WSL 25/26 | United v Chelsea - 19:30 Fri 3 Oct

jojojo

JoJoJoJoJoJoJo
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Well it's that time of the year - the one where we have to be bang on form and yet we still get tripped up by a dodgy ref, a freak goal or an unlucky injury. I'd cite the law of averages, but I know enough about statistics to know when they apply.

Still, I have seen United win and I have seen United narrowly lose when they could and should have won. At some point we have to learn how to get results against them - why not now?

Leigh Sports Village has allegedly been renamed as the Progress with Unity Stadium. Which I'd laugh at normally, but does sound rather like the story of our team. I'll still be calling it the LSV of course if only because the initial letters work better...

Match is live on BBC3 and BBC online in the UK.
 
jojojo said:
Well it's that time of the year - the one where we have to be bang on form and yet we still get tripped up by a dodgy ref, a freak goal or an unlucky injury. I'd cite the law of averages, but I know enough about statistics to know when they apply.

Still, I have seen United win and I have seen United narrowly lose when they could and should have won. At some point we have to learn how to get results against them - why not now?

Leigh Sports Village has allegedly been renamed as the Progress with Unity Stadium. Which I'd laugh at normally, but does sound rather like the story of our team. I'll still be calling it the LSV of course if only because the initial letters work better...

Match is live on BBC3 and BBC online in the UK.
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I've only been following the WSL, and rooting for MU, for a few years, but I can say that this is the first time we've gone into a match with Chelsea with the confidence that we can beat them.
 
Simi and Leah are back in training with the team. Simi may be available for the squad this week, Leah is unlikely.

Anna Sandberg should be back, which is good news.

Millie Turner is out until the New Year with a knee injury.

No mention of Hannah Blundell. Personally I'm not expecting to see her available to start until after Christmas, but that guess is based on the histories of other returning mums rather than anything from United.

 
I’m still scarred by the final day match against them at OT a couple of years ago.
That was a painful watch.
 
Scanny said:
I’m still scarred by the final day match against them at OT a couple of years ago.
That was a painful watch
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Yep, that was horrible. It was supposed to be our party and they ruined it. Unfortunately I've been to a couple of those absolute drubbings including them winning 6-1 at LSV and that 6-0 at OT.

I prefer to look back on the near misses and feel like we've got a backlog of luck to collect!
 
Scanny said:
I’m still scarred by the final day match against them at OT a couple of years ago.
That was a painful watch.
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If I recall correctly, we had nothing to play for that day and had just won our first silverware, so it was understandable that the players had trouble getting up for that match. Not true this time. I think we're going to give them all they can handle on Friday.
 
jojojo said:
Yep, that was horrible. It was supposed to be our party and they ruined it. Unfortunately I've been to a couple of those absolute drubbings including them winning 6-1 at LSV and that 6-0 at OT.

I prefer to look back on the near misses and feel like we've got a backlog of luck to collect!
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On the other side we beat them in the FA Cup at LSV and I'd say we are stronger now and we are well overdue a league win over them
 
For those attending the game, Storm Amy is due to batter the North and West on Friday evening and Saturday. Conditions not looking good for football, but more importantly, travel safely.
 
Demon Barber said:
For those attending the game, Storm Amy is due to batter the North and West on Friday evening and Saturday. Conditions not looking good for football, but more importantly, travel safely.
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So Manchester conditions eh? We'll batter those southerners!!

Wish I could be there, life gets in the way particularly for Friday night kick offs.
 
The forecast from weather.com actually doesn't look too terrible: probably typical for Manchester but not what you might expect from a named storm.
 
The forecast at weather.com looks worse than when I posted about it yesterday: Looks like nearly constant rain through tonight and all day tomorrow.

For you locals who are familiar with such things: How much rain does it take to render the pitch "legally" unplayable? I'll be disappointed to watch a match played under terrible conditions, but even more so if it has to be postponed since I've kinda scheduled my whole week around it.
 
Lobster11 said:
The forecast at weather.com looks worse than when I posted about it yesterday: Looks like nearly constant rain through tonight and all day tomorrow.

