WSL 21/22 | Aston Villa v United - 6pm on Sun 24 April

[jojojo]

We're back in action this Sunday and we're heading into the final stretch of the season:
Villa v United - Sun 24 April
United v West Ham - Sun 1 May
Chelsea v United - Sun 8 May

Not a nice run-in. Chelsea will probably need to beat us to win the League and City could overtake us on GD even if we do pull off a run of three wins. Dropping points to goals scored late in games will probably cost us our chance of a CL place, but still, we've got to beat Villa for us to even have that debate about what might have been.

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[Grande]

We're back in action this Sunday and we're heading into the final stretch of the season:
Villa v United - Sun 24 April
United v West Ham - Sun 1 May
Chelsea v United - Sun 8 May

Not a nice run-in. Chelsea will probably need to beat us to win the League and City could overtake us on GD even if we do pull off a run of three wins. Dropping points to goals scored late in games will probably cost us our chance of a CL place, but still, we've got to beat Villa for us to even have that debate about what might have been.

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Will never forget that 12-0 win!

 

[MUW4Eva]

Will never forget that 12-0 win!

Yup, I was there, sat next to Katie Zelem's mum, and the MUTV cameraman!

What a day that was, I forgot my camera charger, and my phone died on me, so I didn't alas get to take any pictures to remember it by, but still it was ace to be there!


As for this game, this with full respect to Villa, is a game we need to be using to up our GD, (same for the West Ham one) as by the time we play Chelsea, we could be fourth on GD otherwise, as I think/know/expect City to run up cricket scores past the bottom two sides at home (say +10, or even +20 from those two games alone).

We need to be what we haven't been, ruthless in front of goal.
We are almost apologetic towards our opponents at times, when we need to score as often as possible.

This game would be a great one for Bruun to actually show just why we brought her in, as so far she has been an utter flop.
We need to win by at least 6 goals, and the same amount against West Ham, if we are to stand any chance going into the Chelsea game of finishing in third place.

A win like we had against Brighton would simply be a waste, and not good enough at all in any way whatsoever.
Unless we score heavily, we can all but say goodbye to 3rd after this game, even with a win.
That is how important a big win is.

 

[Grande]

Yup, I was there, sat next to Katie Zelem's mum, and the MUTV cameraman!

What a day that was, I forgot my camera charger, and my phone died on me, so I didn't alas get to take any pictures to remember it by, but still it was ace to be there!


As for this game, this with full respect to Villa, is a game we need to be using to up our GD, (same for the West Ham one) as by the time we play Chelsea, we could be fourth on GD otherwise, as I think/know/expect City to run up cricket scores past the bottom two sides at home (say +10, or even +20 from those two games alone).

We need to be what we haven't been, ruthless in front of goal.
We are almost apologetic towards our opponents at times, when we need to score as often as possible.

This game would be a great one for Bruun to actually show just why we brought her in, as so far she has been an utter flop.
We need to win by at least 6 goals, and the same amount against West Ham, if we are to stand any chance going into the Chelsea game of finishing in third place.

A win like we had against Brighton would simply be a waste, and not good enough at all in any way whatsoever.
Unless we score heavily, we can all but say goodbye to 3rd after this game, even with a win.
That is how important a big win is.

Fantastic experience, no doubt, of a historic moment!

If we beat City to third, I’ll be very pleasantly surprised, almost shocked. Losing Casey set us back a year, hopefully we are on the right track now with Mark Skinner and getting the right players in in the summer, maybe we can turn a good number of those draws into wins - that will stand us in good sted to catch further yards on the giants.

 

[MUW4Eva]

Fantastic experience, no doubt, of a historic moment!

If we beat City to third, I’ll be very pleasantly surprised, almost shocked. Losing Casey set us back a year, hopefully we are on the right track now with Mark Skinner and getting the right players in in the summer, maybe we can turn a good number of those draws into wins - that will stand us in good sted to catch further yards on the giants.

It was most certainly one of those games that you never forget, although, I will admit, I did kind of forget the scoreline in the second half!

As for getting third, it is very highly unlikely now, I would say, there is about a 1% chance of it, especially going into the Chelsea game without our first choice CB pairing (Millie and Mannion), and going up against their very potent strikeforce (even without Fran), and witht he added motivation of beating us gives them the league title.

Getting beat by by Chelsea will not be why we don't end up in third place, it will be the late goals conceded away to Spurs, West Ham, Everton and City, we hold on and that is 7 extra points there, not to mention, the City home game, so possibly 9 extra points there, those are the games that have cost us third place.

