WSL 25/26 | Chelsea v United - 13:00 Sat 16 May

jojojo

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Last game of the season for us but we already know that irrespective of what happens in this match we'll be finishing fourth this year.

Chelsea's final position is not in their own hands. Arsenal realistically need four points from their final two games (against Everton and Liverpool) to guarantee themselves the runners up spot.

Chelsea then and this match in particular. Well, we all know United's particular struggle with Chelsea. This season they've knocked us out of the WFA Cup and they beat us in the WSL Cup final. Our WSL match with them at LSV ended in a 1-1 draw with Sandberg getting our goal.

So can we end the season on a high?

Well, why not?
 
jojojo said:
Last game of the season for us but we already know that irrespective of what happens in this match we'll be finishing fourth this year.

Chelsea's final position is not in their own hands. Arsenal realistically need four points from their final two games (against Everton and Liverpool) to guarantee themselves the runners up spot.

Chelsea then and this match in particular. Well, we all know United's particular struggle with Chelsea. This season they've knocked us out of the WFA Cup and they beat us in the WSL Cup final. Our WSL match with them at LSV ended in a 1-1 draw with Sandberg getting our goal.

So can we end the season on a high?

Well, why not?
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Because.
 
I'm not going to use the word "optimistic" since we're talking about Chelsea, and because our team has looked utterly drained the last couple of times out, but the conditions do seem ripe for a potential upset. We will have had two weeks to game-plan and (more importantly) to rest, and should have most of our injured players back and thus a deep bench. In contrast, Chelsea will be playing on 5 days rest after playing 120 minutes in an emotional loss, and in which they looked exhausted and faded late. Also, this match is now as meaningless (in terms of standings) to Chelsea as it is to us, so they won't have that extra edge they might have had if they'd won that match.
 
From Marc Skinner today.
Terland and Janssen back in training, should be available to join the squad on Saturday.
Leah Galton not expected to be fit to play.
 
It would be great to get something out of this game not least for the players who have had their season just fade away from them recently.
 
Stupid me. I just realized that I was wrong in my previous post: This is in fact not a meaningless game for Chelsea. They can still finish 2nd in the league with a win, combined with an Arsenal loss to Liverpool, and (as we learned this year) there's a big difference in the difficulty of WCL qualifying for the 2nd versus 3rd-place teams. That puts a dent in what little almost-optimism I had about our match against them on Saturday, since they will no doubt play as if their lives depend on the outcome.
 
It has apparently been completely officially confirmed that Sam Kerr is leaving Chelsea. This will, therefore, be her last game. I am ready for the inevitable Sam Kerr winner after a valiant defensive display and then the nightmare of her inevitability will finally be over!!
 
AmarilloMike said:
It has apparently been completely officially confirmed that Sam Kerr is leaving Chelsea. This will, therefore, be her last game. I am ready for the inevitable Sam Kerr winner after a valiant defensive display and then the nightmare of her inevitability will finally be over!!
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Just to add another plot line to your script: Kerr needs one goal to equal, or two to pass, Fran Kirby as Chelsea's all-time leading scorer.

Word on the street is that Chelsea are aggressively trying to poach Bunny Shaw from City, presumably to replace Kerr. From what I can gather Shaw isn't particularly eager to leave, but Chelsea are waving a lot more money in front of her than City are able to match. Stay tuned....
 
Lobster11 said:
Just to add another plot line to your script: Kerr needs one goal to equal, or two to pass, Fran Kirby as Chelsea's all-time leading scorer.

Word on the street is that Chelsea are aggressively trying to poach Bunny Shaw from City, presumably to replace Kerr. From what I can gather Shaw isn't particularly eager to leave, but Chelsea are waving a lot more money in front of her than City are able to match. Stay tuned....
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Wish we could wave that sort of money at her
 


Looks like George and MLT are in the middle today.

Just Galton missing from the bench.
 
jojojo said:


Looks like George and MLT are in the middle today.

Just Galton missing from the bench.
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Shame about Galton, missing her final game.

I obviously want us to strengthen the squad this summer, but there is some fire power.on our bench. Interesting that SMP is not there.
 
This team gave up weeks ago. If the club doesn't take things seriously then we will basically nowhere near top 3 next season. So poor
 
Park comes on for the second half. Sandberg goes off so presumably Rolfo will drop back.
 
So many times we make the wrong decision or miss the timing of a killer pass in the final third.
 
Example - Malard delayed the pass to Park who would have been through on goal. It’s so frustrating.
 
Is Skinner just going to carry on as the safe option or is he under more scrutiny now? 1 win in 9 (probably 10 after today)
 
I missed almost all of the first half, so can only judge on the second half, but I thought we played quite well and deserved at least an equaliser. Just lacking the cutting edge in the final third which has been the case most of the season.

I don't have a strong opinion either way on Skinner, but if the board decide to sack him because they deem 4th to not be good enough, then they need to invest in building a squad capable of matching those above us which is gonna take about 5 or 6 signings in the summer at a minimum.
 
Maestro14 said:
I missed almost all of the first half, so can only judge on the second half, but I thought we played quite well and deserved at least an equaliser. Just lacking the cutting edge in the final third which has been the case most of the season.

I don't have a strong opinion either way on Skinner, but if the board decide to sack him because they deem 4th to not be good enough, then they need to invest in building a squad capable of matching those above us which is gonna take about 5 or 6 signings in the summer at a minimum.
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They will leave him in situ. Until the board think they’ve managed to get the men’s first team genuinely competitive again they really are not going to focus on the women’s team.
That much has been clear from comments already made by SJR in the past.
 
United have many good and many quite good players now. Chelsea, City and Arsenal have several top notch players in yheir team each, and all of their reserves are quite good at least for this level. It’s not out of reach with investments, but we can only beat one of them if they are off colour and we are on song.
 
Scanny said:
They really are not going to focus on the women’s team.
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This is it. No need for the rest of the words really. SJR said it - the women's team cost/lose money.

He simply does not understand that that need not be the case. Invest. Make us more competitive. Play every game at Old Trafford. Give us what we and the players deserve.
 
Demon Barber said:
This is it. No need for the rest of the words really. SJR said it - the women's team cost/lose money.

He simply does not understand that that need not be the case. Invest. Make us more competitive. Play every game at Old Trafford. Give us what we and the players deserve.
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We just seem to freeze whenever it comes to playing them. Yeah I can see them falling back into the pack unless Ratcliffe is willing to invest money into team
 
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