WSL 20/21 | United v Birmingham - 12:00 Sun 24 Jan

jojojo

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Pre-match press conference with Casey Stoney:

Unfortunately it looks like it may be a while before we see Tobin Heath again.
 

Sean_RedDevil

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I will go sleep in the next few minutes (I'm currently in Los Angeles) therefore i will not watch this match but i hope that i wake up with a positive result for us......a win is so important regardless of the performance (I just hope we don't struggle too much without Heath).
 

Maestro14

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Real shame for Harris as she has to go off with injury in her first start of the season. Replaced by Smith.
 

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Oooh Jackie, that has to be in.
 

jojojo

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Birmingham defending solidly and looking dangerous at setpieces. We need to start turning nice forward play into real chances. And as I type that a real chance comes up for Groenen and the ball flies away.
 

Maestro14

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Nice start to the 2nd half! Great play by James on the right, giving Galton a tap in. 1-0
 

Ubik

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Zelem's been great today.
 

Maestro14

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Chances for Toone and Fuso in quick succession. We should be finishing this game off now.
 

Ubik

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Toooone! Great finish.
 

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I think we look so much better with Zelem in the middle, she just seems to calm us down and play the right pass.
 

Ubik

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Good performance, pretty much had total control, just wish we could put more chances away for the goal difference.
 

kundalini

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Some lovely moments, Katie Zelem's delightful through-ball for Leah Galton's big chance in the first half, Jackie Groenen's skill in midfield over the head of her marker, Lauren James' cross for Galton's goal and Ella Toone's finish for our 2nd, but not sure it was that good a performance overall.

Birmingham seemed quite happy to park the bus even when losing. We didn't have enough players who wanted to get themselves into the area, centrally, near the goal.

A few decent through-balls that almost reached their intended target. Ivana Fuso got 30 mins but apart from one run and shot over, looked raw. Kirsty Smith much better than usual after coming on for Martha Harris.

After the match, Casey said that Tobin Heath will be out for a while. She was spotted in a walking boot. Martha Harris' injury - “It’s a rib injury. Probably have to X-ray it. Could be a broken rib but we don’t know yet.”
 
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RORY65

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I didn't really get the game plan against a team who were obviously going to sit deep, we picked James up front who likes to drop deep and Toone (a midfielder) on one wing and Galton (a proper winger) on the other while none of the 3 midfielders naturally get in to the box that much so we were playing against a team with not much attacking intent, who were basically parking the bus and we had very few players ever in the area. I'm not sure if that was an indication of Casey's view of some of the attacking players currently.

A decent 3 points in the end though which were much needed after last week and a chance to put points on the board with some of the teams around us not playing this weekend, 3 of our next 5 games are tough away fixtures so it was important to get a win today.
 

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To win the match was so important after the defeat against Chelsea and the performance against Birmingham was fine therefore everyone should be happy.

But if we want to reach the next level then we must get a really good striker next season.
 

Ubik

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To win the match was so important after the defeat against Chelsea and the performance against Birmingham was fine therefore everyone should be happy.

But if we want to reach the next level then we must get a really good striker next season.
We have one, Russo was looking fantastic before her injury.
 

Sean_RedDevil

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We have one, Russo was looking fantastic before her injury.
If we can replace Sigsworth, Hanson & Ross with a "At least 10 goals player" and we can keep Heath & Press for another season then we would enough attacking quality (New striker, Heath, Press, Galton, Toone, James, Russo and Fuso) for a season with Champions League football.