MrBlack Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 2 hours ago, useless said: Chelsea isn't a write-off, we've just come close against two of the best teams in the division, we only lost narrowly against them, against Man Utd - remember the team that finished nineteen points above us last season, and beat us by five goals just before Christmas - we played a chunk of the game with ten women, we also gave Chelsea a very good game in the FA Cup semi-final, I think even Emma Hayes admitted we were the better team in that game, just unusually for us we couldn't score, people talking as if it's like two season back when we were regularly getting thrashed by the 'big four', we took a few heavy beatings last season too, but also showed we can compete, beating Man CIty twice, and also Man Utd and Arsenal, as well as getting some decent draws. It's one of those games where they're capable of winning comfortably, but also we're capable of getting a result, I think a lot will depend on how we get on against Spurs, if we can win that, will get us some confidence back, and then with Dali and Hanson back after the international break, that will give us an outside chance against Chelsea. I think it's time to stop thinking in terms of the difficult first five games now, and to look forward to the next five, Spurs (h), Chelsea (h), Bristol City (a), West Ham (a), Everton (h), lets see if we can get a decent haul from those, confidence has taken a hit, so like I say getting it back with a decent result against Spurs is going to be key, if we can do that, I think we can get ten or more points from the next five. If I was a cynic I'd say the league rigged our first set of fixtures to be as difficult as humanly possible. No idea why they'd want to, but fate couldn't have dealt us a more difficult first few games. As you say, the signs are there that we've imprinted l improved versus previous seasons equivalent fixtures, and I'm optimistic that if we keep the faith we'll go on a bit of a run now. Just got to hope the confidence hasn't been too dented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvonVillain Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 Was at the game yesterday. The goals did seem inevitable when 12 minutes extra time went up, but felt overall we defended impressively and with no little skill. Laura Blindkilde Brown was outstanding. Pity about the keeper error as otherwise van Domselaar was solid. Really good atmosphere; spotted David Bradley with us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattVillaPortsmouth Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 Agree Blindkilde brown put a shift in and seemed to be everywhere, but was equally guilty of giving the ball away cheaply in many occasions, as was Magill (maybe as someone said movement up too wasn’t great, but Daly is only 1 player, hard to shake 5 defenders constantly). Our passing/ball retention was not great, you can defend resolutely but you can also be smart with the ball, we did one but not the other. I maybe a little harsh, but that’s down to expectation I think I was excited about our prospects, I rate ward and I rate our squad just don’t feel we have been anywhere near good enough (yet) (and I don’t mean just winning, in general play), neither top 4 team we have played have been that good I don’t think and we lacked ideas against Liverpool - maybe a hangover from no real off season and preseason. Unfortunately 12mins of added time, was about right if the new rules are being implemented and the current push to give the crowd maximise bang for buck - it has been pretty common, like it or not it’s the rules being implemented. None of it was for time wasting (although their multi ball system was very one sided). It’s football, these things always happen this way - you can only hold on so long. Corsie injury 2 mins Maritz Injury 3 mins Domselaar injury 1 min Daly injury 5 mins Plus 4 sub windows (9 subs in total). Time will be added when the following happens: Goals and subsequent celebrations Substitutions Injuries and treatment time (if required) Penalties (from moment of offence to the whistle for the penalty kick) Red cards (from moment of offence to when the player leaves the field Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colhint Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 I think we'll be so much better when Dali is back. Anyone know when that is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 (edited) Blindkilde is usually one of our best players at keeping possession, she's one of those players that just looks like a natural footballer, very good technically, although she does occasionally lose the ball because of how small she is, also worth remembering that she's only just turned twenty, and I think missed most of pre-season. Going to be a big star, and someone we might have a battle to keep hold of in future seasons, where she could do with improving, and I've seen her say so herself, is adding a few more goals and assists to her game. We're usually pretty good in possession as a team, one of the best in the WSL in fact, when first promoted we were more of an hit and hope team, if we had a lead would start time wasting, I remember games where we would start trying to keep the ball by the corner flag when there was still more than ten minutes to go, we just weren't very good so that was what we would resort to to try and hang on to results, although I remember a few times it not working, especially conceding two late goals to Bristol City, although that was more Marcu Bignot's time than Ward's... Ward didn't improve our style of play right away though, she's said herself it was January 22 when she decided she didn't like the way we were playing, wasn't what she wanted to be known for, so as we were already safe took that opportunity to introduce a new style of play, helped by the signings of Patten, Corsie, and Jill Scott, it cost us a few results as the team got used it, but our football improved big time, I remember reading an article stating in the second half of the season we had some of the best stats in all categories other than scoring goals, so the change was worth it, as it lay the foundations for the following season, and we of course signed players to help with that goal scoring problem. This season there have been mitigating circumstances, new players to bed in, players missing via injury and illness, it's not just been Hanson and Dali, but Nobbs and Pacheco too,and I think a few players on the bench yesterday that otherwise would have started couldn't do so as had been poorly in the week, pre-season was disrupted too, some of our players barely had a pre-season with us, and can't emphasize enough that for all we've improved the top four are still way ahead of us, we and other teams might get the odd result against them across the season, but come the end the top four will be way ahead of everyone else, if the team in fifth place is ten or less points from fourth then they will