conceded, and the appalling refereeing, but also proud of the team. They put up a decent fight against strong, experienced opposition.
How is that fair? Why no chance to have a revenge game against Durham away?
All groups looks similar in terms of quality teams right with United in group B?
It will be hard to quality from group B even as an extra team since its hard to get enough points or goal differential even if you finish 2nd in the group.
Crooked refs.
so arsenal, man utd and wolfsburg all out in the playoffs, i think we can expect to see some changes in how seeding works for next year.
right or wrong is another debate, but i definitely think the champions league organizers will feel they shot themselves in the foot
right or wrong is another debate, but i definitely think the champions league organizers will feel they shot themselves in the foot
Yes in terms of viewers and reach the competition will lose out
But Is the system that different to the Men's CL?
I do not have an issue with guaranteeing a certain amount of spots for Champions of small countries Vs runner up teams of the big ones - it is the Champions League after all
So why does the current 7th place team in damallsvenskan in sweden Rosengård get to play Spartak Subotica and make the UCL easily?
Currently Rosengård is in the 2nd seeding group even with Barcelona and all the big guns. There is too much focus on historical achievements in the UCL, making it difficult for new teams to qualy and hampering the growth of womens football.
So Rosengård finish 2nd in swedish league in 2022 and is now 7th in 2023, and they had an easy qualiy game while United finished 2nd in WSL 2022 and faced PSG (not to mention City always drawing the big teams 2-3 years in a row)
Rosengård did not only get a free pass into the UCL, they can also get easy opponents in the group stage, because of other similar teams being gifted a free place! Rosengård, Valur, St.Pölten should have faced PSG, United, Wolfsburg.
Not even getting into the Valur Vs St.Pölten I honestly thought some of these ties were to a different tournament.
Its almost impossible for United to get the seeding ranking points to get in the tournament, City and United could play 10 more years without UCL while small clubs with much on field qualities could make the groups stage during the entire time.
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BK Häcken who also are in the UCL took over another team in 2021 and got gifted their seeding points, so team that was created in 2021 could have the upper hand on United for another 10 years getting easy draws while United keep facing the big gunners every season they quali.
@Lightbringer honestly I don't even know who half those teams are or much of the history of how they got there
I was just interested if the Women's CL system is same or different to the Men's
I guess one major difference is that the WSL is not a top league whereas the EPL is the strongest of the lot based on historic coefficients
It is a cup competition so luck of the draw is always a factor. I remember we were very unlucky to get PSG as there were much easier options on paper.
I was just interested if the Women's CL system is same or different to the Men's
I guess one major difference is that the WSL is not a top league whereas the EPL is the strongest of the lot based on historic coefficients
It is a cup competition so luck of the draw is always a factor. I remember we were very unlucky to get PSG as there were much easier options on paper.
Even Hanna Marklund who is an ex-swedish national team player and now TV-expert agrees the seeding need to change even though swedish clubs are benefiting massively right now (Rosengård& BK Häcken)
We could face Real Madrid, Wolfsburg, PSG, Slavia Prague or Häcken. So 60% were incredible tough opponents. But anyway even if United had went through Vs Häcken we would still have Subotica Vs Rosengård and Pölten Vs Valur in final Q for group stages with millions on the table. That can never be right.
How does United and City ever get out of this loop btw? If United they get in one year then PSG, Wolfsburg or Real Madrid will be out. I dont see how all the teams with high seeding points will ever go away - if they do not COLLAPSE in their domestic competition which Rosengård has done this season (currently 7th).
But they are in the UCL now and will get millions to bounce back and since the seeding points are 5 years old they will probably just keep on trucking
What good does it do for the growth of womens football if teams that City, United and Arsenal would beat 5-0 is playing in the UCL for the next 10 years instead of City, Wolfsburg and United? If United, City and Arsenal keep alternating on 3rd and 4th place I am not sure how UTD and City will ever get in the UCL on a regular basisl.
What inspires most young girls to want to play football, watching Manchester United-Barcelona at Old Trafford in front of 60 000? Or watch Valur Vs Barcelona for 1/20 of the attendance!
Just make sure Island, Swedish, Swiss, Austrian and all sort of minor leagues teams face off in the qualifying rounds with United, City, Real Madrid and Wolfsburg who are bigger leauges.
If they beat the big teams then they are in both sporting merit and Skinner have only himself to blame!
I'm still sulking about the result - about the draw, about the referee, about our luck, but also about Marc Skinner. I get that he was also sulking after the match but his post-match press conference reminded me why I'm not convinced by him - despite that second place finish last season.
It was hard to hear him talk about some of the qualifiers as "average" teams who "aren't good enough" and not hear it as disrespectful towards teams like BK Hacken and especially towards Martin Ho who left our coaching staff to manage Brann* (who also qualified). Has he got a point in terms of the qualification structure - of course, but sounding like sore losers doesn't help make it.
Congratulate the teams who made it first - Paris FC (third team in France last year) beat Arsenal and Wolfsburg to go through. Some teams are there because of a happy mix of geography and history as well as playing well in their qualifiers - but that's not fundamentally different to the World Cup for example.
Not every tournament is based on what a team is worth to next season's TV rights negotiation, though it's a safe bet that the WCL will be heading that way soon.
* Edited to fix messed up sentence.
