John Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 1 hour ago, useless said: We probably haven't heard the last of that from United, I can actually understand them being upset about it, it's incredibly unkucky on them, I would be annoyed and frustrated if the same happened to us But it's abolutely the right decision, we've been punished for the Sunderland game and rightly so, but we shouldn't have been punished for the other games in which we did nothing wrong, it's just incredible hard luck on Man Utd that it means them missing out, but ultimately it's still fair, as we did better than them in our three games before Martiz drama, than they did in all their four games. Their spokesperson has said, ""We are very disappointed with this outcome and do not understand its rationale. We feel that it undermines the integrity of the competition and of the women's game.". Oh woe is me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 The rationale is quite simple, we were rightly deducted points from the game in which we fielded an ineligble player, and as a consequence of that finished second in the group, and are now one of the best two runners up in the competition, if Man United wanted to qualify they should have done better than us, we did better in our three games previous to Sunderland, than they did in all four of their games, or better still they should have won their group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Us losing our best players is something we're probably going to have to get used to, but it's not really something to criticize the club about, for the simple fact all clubs lose their better players, including the best clubs in the league, and I don't mean they lose one good player every so often, every summer even the best clubs lose one or two of their better players, transfers in the women's game have completely different dynamic to the men's game, because of shorter contracts, and much lower trasfer fees, means it's much easier for them to move around We've been lucky in a way that up until now that all our better players have been in their thirties, so better positioned clubs than us much less likely to be interested, but now we're building a younger team, a consequence of that is we're at an higher risk of losing any of the ones that do well, in a strange way it would be a sign that the club is doing well, but only if we replace any players we lose with other good players, like we did when we lost Hampton in the summer, that's how the top clubs do it every summer but still remain the top clubs Point is if you've got top players in women's football, then losing some of them is inevitable, unless they're coming towards the end of their career, the key is to make sure they're replaced with players as good or better if possible Losing Blindkilde now is different though, as we don't really have time to replace her, would be pretty diastrous actually, but nothing we can do about it as she has a release clause. Also I don't think us having a better season would have made much difference, unless perhaps we were somehow challenging for top four, but that was never going to happen, the best we could have hoped for was top five, and that's still possible, even if we were challenging for top four, it's doubtful she would turn down City, they can pay much bigger wages than us, and there's nothing we can do about that even if our owners wanted to, as there is a wage cap in women's football related to revenue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recircle Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 52 minutes ago, Villanbee said: Perhaps if we hadn't made such a mess of this season, and we were building something exciting at Aston Villa women, Blindkilde wouldn't be having her head turned. She's being given the opportunity to play alongside Alex Greenwood, Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly and Bunny Shaw; even if Villa had had a miracle run this season, there's no way she's not going to be seriously tempted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 We've been drawn away to Brighton, good chance for us to reach the semi-final Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 As above Blindkilde likely to leave for City as they can pay her much more, as in women's football there is a wage cap related to revenue, it's not as if our owners can step in and just pay her what she wants We've got a lot of players coming to the end of their contracts in the summer, including what will be some relatively high earners, so in theory we could probably offer her a big wage increase then, but it's a catch 22 situation, as we will need the money saved on those leaving, to bring in replacements If she leaves this window we're in a dire situation, as losing her would mean just three midfielders in the squad, our best hope is probably to try and convince her to stay at least until the summer, and hope she feels she owes the club that have played a big part in her development at least that, we're pretty much desperate, the trouble is Man City could easily force the issue by telling her it's now or never Even if she did agree to stay it would still feel inevitable that she would be leaving in the summer, similar to Hampton situation last season, unless she signed a new contract in the mean time. It all makes the decision to let McCloughlin go out on loan all the more baffling, I could kind of understand it to a degree, as at her age needs as much game time as possible, but if Blindkilde leaving she could have got that game time with us, in the League Cup she's actually looked just as good as Blindkilde if not better, I watched