Absolutely.
WSL 25/26 | Liverpool v United - 12:00 Sun 28 Sept
- Thread starter jojojo
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In the latest edition of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss the absolute VAR shambles that lead to us losing the Manchester Derby.
But is it all on the VAR room? How much blame can be placed on Carrick and the players?
They also preview the 2 matches before the International Break and update on the struggles at MUWomen.
Reminiscent of Arsenal yesterday -- but we got the second goal before halftime that they didn't.
That second goal before the half was so huge. United looked very flat in the second half but I do think that if needed the team had another gear to go into. Good stuff overall
Indeed. Chelsea next who is enjoying an apriox 26-1-1 record against Man United women
I say aprox because I lost track the last season or so, but its something to that effect!I'm not sure if Park is "better," but it was certainly a coup to get her plus a wad of cash for Clinton.
Also, it's kind of apples-and-oranges: They're very different kinds of players with different skill sets. I think it's Zigiotti who is a like-for-like replacement for Clinton, while Park brings something new and exciting in a different way.
The history doesn't matter: We have a much better team this year and think we will give Chelsea all they can handle, especially since we arguably have the best defense in the league right now. I'm also not sure they have a left back who can keep up with Park.Indeed. Chelsea next who is enjoying an apriox 26-1-1 record against Man United women
I take it woman's football in the northern part of England isnt as popular as it is in London? Only 3k at this game which you would have thought would be a big game, yet spurs vs arsenal can get 60k
This a genuine question as someone who doesn't follow woman's football that much.
This a genuine question as someone who doesn't follow woman's football that much.
Sadly, attendance figures of 3k or so are still the norm, rather than the exception, for WSL matches generally. Even Chelsea, despite winning the league several times in a row, don't tend to draw big crowds at home. Arsenal are a distant outlier.
It's no coincidence that the last two times we have broken the attendance record at Leigh Sports Village have been when Arsenal come to town.
Our W team is miles ahead of the likes of Liverpool. Yet it’s the other way around in the men’s football.
Friday would be a great time to break the record again. Chelsea won't bring as many away fans as Arsenal do, but hopefully more of our own fans will show up given our success so far this season. I was just browsing a thread on Reddit about today's match, and there were several United fans who said they were now planning to watch more women's games.
Unfortunately not, thank you though
Fair enough. It does go to show you how well the pr machine is going because if you where you listen to the media outlets and other influences it comes across like its getting mens championship levels of interest.
Hopefully in the next decade that will be closer to the truth albeit my own personal interest isn't huge as I watch enough football and don't have the time for more
The thing with it at the moment is that the big matches are big, but the average matches aren't. England matches are consistently big of course.
Part of it is about venues, but only part. In the League, when United are at OT we get 20-40k depending on the opponent but only about 4-5k for a typical league match at Leigh. We'll be hoping to get 8k+ for Chelsea on Friday night - which should feel like a really good crowd at Leigh.
The Newcastle v Sunderland match in the Championship got about 40k and they've had several 20k+ matches there despite not being in the top division.
Bristol City were getting around 10k per match to Ashton Gate when they were in WSL1, but again they played every match at their main stadium. For comparison Bristol's men's team get around 20-25k.
The only club team that have built a consistently 20k+ crowd including some crowds over 50k are Arsenal and they've worked at it - using the Emirates regularly, pushing it on club social media, finding out what the fans wanted etc. They also cashed in heavily on their big name players - in particular their Lionesses.
Still early days for consistent crowd building in the women's game, but not a particularly north/south thing - more about the aproach of the individual clubs. In terms of TV audiences WSL is generally behind the championship but similar to EFL games.
To be fair to the "PR machine," I believe it is true -- @jojojo can correct me if I'm wrong -- that although attendance and viewership of women's games does not generally rival the men's, it has increased dramatically over just the last few years. Crowds of a few thousand might not sound like much, but that's a long way from crowds in the hundreds. I also suspect that viewership via TV and streaming has increased exponentially over that time, especially now that nearly all WSL matches are televised (and the rest can be viewed for free via YouTube).
Thats good to hear, I hope it continues to grow exponentially. As I said I haven't got a huge interest but every now and again I dip into it and because I dont have much knowledge I like to ask about its growth from those that actually know as I don't really trust the media to give out facts but instead push promotional language instead.
Understood. I'm not actually in the U.K., and so don't know exactly what "promotional language" you're being exposed to -- except that it's probably similar to what's happening here in the U.S. with the NWSL. That is, proponents of the women's game are simultaneously advertising the recent growth in interest (which is a fact) in the service of trying to grow the game even further (which is an aspiration).
That said, I'll join those folks and encourage you to watch and support United's women's team. This is a very exciting time for us, as they have recently strengthened an already-solid team and have made it to the Champions League for the first time. As I recently said to another "women-curious" poster, the trick is to avoid thinking of the women's game as an inferior version of the men's game, but rather as something qualitatively different that is equally great in its own right.
Clinton is a very talented player - obviously. The issue for me was that she and Tooney wanted to occupy the same spaces, whereas Toone and Park complement each other better.
It was an excellent piece of business from us.
Agreed. Pairing Tooney and Clinton in the midfield seemed like a brilliant idea in theory, but didn't really pan out in practice.
As wise man once said, "In theory, theory and practice are the same -- but in practice they aren't."