It was hard to hear him talk about some of the qualifiers as "average" teams who "aren't good enough" and not hear it as disrespectful towards teams like BK Hacken and especially towards Martin Ho who left our coaching staff to manage Brann* (who also qualified). Has he got a point in terms of the qualification structure - of course, but sounding like sore losers doesn't help make it.
Congratulate the teams who made it first - Paris FC (third team in France last year) beat Arsenal and Wolfsburg to go through. Some teams are there because of a happy mix of geography and history as well as playing well in their qualifiers - but that's not fundamentally different to the World Cup for example.
Not every tournament is based on what a team is worth to next season's TV rights negotiation, though it's a safe bet that the WCL will be heading that way soon.
* Edited to fix messed up sentence.
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Martin Ho is manager for Sportsklubb Brann, which is a club with rich history from Denmark, not BK Häcken (sweden)
BK Häcken is a swedish team that was founded in 2021 when Kopparberg Göteborgs owner threatened to put down the Kopparbergs Göteborg cause he could not compete in the champions league. He forced BK Häcken to take over the club as they have mens team backing. Then it was revealed that it was all a fraud to get more money from a mens team backing the club who is now called BK Häcken. The sponsor Kopparberg Göteborg never intended to put the team down, it was all a fraud.
They were allowed to keep all their UCL seeding points from the Kopparberg Göteborg years.
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That said, I agree that Marc Skinner could have phrased himself in much better terms, he did rub alot of other team fans the wrong way - I am sure they already were hating United but this gave them ammunition! Lets hope Skinner was trying to send a message to the powers and not just lost his cool completely.
But how does City and United ever get in the UCL on a regular basis? As long we have 2 or 3 last round Q matchups between teams nobody heard of Real Madrid, United, PSG, City or Arsenal will always face each other. The top clubs in those smaller leagues will just use the UCL money to dominate their leagues even more while United and City alternate between finishing 3 and 4th along with Arsenal perhaps, but they will probably get ahead with all the attendance they get right now.
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I think if it was a proper Cup competition to get to the group stage people would be less bothered. The seeding structure for qualifying favours teams (not Leagues) who have been European regulars.
Throw the qualifiers in a knockout draw (no seeding) or with a FA Cup type knockout draw (with some teams skipping the openings rounds) and you still give chances to everyone. Some big teams will go out, some minnows will get through but you don't build in too much history when the game is changing so fast.
Yes, I've just reread that sentence and I missed some words and punctuation out of it! I think he came across as disrespectful to clubs like Hacken AND to Brann/Ho.
Dont forget Valdur and St.Pölten, I love those team names
Skinner can be a weird one and comes out with a fair few Brent-isms, and I agree his comments on lower teams were petty (and not just heat of the moment, either, as he said similar before the tie). The seeding system probably does need amending, but fundamentally we weren't good enough across the two games to progress, which is irritating because beyond a few players with outstanding attributes I don't think PSG were particularly good either.
That said, I think overall Skinner has made the team better from when he arrived (judging by last season anyway, not yet this season on the evidence so far). The players always have good spirit, play good stuff and he got closer to a league title than the men have in ten years, from a club that started existing five years ago. This was largely with the same group that Stoney left, so he now has to show he can properly integrate the likes of Geyse into a well-functioning side, which hasn't been on show so far. He needs to start using a squad, rather than a first 11 and a few subs. He's got credit in the bank but needs to show he's not going to keep making the same mistakes or it'll get used up pretty rapidly.
That said, I think overall Skinner has made the team better from when he arrived (judging by last season anyway, not yet this season on the evidence so far). The players always have good spirit, play good stuff and he got closer to a league title than the men have in ten years, from a club that started existing five years ago. This was largely with the same group that Stoney left, so he now has to show he can properly integrate the likes of Geyse into a well-functioning side, which hasn't been on show so far. He needs to start using a squad, rather than a first 11 and a few subs. He's got credit in the bank but needs to show he's not going to keep making the same mistakes or it'll get used up pretty rapidly.
Will be interesting to see if anything changes - as far as I can tell the Women's system just mirrors the Men's, as you say the game is changing fast so maybe needs a different system which takes that into account
Still English clubs' poor performances will count against us either way - last year the WSL fell from 3rd to 4th best league and Chelsea are only going straight to the group stage because Barca won it, otherwise they should have played a qualifier too.
I think it’s a good thing that you correct wrongs in other posts, because then we all learn new things! Today’s lesson: Brann is in fact not Danish, but rather Norwegian, and did, funnily enough, enter the Noggie league and Euro’s by taking over Sandviken’s team in, yes, 2021. Even more funny: They went past the first qualifying round in last years WCL by beating Sparta Subotica, and went out there by the hands of - you’ve probably guessed it by now - Rosengård!
Back to business: I do in fact like both a) that league winners all over Europe have an advantage rather than the top five European countries have an advantage, and b) teams and countries who have held the flag for women’s football for a long time based on hard work and passion are compensated for that now when suddenly money pour (relatively speaking) into big clubs joining the circus overnight. These histories deserve something IMO, even if Man Utd will suffer for it. Of course it will be weird consequences like Häcken and Brann coming out of nowhere benefitting from the pioneering work of Kopparbergs and Sandviken, but the world ain’t perfect, and many of the people involved are actually the same over time.