We need to find a way to stop conceding soooooo many late goals, so we need more top level experienced players, especially at the back, we need to replace Mannion, as we just don't know when she will be back, we can't just be waiting, and waiting, and waiting for her to come back.

That is for the summer, for now, we have to use what is available to us, and personally, I would drop Thor, and play Ladd next to Caldwell at CB for this game, with Katie continuing in midfield.

So I would go for something like this:

Earps

Blundell
Caldwell
Ladd
Ona

Katie
Jackie
Galton
Hanson
Tooney

Russo

For me, we are at our best, when we play with two players who are actually wingers, not people pushed out there to accommodate others, as seems to be the case when we start Bruun and Russo, as Russo seems to be the one pushed out wide, and that really isn't how you get the best out of her, nor get the best out of the team.
We shouldn't be looking to accommodate people, people should be looking to adapt to the side.
So for me Bruun will remain a bench or rotation option, alongside Thomas, as there is no way she should be starting ANY game ahead of Russo, as quite simply Russo is by far the better player.

 

[Grande]

It was most certainly one of those games that you never forget, although, I will admit, I did kind of forget the scoreline in the second half!

As for getting third, it is very highly unlikely now, I would say, there is about a 1% chance of it, especially going into the Chelsea game without our first choice CB pairing (Millie and Mannion), and going up against their very potent strikeforce (even without Fran), and witht he added motivation of beating us gives them the league title.

Getting beat by by Chelsea will not be why we don't end up in third place, it will be the late goals conceded away to Spurs, West Ham, Everton and City, we hold on and that is 7 extra points there, not to mention, the City home game, so possibly 9 extra points there, those are the games that have cost us third place.

We need to find a way to stop conceding soooooo many late goals, so we need more top level experienced players, especially at the back, we need to replace Mannion, as we just don't know when she will be back, we can't just be waiting, and waiting, and waiting for her to come back.

That is for the summer, for now, we have to use what is available to us, and personally, I would drop Thor, and play Ladd next to Caldwell at CB for this game, with Katie continuing in midfield.

So I would go for something like this:

Earps

Blundell
Caldwell
Ladd
Ona

Katie
Jackie
Galton
Hanson
Tooney

Russo

For me, we are at our best, when we play with two players who are actually wingers, not people pushed out there to accommodate others, as seems to be the case when we start Bruun and Russo, as Russo seems to be the one pushed out wide, and that really isn't how you get the best out of her, nor get the best out of the team.
We shouldn't be looking to accommodate people, people should be looking to adapt to the side.
So for me Bruun will remain a bench or rotation option, alongside Thomas, as there is no way she should be starting ANY game ahead of Russo, as quite simply Russo is by far the better player.

That looks reasonable, but don’t you worry Zelem and Groenen will be a little light pivot against Chelsea?

 

[MUW4Eva]

That looks reasonable, but don’t you worry Zelem and Groenen will be a little light pivot against Chelsea?

It might be, but I can't see Marc dropping our captain for that game, despite Moore probably being a better option to start from a purely defensive point of view.

Not too many other options really, as we will have to attack them ourselves, as we will need to beat them, a hard fought draw say, despite in a bubble being a hugely positive result, outside of that bubble, it will not be good enough for 3rd place, only a win will do.

So we will need the more attack minded Katie I think, as we will need to have all of our best tools available to us, & she is by far our best set-piece taker.
It might come down to a feee-kick or a corner, and I am not sure we really have anyone else anywhere near her level.

 

[jojojo]

Injury update: Diane Caldwell, Lucy Staniforth, Kirstie Smith all back in the squad. Martin Ho did the MUTV briefing this week.

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[Lightbringer]

Reverse jinx prediction:

Manchester City-Leicester 0-10

 

[MUW4Eva]

Reverse jinx prediction:

Manchester City-Leicester 0-10

If only.....if only.....

We will be going into the Villa game in 4th place, hugely behind City on GD, & I don't particularly think we will get 3rd place back again this season....

I desperately hope that I am wrong however....

Whatever City do in their match, we need to not only match it, but beat it against Villa, another Brighton 1-0 win, will be a huge failure, just as it was I that game.
Small wins now are not acceptable, only big wins are, which is why the Chelsea game really is such a roadblock for us....

 

[jojojo]

65 minutes City are beating Leicester 4-0.
HT at Chelsea. They're drawing 1-1 with Spurs - and Chelsea's goalkeeper has been sent off.

Not great.

 

[jojojo]

65 minutes City are beating Leicester 4-0.
HT at Chelsea. They're drawing 1-1 with Spurs - and Chelsea's goalkeeper has been sent off.

