WSL 22/23 | United v Reading | 12:00 Sat 17 Sept

madi5h

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Earps
Batlle Le Tissier Turner Blundell
Zelem Groenen
Garcia Toone Leon
Russo

is what i would be interested in seeing, correct me if im wrong but i vaguely
remember Leon playing on the left for west ham against us and looking a threat

plus in my opinion galton has gone off the boil since stoney left
 

Grande

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Earps
Batlle Le Tissier Turner Blundell
Zelem Groenen
Garcia Toone Leon
Russo

is what i would be interested in seeing, correct me if im wrong but i vaguely
remember Leon playing on the left for west ham against us and looking a threat

plus in my opinion galton has gone off the boil since stoney left
Crazy … I was going to write Russo as 9 all the way, then forgot her the second I wrote Galton. :D

Galton is a very skilled player, I guess she needs to feel safe to be able to push herself in a way different to many. I do hope she turns it around, though, she has been an important player for Uniteds lift from newcomers to challengers for top3 to begin with.
 

Grande

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Do you reckon Groenen was unsettled by Barca
She’s one of my favourite players, with her simple&deft passing, so I really hope she’ll have a better season. I guess she really wants to play the CL, and last season there were question marks wether Skinner found a way for her to excel within his setup. She seems a lovely person, and in the interview below it’s almost as if she looks a bit sad when talking about the CL, and then cheers up when asked about her new teammates and playing at Old Trafford.

https://www.google.no/search?q=jack...ate=ive&vld=cid:b1678117,vid:lKmwC6OjyWg,st:0
 

croadyman

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She’s one of my favourite players, with her simple&deft passing, so I really hope she’ll have a better season. I guess she really wants to play the CL, and last season there were question marks wether Skinner found a way for her to excel within his setup. She seems a lovely person, and in the interview below it’s almost as if she looks a bit sad when talking about the CL, and then cheers up when asked about her new teammates and playing at Old Trafford.

https://www.google.no/search?q=jack...ate=ive&vld=cid:b1678117,vid:lKmwC6OjyWg,st:0
Yeah intrigued to see how the new players fare along with Millie returning as well
 

RORY65

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She’s one of my favourite players, with her simple&deft passing, so I really hope she’ll have a better season. I guess she really wants to play the CL, and last season there were question marks wether Skinner found a way for her to excel within his setup. She seems a lovely person, and in the interview below it’s almost as if she looks a bit sad when talking about the CL, and then cheers up when asked about her new teammates and playing at Old Trafford.

https://www.google.no/search?q=jack...ate=ive&vld=cid:b1678117,vid:lKmwC6OjyWg,st:0
Looks like she might be off to PSG in the coming days based on the rumours coming from France. Skinner has never seemed to have a clue what to do with his midfield but losing maybe the best midfielder (depends on whether you consider Toone as a midfielder) you have days before the season starts and with no opportunity to replace her seems like an odd approach.
 

madi5h

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Looks like she might be off to PSG in the coming days based on the rumours coming from France. Skinner has never seemed to have a clue what to do with his midfield but losing maybe the best midfielder (depends on whether you consider Toone as a midfielder) you have days before the season starts and with no opportunity to replace her seems like an odd approach.
i think her problem has always been zelem, they are too similar of a player and zelem being the captain makes it very hard to choose one or
the other, both are far better suited to playing alongside ladd, but both being too high quality to drop meant they played together, which, sad to say,
hurt us in my opinion

toone of course stops them both from getting the 10 role, so her leaving, (as sad as that would be and i very much dont want that to happen)
doesnt actually hurt us that badly unless zelem gets injured, and actually sorts a hard decision that skinner has failed to make
 

Grande

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Looks like she might be off to PSG in the coming days based on the rumours coming from France. Skinner has never seemed to have a clue what to do with his midfield but losing maybe the best midfielder (depends on whether you consider Toone as a midfielder) you have days before the season starts and with no opportunity to replace her seems like an odd approach.
Isn’t there a transfer window for women?
 

jojojo

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It's looked as if Skinner was expecting to lose Groenen from the moment he arrived - presumably because she's a world class player who has always had the option to leave. I've always felt that it meant that the team was structured to get the best out of Zelem and his midfield reinforcements have been in the "proven British talent" category like Moore and Staniforth - both of whom came to us with poor injury records and aren't really in the same class as Jackie.

