I keep wondering if the mask is upsetting her. Certainly that sensation of it always being on the edge of your field of view most be quite off-putting.
WCL 25/26 | Juventus v United - 20:00 Wed 17 Dec
- Thread starter jojojo
- Start date
Despite being superhumanly always physically fit, Maya has been clearly brain-tired for a few weeks now. She badly needs a rest. She'll be back to her imperious best after Christmas, mark my words.
What a tackle by le tiss
Feel like we are hanging on a bit here
Wow, Hinata actually made a mistake.
That was just a great tackle by Maya. Ridiculous call
Skinner needs to add some fresh lefts now, feels like Juve are getting closer to an equaliser
Yeah, it feels like we need some subs soon.
Zigiotti coming on.
looks like Zigiotti is coming on
Hmm, taking off two of our best players tonight…
VAR??
These refs…
Penalty not given. Yellows being handed out to the United players. Duff ref.
How was MLT’s tackle in the middle of pitch a foul but that wasn’t a penalty?
Might as well not exist. Presumably VAR ref having a snooze.
This better end as a win for Utd because that penalty non-decision was utterly bewildering.
Sandberg has improved so much throughout the season.
A beautiful away win in Europe. Controlled the last 20 minutes really well.
Well done. They are absolutely shattered.
Big result! Well done reds!
FT we win 1-0
A relief in the end, especially following some of the refs work. Means that we go into the playoffs as a seeded team.
A relief in the end, especially following some of the refs work. Means that we go into the playoffs as a seeded team.
A good result despite the referee being a homer. That was a stonewall penalty on Terland and we got nothing. Also the foul against Awujo when Le Tissier was booked. It would have been nice to get a 2nd but I think we would have with the penalty given so I'm happy enough.
George did well at CB and Janssen did well at fullback. I'm glad this wasnt tried the other way around. Vansgard was arguably their best attacker but Janssen won 5 tackles and had the best of it still. The couple of occasions she was successful running with the ball she didnt have quality in her pass or finish. For example the early chance Tullis-Joyce saved from her was too central but still needed saving.
Naalsand was fine in the middle, maybe even slightly better than Hinata with the ball albeit Hinata won the ball a bunch and Naalsand only made 1 tackle
Awujo wasnt on for long but had a positive performance in that time. Her break down the right to relieve pressure on the defence helped the team.
Edit - Just checked the stats again and it must not have been updated for the full match when I posted as Naalsand now has 2 tackles. Hinata still did more defending with 3 tackles and 1 interception
George did well at CB and Janssen did well at fullback. I'm glad this wasnt tried the other way around. Vansgard was arguably their best attacker but Janssen won 5 tackles and had the best of it still. The couple of occasions she was successful running with the ball she didnt have quality in her pass or finish. For example the early chance Tullis-Joyce saved from her was too central but still needed saving.
Naalsand was fine in the middle, maybe even slightly better than Hinata with the ball albeit Hinata won the ball a bunch and Naalsand only made 1 tackle
Awujo wasnt on for long but had a positive performance in that time. Her break down the right to relieve pressure on the defence helped the team.
Edit - Just checked the stats again and it must not have been updated for the full match when I posted as Naalsand now has 2 tackles. Hinata still did more defending with 3 tackles and 1 interception
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So we will get Atleti or Oud Heverlee leven in the next round. We already beat Atleti despite playing with 10 for most of the game so I think we should really be making it to the quarter finals at least.
Bracket system looks like this.
That’s a solid performance and one we needed after a tough spell.
That was a really good win for us tonight, despite being a bit sloppy in possession. I've never seen MLT get caught out as much, but she was much better in the second half.
Malard did so well for Park's goal, and Park herself had an excellent game. Miyazawa did well. Clear penalty not awarded. Such a strange decision.
Sandberg head and shoulders player of the match. Outstanding in every respect. She had to defend an awful lot tonight, but seemed to win every 1v1 against one of Juve's best players.
And ... a clean sheet! Happy with that.
Malard did so well for Park's goal, and Park herself had an excellent game. Miyazawa did well. Clear penalty not awarded. Such a strange decision.
Sandberg head and shoulders player of the match. Outstanding in every respect. She had to defend an awful lot tonight, but seemed to win every 1v1 against one of Juve's best players.
And ... a clean sheet! Happy with that.
We'll be playing Atletico Madrid in our playoff round.
The draw today also setup the brackets that control the rest of the tournament schedule.
The draw today also setup the brackets that control the rest of the tournament schedule.
There's a decent chance that we could actually get to the semis and face Barcelona. What an achievement that would be!
United have picked up about £1m (€1.2m) in prize money for our WCL run so far.