Not great.

Chelsea beat Spurs 2-1
City beat Leicester 4-0

Could have been worse.

 

[jojojo]

Not quite sure on the formation but I'm guessing Hayley Ladd is playing as a central defender.

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[Maestro14]

Now that yesterday's weekly shitshow is over, time to support a group of players that actually want to play football!

 

[Maestro14]

We're dominating in the first 10 minutes, and we've had some really good chances to score, but Villa are doing just enough to keep it out.

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

Interestingly, the most vocal support in the crowd comes from the United supporters.

 

[jojojo]

We've had most of the ball and most of the play, but not much happening in the penalty area. Frustrating so far, 0-0 at 28 minutes.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Think for next season we need to get a top class striker in. The clubs above us have goals all over their teams.

 

[Maestro14]

Early chance for Thomas in the second half and she completely scuffs it.

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

We sure would do with a couple of fresh players out there.

 

[phelans shorts]

This commentator has been talking like it’s injury time the entire second half. We need a goal, we’re well aware

 

[buchansleftleg]

Whilst it's been frustrating not to score....my god this team runs and plays at real pace...the men's team being shamed by this effort.

Taking off Groenen was a big mistake. Just hoofing the ball upfield now.

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

We just screwed up that one when it mattered the most. Sounds like groundhog day every season ever since the team got promoted.

And, yes, we need to seriously invest into a quality striker no matter the cost may be.

 

[Maestro14]

0-0 at Full Time. The race for 3rd is out of our hands now. Played excellent in the first 10 minutes, but really struggled to create chances after that.

 

[jojojo]

FT 0-0
And that's more or less a defeat for us. A lot of effort, but lacking the precision to make it count.

 

[croadyman]

FT 0-0
And that's more or less a defeat for us. A lot of effort, but lacking the precision to make it count.

Yeah think that shuts the door on top 3

 

[MUW4Eva]

I couldn't post yesterday due to my anger, and sheer heartbreak.

We were atrocious all over the pitch.

Slow, slow, slow, long balls, miss-controlled passes, everything was terrible.

Simply no positives to take from that game.

5 draws, 1 defeat, with another most likely on the way at Chelsea, our away form is abysmally poor, that is where 3rd has been thrown away.

We need to have a long hard look at ourselves in the proverbial mirror, as that, yesterday was utterly pathetic it was awful.

Villa had a keeper in net who hadn't played for ages, and we didn't test her.

This summer we need a good clear out, we need to be ruthless if we want to have any hope of pushing on up to 3rd, nevermind any higher than that.

We need to sort out the mess that is our scouting department for a start.
What is happening with our goalkeepers?
Will Ramsey or Baggers be number two?
Or will it be Petal, as both of thise two are far too good to just be wasting their respective careers sitting on the bench doing naff all.

With Mannion out for possibly the next season, we need to get serious & bring in a replacement for her.
If Millie is back great, but we should say thanks & goodbye to both Caldwell & Thor, neither are good enough to push us to 3rd place.
Harris is a waste of a wage, Smith can stay as a rotation/back up.
Moore & Staniforth the jury is still very much out on them, I still have no idea why we signed Moore, especially because she was injured when we did, I have no idea how she passed her medical exam.
Then, Thomas, Bruun, & Fuso can all be, & should be let go, as none of them will be missed.

I would rather we had kept Ross or Siggy than have brought in Thomas, & Bruun has been an utter disaster & a huge flop of a move, she has spent more time out injured than playing, I mean where was she yesterday??
Send her straight back to Lyon, no wonder they were so happy to loan her out.
Just another sign of our desperation and panic in the market.....doesn't exactly bode too well for the summer sadly.

With the uncertainties over the futures of Turner, Ona, Zelem, Jackie and Russo, with regards to their contracts, then that just adds to our problems and issues.

The only positive now is the youth side, they have been fantastic/unbelievably good, however even that is slightly tempered by the fact that Marc seems very much against using any of them sadly.
I mean he could have used Karna or Edwards, but no, instead he went out of his way, to distance himself from them, and brought in the flop that has been Bruun.
I just don't belive he is bothered or interested in the youth team players in the slightest sadly.

It is a huge mess right now, we need a huge overhaul, both on the pitch and off of it.

I am not a happy bunny right now.

These last two games now are just pointless and leave me feeling empty, where I should be feeling optimistic.

We have gift wrapped 3rd place to City, and we didn't even put a single bit of effort into trying to prevent them from once again getting CL football.