have done well, I think some losing sight of just how good the top four are, think of our two or three best players, and they have whole squads worth of players that good, there's a reason why they finish so far ahead of all the other teams. Carla Ward said this season the difficult part is gong to be maintaining our position as the best of the rest team, as traditionally the team that finishes fifth then goes on to struggle the following season, I think she's right, a good season this year would be establishing ourselves in the top five or six, if possible finish closer to the top four than we did last season, the finishing top five or six part I think is still very much more than possible, by the end of November I think things will be looking much better. Edited October 16, 2023 by useless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 17, 2023 Share Posted October 17, 2023 Jordan Nobbs and Lucy Staniforth dropped from England squad, I'm sure they will be disappointed but they were never given any gametime anyway, even on occasions when there was a good opportunity to do so, Sarina seems to like fifteen or so players and no one else gets a chance. Daly and Parker in there, good news for Parker as was only a late call-up the last time because of injuries, it will be her third time in the squad hopefully she can get some minutes this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattVillaPortsmouth Posted October 17, 2023 Share Posted October 17, 2023 13 minutes ago, useless said: Jordan Nobbs and Lucy Staniforth dropped from England squad, I'm sure they will be disappointed but they were never given any gametime anyway, even on occasions when there was a good opportunity to do so, Sarina seems to like fifteen or so players and no one else gets a chance. Daly and Parker in there, good news for Parker as was only a late call-up the last time because of injuries, it will be her third time in the squad hopefully she can get some minutes this time. Yeah I never understood the not using Nobbs much, some games were crying out for her in that Kirby/Toone role. Staniforth I sort of get but I would have took her over Coombes in World Cup, but there are many in the Eng squad that won’t/don’t get many minute Lotte Wubben-Moy, Robinson (not in this squad), Jess park to name a few. I see Grace Clinton is in, could have just as well been Laura Blindkilde Brown. Surprised Kirby jumps straight back in also. Great for Parker, it’s good to have a few in squad called up, don’t think she will get many minutes but it’s good to get in the squad for future,. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 Laura Blindkilde, Freya Gregory, and Ebony Salmon are in the latest England U23 squad Freya Gregory confidence should hopefully be builing up after a good start with Reading, and now being selected alongside the likes of Salmon and Katie Robinson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 Quite a few academy players training with the first team ahead of Spurs, Lydia Sallaway is there, she's really young as played for England U16s earlier this year, and only played twice for our U21s last season, essentially was still a U16 player, there's another I don't recognize, and then the usual suspects. No Kenza Dali, Carla Ward has said she won't be back until after the international break. Spurs is an hard game to predict, at the start of the season on paper it would have been comfortably our easiest game from the first five, and in theory still should be, but now it looks more difficult than it did, desperation for a result could affect us, Dali and Hanson still missing, Spurs have had a good start, so are going to be really confident, also I don't think our form at The Bescot is great. Would be a massive three points if we can get them, no reason why we can't, if we play to our best we should win, but have to do that first. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skarroki Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 9 hours ago, useless said: Laura Blindkilde, Freya Gregory, and Ebony Salmon are in the latest England U23 squad Freya Gregory confidence should hopefully be builing up after a good start with Reading, and now being selected alongside the likes of Salmon and Katie Robinson Salmon blows my mind. Feels like she was making an impression through the academy ages ago, just checked and it was the 17-18 season, and she's still only 22! Her goalscoring record is pretty impressive for such a young player, I bet getting to work every day with someone like Daly now must be a dream. I assume she's not truly "one of our own"? Her Dad sounds about as Brummie as is possible but she talked about "the club" and other distant terms when referring to Villa in her signing video, wasn't talking like she was a fan growing up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 I've no idea if she's a Villa fan, on her instagram she has referenced her returning to us as being 'back home' a few times, but by 'home' could just mean the club where she started her career. When she left us we were still part-time, essentially if players wanted to be professional footballers they had to leave, which is why we lost Sarah Mayling to small heath, and she is a Villa fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 19, 2023 Share Posted October 19, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 van Domselaar, Parker, Patten, Corsie, Turner, Staniforth, Nobbs, Blindkilde, Leon, Salmon, Daly Subs: Leat, Mayling, Pacheco, McLoughlin, Lehmann, Magill, Mullett We're doing the thing of playing all four of our central defenders again, but looks like they're going to be in the back four, midfield and attack looks much more attack minded Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrchnry Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 Is today's game televised anywhere? Perhaps on the Internet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 Such a big game today, really we need a win, but a draw wouldn't the worst of results, don't want to go into the international break on the back of four straight defeats, knowing that we have Chelsea when we return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 @mrchnry It's on the FA Player, but you need a login 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 Daly from penalty gives us the lead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishywashy Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 Good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishywashy Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 1-1. Against the run of play really. Annoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 1-1 after Corsie gives the ball away very cheaply, Corsie has looked shakey all game on that left hand side, we would be better with Turner there and Pacheco at leftback, really poor goal to give away. We had been playing well as well, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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