For you locals who are familiar with such things: How much rain does it take to render the pitch "legally" unplayable? I'll be disappointed to watch a match played under terrible conditions, but even more so if it has to be postponed since I've kinda scheduled my whole week around it.
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Rain is rain and weather is weather. A waterlogged pitch is the issue and is generally tested by a referee rolling a ball along the grass and seeing how it reacts. Yes, it really is that scientific.
 
We’ve not lost a game domestically in 37 games I believe. That’s 36 wins and 1 draw.

All of that counts for nothing tonight though against a much improved Utd side and potentially awful weather. I would not be surprised if we lost this.
 
Demon Barber said:
Rain is rain and weather is weather. A waterlogged pitch is the issue and is generally tested by a referee rolling a ball along the grass and seeing how it reacts. Yes, it really is that scientific.
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Yes, I get that. What I was wondering is whether locals think that the amount of rain they have been (and are) having is enough to worry about the pitch failing the ball-roll test tonight. I don't know how much rain is abnormal for Manchester or how well the pitch drains at LSV.
 
Lobster11 said:
Yes, I get that. What I was wondering is whether locals think that the amount of rain they have been (and are) having is enough to worry about the pitch failing the ball-roll test tonight. I don't know how much rain is abnormal for Manchester or how well the pitch drains at LSV.
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No one can predict such things - it did rain a lot overnight and is continuing today but it would probably need a deluge in the next few hours to be a real risk

Was heavier rain couple of weeks ago when Blackburn's match was abandoned after 80mins played !
 
Lobster11 said:
Yes, I get that. What I was wondering is whether locals think that the amount of rain they have been (and are) having is enough to worry about the pitch failing the ball-roll test tonight. I don't know how much rain is abnormal for Manchester or how well the pitch drains at LSV.
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LSV is a good modern ground and it's in good condition (reasonable recovery time since the last Rugby match) so it would take a lot of rain to waterlog it.

If there's actual flooding in the area it does become vulnerable of course and there are big lakes and drainage marshes not far away - which could make the pitch drains stop working. I've not seen any reports of actual flooding in the area though the weather alerts for Greater Manchester still have local flooding across the region as a possibility.

It's more common in England to have a match postponed at a modern ground due to risks to spectators, like if the police put out a warning to avoid driving except in emergency.

That said, if you get an absolute deluge mid match then a match can be abandoned for player safety. Very unusual though.
 
jojojo said:
Well it's that time of the year - the one where we have to be bang on form and yet we still get tripped up by a dodgy ref, a freak goal or an unlucky injury. I'd cite the law of averages, but I know enough about statistics to know when they apply.

Still, I have seen United win and I have seen United narrowly lose when they could and should have won. At some point we have to learn how to get results against them - why not now?

Leigh Sports Village has allegedly been renamed as the Progress with Unity Stadium. Which I'd laugh at normally, but does sound rather like the story of our team. I'll still be calling it the LSV of course if only because the initial letters work better...

Match is live on BBC3 and BBC online in the UK.
Click to expand...
If the women want it to be known that they play in the PUS, then who are we to deny them?

also is the game on anywhere else besides bbc? i dont see it on the YT channel, how are non UK suppose to watch?
 
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Strong starting line up, and a full bench for the first time this season! Blundell is back, as is Awujo.
 
Look at that beautiful bench. Is this strength in depth I see? Come on United!
 
madi5h said:
also is the game on anywhere else besides bbc? i dont see it on the YT channel, how are non UK suppose to watch?
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ESPN+ in the U.S.

Try Googling something like "how to watch the WSL in [name of country]."
 
Ouch. Nice work from Chelsea for the goal but annoying all the same.
 
Good start from us but Sandberg and Zigiotti have been caught with the ball a few times. Sandberg has also let crosses come in easily from her flank
 
Well, that certainly makes up for earlier mistakes!
 
I'm happy to see that we are preventing Chelsea from building out from the back. Not many teams have a good-enough press to accomplish that.
 
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