WSL 25/26 | Spurs v United - 12:00 Sun 26 April

jojojo

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And we're back!

After a frenzy of Cup, European and WSL matches suddenly we ground to an abrupt halt - a WFA Cup QF weekend and two weeks of internationals later and we're finally back in WSL action.

Spurs then. Well let's just say their women's team are currently doing rather better than their men's team. However our head to head with them tells its own story, United have P18 W14 D3 L1

Not that it'll be easy - they're a good team with a good manager and they should have a good crowd for it. They also have the advantage of knowing that we can't afford to drop any points and that the pressure is all on us.

Match is live on Sky Sports premier league in the UK.
 
I wait with bated breath to find out who will and won't be available for this. Some time ago Skinner said that Tooney was on schedule to return for this match, but I haven't been able to find any updates anywhere on the interwebs. Given how long she's been gone I can't wait for us all to be reminded about how she is the grease that keeps the machine humming.
 
When are we likely to hear from Skinner about player availability? I can't remember how far in advance he usually schedules his pre-match pressers.
 
Lobster11 said:
When are we likely to hear from Skinner about player availability? I can't remember how far in advance he usually schedules his pre-match pressers.
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Usually today (Thursday) but not this week. So, I assume our press conference is on Friday.
 
Remember Spurs earlier in the season - losing 3 - 0 and came back to 3-3 in the 95th minute.

There's a 15 min vid on the United App of all of our goals from this season. I've just watched it to remind me that we still exist! If somebody has the power to link it to here it's well worth a watch. I'd forgotten how many great goals we have scored, and last-minute drama.
 
Toone might be involved, Sandberg and Wangerheim are back. Janssen & Terland back on the training pitch doing individual stuff, back soon. Galton still out and Drury out for the season.
 
top1whoisman said:
Toone might be involved, Sandberg and Wangerheim are back. Janssen & Terland back on the training pitch doing individual stuff, back soon. Galton still out and Drury out for the season.
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I'm a little disappointed in this report. I was hoping/expecting to have more players ready to go, and in particular for Tooney to be more than a "maybe" (which probably means only a cameo appearance at best on Sunday). That said, having Sandberg back is big, and if others can be back shortly afterwards we'll be in a much better position to beat Chelsea on the last matchday for a top-three finish.

Of course, that last-matchday game against Chelsea will likely be meaningless if we don't win this week and next....
 
Might be tough because they have good players but they've been very dissappointing considering that and have given us an easy 4th placed finish when they might have kicked on and run us close
 
Ekeke said:
Might be tough because they have good players but they've been very dissappointing considering that and have given us an easy 4th placed finish when they might have kicked on and run us close
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Yea, they’ve been up and down, with some interesting attacking players coming in, like Signe Gaupset, but maybe it has disturbed the defensive balance they seemed to have in the first half of the season.

We have a tendency to be sluggish after a break I feel, and with many out/rusty I fear Spurs have a good chance here.
 


Rolfo and Schuller start.
Toone, Malard on the bench.

Zigiotti out due to illness.
 
Our pressing is non-existent and our passing has been poor so far. Doesn’t look like we’ve just had a long break to refresh.
 
Goalless after 15 minutes. Spurs currently the better team.
 
top1whoisman said:
Our pressing is non-existent and our passing has been poor so far. Doesn’t look like we’ve just had a long break to refresh.
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To be fair to today's team, most of the ones on the field today have been away with their national teams. Most of them haven't played that many minutes, but even so they've had the travel and the change of training routine to contend with. We've struggled after international breaks all season really.
 
jojojo said:
To be fair to today's team, most of the ones on the field today have been away with their national teams. Most of them haven't played that many minutes, but even so they've had the travel and the change of training routine to contend with. We've struggled after international breaks all season really.
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Think the same can be said of Spurs too?
 
top1whoisman said:
Relative to our opponent today, we’ve been slow and lethargic.
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Spurs look a lot more comfortable with the way they play all round really. They look like a team with a plan. Which to be fair is what you expect with Martin Ho as their manager.

Our passing accuracy is poor again today as well, which stands out against a team like Spurs.

On the bright side, the last ten minutes we've looked better than we did in the first ten.
 
jojojo said:
Our passing accuracy is poor again today....
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I would describe it as "comically bad." They all look like they're drunk.

Fortunately, we somehow managed to not concede. Expecting much better from us in the second half.
 
Poor performance from us.

Spurs looked better than us for most of the match. Only surprise was that they couldn't score.

Puts us 4 points behind Chelsea and European qualification is no longer in our hands. I really did expect it to go down to the final match, but that doesn't seem likely now.
 
Demon Barber said:
Absolutely battered. We somehow stole a point.
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Fortunately, that point could matter: We don't need Leicester to beat Chelsea next week, but only hold them to a draw.

Assuming, of course, that we beat Brighton. That's not an easy one but I think our team look much better next week after a week of training together.
 
At this point keeping Skinner in the job would be a ridiculous decision and I can see us completely falling apart next season. The signs are there that he has taken this team as far as he can and we need a new voice.
 
Ayush_reddevil said:
At this point keeping Skinner in the job would be a ridiculous decision and I can see us completely falling apart next season. The signs are there that he has taken this team as far as he can and we need a new voice.
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I really think you are overreacting. We settled for a draw against a very good team, at their place, with a still-depleted lineup. I don't see how Skinner is at fault.