I couldn't agree more, but I think you'll agree with me that it's worth pausing to consider just how remarkable our achievements have been already: We finished third in the WSL last season to give us a chance at the WCL; we qualified for the league phase of the WCL; and we won 4 out of 6 matches in the league phase to earn a seeded position in the playoff. This is already much more than I had (realistically) hoped for and I am thrilled. It would be an even more remarkable achievement to make it to the quarterfinals, which we'll be favored to do, and then who knows -- especially if we can bring in some strong reinforcements during the next transfer window?
I love this team!
All absolutely true the womens team have done great so far, even if we had a few tough nights as well.
But its all also required for the womens team to push on due to making up for lost time. The better players will be looking for a team who got to the quarter finals and without strong recruitment its unrealistic to see us ever challenging Chelsea in the WSL longterm - granted City are doing their best to show it can be done but they also have 2 special players they had from their previous team in Shaw and Hemp returning and even then, they might eventually stumble in the title race towards the end when Chelsea's huge squad of options is going to pay off. We might say its no rush to establish our history as one of the better teams in europe but then our better players might leave for clubs that can challenge for the WSL or champions league. For example Malard will be getting plenty of interest I'm sure and she'll have 1 more year on her deal this summer. I'm sure we'd all agree that we want to avoid more situations like with Russo
After what we've accomplished over the last year or so I think that this United would now be a very attractive option for a top-flight player -- i.e., a team that is on the ascent and maybe just a couple of good players away from seriously competing for the WSL and/or WCL titles. Any top recruit might well think that she could be the one to carry us over the threshold. And I think that's the kind of player we want, rather than someone who selfishly just wants to be on a team that wins hardware.
By the same reasoning I think it is unlikely that we'll repeat the Russo fiasco. To be fair to her, at that time it seemed by all accounts like the club had no interest in investing any more into the women's team, and that we would likely be resigned to competing for 4th place in the WSL and missing out on Europe for the foreseeable future. I feel sure that if Russo were still at United now, she wouldn't be tempted to leave for greener pastures. I think our pasture is as green as any of them right now.
In short, a player of Fridolina Rolfo's calibre and experience doesn't join a nowhere team. She will have had a wealth of options last summer, and chose United because we were the most exciting project. If Frido's here, watch the world's stars follow!!
Her agent absolutely will have talked to a bunch of clubs and worked out where shes going to get on the pitch and get good playtime. Most likely serial Champions league semi finalists like Wolfsburg and Lyon and clubs like Chelsea would have been felt out so see if theres any interest assuming shes fine with playing in France or Germany. Then down that line we are obviously a good option if its not going to happen at those clubs or if she had a preference for the WSL. Rolfo is also a good example because we can get a player like her at 31-32 when she exits Barcelona, but to compete with the top teams you need to also be getting top players in their prime and thats what will require raising the profile of the club with accomplishments.
Obviously Park on a 3 year deal has worked out great, its just that normally top clubs wouldnt have needed to give another potential top player away to get one. It also helps when they're English because they might want to stay in the UK their whole careers although its no guarantee with plenty of the lionesses playing in Foreign leagues at some points. Its just more likely.
Also just to be clear, if we dont make the quarter finals it doesnt mean United are a "nowhere" team. But being a team that comes 4th in the league and gets to the knockout stages of the champions league each time is probably not going to get the next bunch of players like Olivia Smith, Jule Brand, Alyssa Thompson, etc some of which moved for a million $, £ and some who moved on lucrative free transfers.
It's important to note that we didn't need to "give another potential top player away" to get Park. The player swap came about as two separate transfers that just happened to involve the same two teams. My understanding (but someone correct me if I'm wrong) is that Clinton wanted to leave United, for the kinds of reasons you are concerned about: I think she wanted to join a squad that was more likely to win more hardware, sooner rather than later. Park was unhappy with her playing time and her role at City, but became expendable to City after they sealed a deal to get Clinton, and she came here to become an instrumental part of an exciting team on the rise. (Park definitely got her wish, and Clinton might too.) Going forward, I'm suspect you're right that some top players will be looking to move to teams that are "already there," but I also suspect there are plenty of players who would jump at the opportunity to go where they could be instrumental in helping push a team like ours over the threshold.
I also agree that we should be looking not only at veterans who can contribute immediately in the short term, but also younger long-term prospects. We did that in the last transfer window, with Rolfo at one end of the age/experience continuum, Park at the other, and Zigiotti in-between; the two most likely prospects for the next transfer window, according to the rumor mill, also include a veteran and a youngster. I think we're doing this right.
Just looked up the rumours you mentioned as I wasnt aware. Hmm.. not the Swedish fullback I was hoping for. Gaupset and Holmberg were the 2 young european players I was hoping for after the euros, but I guess Lundkvist is proven in a stronger league. Schuller has a good record but the only matches I saw her in earlier in the champions league she wasnt looking that effective against Lyon.
If true I would be satisfied that we are spending money and signing more than 1 player even if they wouldnt be my picks, they are in the ballpark of the markets we should be looking at. Holmberg and Cerci would be nice, similar alternatives.