It's a real shame. Even at the Euros where she came down with covid, she played well and was key to everything that worked for the Netherlands team. She has never really had the room to play that role of make the midfield tick/keep the ball at United.

I guess that means if it gets confirmed I'll feel disappointed but not surprised.
 

jojojo

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It's worth it if the money's good
If she wants to leave, because she wants her next challenge/location then it's worth it, if the price is right. I'd still question why we left it so late (their transfer window is open, ours is shut) because that feels like poor planning.

If she wants to leave us because we've offered her a crap contract, or because the manager doesn't care whether she stays or goes, or because she doesn't think United are willing to do what it takes to become a trophy challenger (or even a CL competitor) then I think it's sad news.
 

madi5h

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i think its possible skinner would let her go for the simple fact he doesnt know the best way to fit her into the team

If i was the manager i would have her as first choice backup for 4 positions, zelem or toone injured or having a bad game, she is the obvious replacement.
but also left and right side attacker, it wouldnt matter as her role would be to come inside and create passing triangles with 10 and 9 and also having
her in the line would make our pressing from the front soo much better

basically she would create more competion for places and prob get as much playing time as anyone
 

Rood

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Yes, it's live and free to view in the UK (and some/most countries) on:
https://faplayer.thefa.com/home/all
For people who haven't used FAPlayer before, you do need to register but it's free.

It's also live on MUTV, at least in the UK.
good to know - I hope the postponment of the opening week doesnt lose all the momentum built up in the summer for Womens football
 

jojojo

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Leigh Sports village looking sunny and busy. Traffic jam to the stadium took ages and the main parking more or less full by 11.

No real surprises in the starting lineup based on what we were seeing preseason - some new names and a very familiar set of old names.

 

RedPed

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Leigh Sports village looking sunny and busy. Traffic jam to the stadium took ages and the main parking more or less full by 11.

No real surprises in the starting lineup based on what we were seeing preseason - some new names and a very familiar set of old names.

Alessia Russo. Absolutely love that woman. Got a fiver on her to score at least 2 today @6.00.
 

madi5h

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great start!

shame the coverage is being pretty spoiled by this wannabe scorsassi cameraman
so zoomed in its impossible to watch any off the ball play and even struggling to keep up with play at time
 

RORY65

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Some debut for Le Tissier, 2 goals in the first half hour from centre back.
 

thedano

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Far too strong for Reading, could be a big score. Ona absolutely brilliant so far
 

Maestro14

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No worries
4-0 in the end, with Le Tissier x2, Zelem and Russo all scoring in the first half. Great result and a dominant performance. Le Tissier is gonna be a star. Batlle and Garcia were excellent together down the right. Just a shame we couldn't get more in the second half, but we were quite wasteful and Reading were set up very defensively. Overall a very positive start to the season.
 

cj_sparky

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I don't know how that has happened because the commentators said 7000 tickets had been sold long before the match was due to be played?.
Tickets sold (will obviously include freebie numbers) 7,217, 5,315 attended.

Similarly one year the Women's FA Cup issued over 70k tickets and the attendance was in the high 40k's. My niece went to a Chelsea match at Kingsmeadow a few years back it was a "Sell out", but the attendance was closer to1,400.
 

jojojo

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I don't know how that has happened because the commentators said 7000 tickets had been sold long before the match was due to be played?.
No shows basically. There were gaps even in areas that I know were completely sold out. I've been in a similar size United women's crowd at Leigh before - City in the Cup a couple of years ago. But this was easily the biggest crowd we've seen at Leigh since before the Covid shutdown.

Part of the issue for new fans will have been transport and parking. There were people arriving 20 minutes or more late, presumably because they ended up struck in traffic jams or had to go looking for car parks away from the ground.

The complication with Leigh is that the stadium normally has a predominantly local crowd for Leigh Rugby League matches. It's not really set up for people arriving from all across Manchester. Plus crowds like today are generally not match hardened crowds! Lots of kids and family units of parents, grandparents and little ones - they give in easier than regular matchgoers :smirk:

Incidentally actual capacity at LSV is around 8k for us because we don't use the standing area.