We started this season knowing that our roster was nowhere near deep enough to compete in the WCL on top of three domestic competitions, and that a predictable result is that we wouldn't fare well in any of them. Under the circumstances I think it is damn impressive that we made it to the League Cup final and to the quarterfinals of the WCL. I think Skinner deserves a medal, not a sacking.

I have no idea why you think that we will "completely fall apart" next season. Please explain.
 
Apparently we blocked some reporters from asking questions post match.


This is the article that United decided was too negative:


Which didn't and doesn't read as particularly unfair.
 
Lobster11 said:
I really think you are overreacting. We settled for a draw against a very good team, at their place, with a still-depleted lineup. I don't see how Skinner is at fault.

We started this season knowing that our roster was nowhere near deep enough to compete in the WCL on top of three domestic competitions, and that a predictable result is that we wouldn't fare well in any of them. Under the circumstances I think it is damn impressive that we made it to the League Cup final and to the quarterfinals of the WCL. I think Skinner deserves a medal, not a sacking.

I have no idea why you think that we will "completely fall apart" next season. Please explain.
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I admire you being in the minority here still backing Skinner, however we do look like we need a fresh voice and new ideas for next season. I do think Spurs did him a favour though by not being more ruthless with the amount of chances they had. You only need to see City sacking Taylor to see the difference that a new coach could make. So just out of interest what would it take for you to finally say Skinner out then?
 
jojojo said:
Which didn't and doesn't read as particularly unfair.
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Agreed. I read that piece shortly after it came out and it never occurred to me that it was unfair, or even particularly negative.

The media prints critical stories all the time about football teams without this kind of thing happening. I suspect there is something else going on here....
 
croadyman said:
I admire you being in the minority here still backing Skinner, however we do look like we need a fresh voice and new ideas for next season. I do think Spurs did him a favour though by not being more ruthless with the amount of chances they had. You only need to see City sacking Taylor to see the difference that a new coach could make. So just out of interest what would it take for you to finally say Skinner out then?
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To be clear, the reason I defend Skinner is not that I particularly like the guy. I just think that our most obvious problem is the need for a bigger, deeper squad, and changing managers isn't going to help with that. All the fresh voices and new ideas in world aren't going to make us more competitive against the Chelseas of the world when we're going into half our matches without enough players on the bench to use all of our available substitutions -- especially if the starters are already exhausted because they haven't had adequate rest. I'll be first in line to call for a new manager if the club gives him the squad he needs to be competitive but he fails to deliver.

Actually, there's a second reason why I would abandon him in a heartbeat: If the players wanted him out. We of course have no way of knowing what gets said in private or behind the scenes, but from everything I've seen or read the players love the atmosphere/environment he has created and the freedom he gives them on the pitch. But if the players ever decide they want him out, I want him out too.
 
Lobster11 said:
To be clear, the reason I defend Skinner is not that I particularly like the guy. I just think that our most obvious problem is the need for a bigger, deeper squad, and changing managers isn't going to help with that. All the fresh voices and new ideas in world aren't going to make us more competitive against the Chelseas of the world when we're going into half our matches without enough players on the bench to use all of our available substitutions -- especially if the starters are already exhausted because they haven't had adequate rest. I'll be first in line to call for a new manager if the club gives him the squad he needs to be competitive but he fails to deliver.

Actually, there's a second reason why I would abandon him in a heartbeat: If the players wanted him out. We of course have no way of knowing what gets said in private or behind the scenes, but from everything I've seen or read the players love the atmosphere/environment he has created and the freedom he gives them on the pitch. But if the players ever decide they want him out, I want him out too.
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So why has it been suggested that the likes of Ona, Russo and James wanted out because of him then?
 
croadyman said:
So why has it been suggested that the likes of Ona, Russo and James wanted out because of him then?
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I don't remember ever seeing anything about players leaving because of Skinner. My impression has always been that top players who have left wanted to join clubs where they could win lots of trophies and play in Europe every year, and United did not seem willing to make that kind of investment in the women's team. In other words, I thought those players' beefs were with the club, not the manager. But if you can point me to evidence to the contrary, please do.
 
Lobster11 said:
I don't remember ever seeing anything about players leaving because of Skinner. My impression has always been that top players who have left wanted to join clubs where they could win lots of trophies and play in Europe every year, and United did not seem willing to make that kind of investment in the women's team. In other words, I thought those players' beefs were with the club, not the manager. But if you can point me to evidence to the contrary, please do.
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This does seem to be the case from my memory. The ex players came out with stories about inadequate training fascillities etc that as fans we dont know about until they talk about it. For all we know nothing has changed and on the other hand, everything might have.
 
Ekeke said:
This does seem to be the case from my memory. The ex players came out with stories about inadequate training fascillities etc that as fans we dont know about until they talk about it. For all we know nothing has changed and on the other hand, everything might have.
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I don't ordinarily have much faith in my leaky memory, so I'm rarely confident that something didn't happen just because I don't remember it. In this case, though, I'm pretty sure, because if I had ever read about current or former players complaining about Skinner he would have lost my support immediately.

In Russo's case, I recall it to be largely a matter of her getting fed up with the club jerking her around on a contract extension, thus further contributing to questions about the seriousness of the club's commitment to the women's team.
 
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