WSL 20/21 | United v Aston Villa | 12 noon on Sun 7 March

jojojo

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Welcome to Manchester reception committee

Villa were our first league opponents (back in the Championship) and we beat them 12-0. They've got better since then but so have we. Depleted as they are, they ought to be a team that we can regain our form against. We need to, as our next match up is against Arsenal.

United v Villa - currently scheduled to be shown live on MUTV and FAPlayer.
 

Maestro14

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No worries
We can't catch a break with injuries this season. We should have enough to win though.
 

Ubik

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Hanson woop! Bit of luck at last.
 

Maestro14

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No worries
Good first half, and we've made the most of it with a couple of goals. We haven't always been able to take our advantages in previous games so great to have that lead at half time. Staniforth looking good in her first league start.
 

Ubik

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A lot more space in the final third now, just messing up the final ball.
 

Ubik

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Solid win in the circumstances, though Villa rarely had the intention to get out of their half.
 

Maestro14

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No worries
Easy stuff in the end. Villa couldn't string together more than 3 passes all game. Great to see Jones make her senior debut.
 

kundalini

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I wish our first instinct was to play forwards rather than backwards. We waste so many opportunities to progress the play, simply because the player receiving the ball has already decided to turn back by the time the ball arrives.

Villa were rubbish. They looked like a team that had lost 0-7 to Man City and 0-4 to both Arsenal and Chelsea in 2021. I don't think they had any shots in the whole match.

We had a few moments of quality. Lucy Staniforth's free-kick for Jess Sigsworth's super header. Hayley Ladd's cross for an easier header for Katie Zelem. Kirsty Hanson scored with a deflected shot but otherwise was awful, wasting three openings in the first few mins of the 2nd half with poor crosses and through-balls. Martha Harris was poor in the first half but better in the 2nd. Ona Batlle had one of her less impressive matches as did Jackie Groenen.

Lucy Staniforth had several good moments as well as a few errors; hers was perhaps the most encouraging performance. Jess Sigsworth started slowly but scored a super header and performed much better from then on. Ella Toone created a good chance that Sigsworth fired straight at the keeper in the first half, while Sigsworth presented Toone with a chance in the 2nd that she guided wide.

The most impressive aspect of our play was winning the ball back, either through interceptions or tackles, soon after we'd lost it. We pressed well in the first half, resulting in the poor Villa pass that Kirsty Hanson intercepted before scoring.

We need to do a huge amount of work on the weight of our through-balls and passes in the final third.
 
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Ayush_reddevil

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Next game is huge really , a draw puts us in a good position for 3rd and a win pretty much seals it . A loss means squeaky bum time
 

jojojo

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Welcome to Manchester reception committee
Important win for us today. Every League point dropped now is potentially deadly for us in terms of qualifying for Europe.

With the injuries we've got it was nice to see three different names on the scoresheet. Whether we'll get anyone back in time to play Arsenal I don't know, so it was important for everyone's confidence I think.