some of her Rangers debut yesterday, and she looked very good for them too If Blindkilde leaving I would be trying to get Jess Park as part of the deal, she's only played 132 minutes for them this season and hasn't been injured, you could probably argue she's a better player at this moment in time, we have to do something, to let LBB go without a replacement would be crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 It seems it turns out that even if we had have been disqualified, Man Utd wouldn't have qualified for the quarters as one of the two best runners up anyway The best runners up is based on average points per game, owing to some groups having more teams than others Disqualifying us would mean Durham would have seven points from three games, which is better points average than Man Utds' nine poins from four games So disqualifying us would have meant Durham in the quarters not Man Utd 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan95 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Any sign of a defender or midfielder signing or just going to limp on til the end of the season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Laura Blindkilde set to complete her move to Man City according to Tom Garry, which means it's definitely happening unfortunately, not sure why he's saying £200k isn't much money for her though, it's a massive fee in women's football terms, the world record is only about £400k, and Blindkilde is still more about promise than anything else. Still a big blow for us, in fact for me it's the worse thing to happen this season, but as I said above, it's something you have to get used to in women's football, regardless of the club, as the players seem to move around so easiy, presumably because of shorter contracts, and lower transfer fees, it's something that hasn't affected us as much because our better players have tended to be older We're trying to bring in Miri Taylor as midfield cover on loan from Liverpool until the end of the season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Emma Sanders saying we're now desperate for midfielders in the plural, I really hope that we can bring in more than one, as were short even before Blindkilde's departure. Presumably Miri Taylor would be a stop-gap Blindkild replacement, doesn't seem the most exciting signing on the fact of it, but have seen a few comments from Liverpool fans and they seem to rate her, and have some Villa fans react postiviely to the link, truth be told most of our better signings have been the ones that might not have looked big deals at the time. Was really hoping we could get one of Jess Park or Ruby Mace from Man City, as neither getting much game time, Park would have been brilliant Blindkilde replacement, and Mace would have been ideal as an extra defender and someone who is equally as good in midfield, but either of those two were possible would have presumably been part of the Blindkilde deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachboys1 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 really think carla ward should be on borrowed time now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farlz Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 I understand it's how the women's game works and basically once the big sides come in you don't have a chance but the Blindkilde transfer really is disappointing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Very quiet considering the window closes at 11pm and that we really could do with three players, a defender, a DM, and a Blindkilde replacement, or at the very least a Blindkilde replacement and another that can play both defence and DM. Even if we can't get players we want long-term, need to find some loan stop-gaps until the end of the season, otherwise we will be left woefully short in central defence and midfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villanbee Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Well, it's six pm and she's still here. Wishful thinking? Nevertheless, this is the issue with letting players have release clauses in their contracts. It leaves you in the mire should a bigger club suddenly activate it for a player you don't want to sell. It takes the control away. Essentially, assuming the worst happens, all we've done for LBB is train her up for Man City. She's spent a couple of seasons as a squad/rotation player rather than a nailed on starter, then just as she's becoming a more regular starter, boom, she's off. I suppose we're £200k up on the deal, so maybe it's being seen as a good bit of business, as the Grealish deal was for the men's team. I'll be interested to see how it's used in preparation for next season. I don't know, but I just get the feeling that we are just making up the numbers. We constantly hear "We can't compete with the big clubs..." I hate that argument. It's small time, and that phrase should never be associated with our club. Even our manager was playing that card before the season started. Why can't we compete? I look at Man Utd, who didn't even have a women's team that long ago. They got serious, presumably splashed the cash, signed top players and coaches and within two seasons became one of the top teams in the country. In the women's game, Man Utd weren't a big club... Until they decided they wanted to be. Is there a reason they were able to do that and we can't? Have the rules changed or are they simply more ambitious/ruthless about where they want to be? Genuine question. In comparison, after the promise of last season, this season has become a damp squib to the point where we're just plodding along happy to beat Brighton, Bristol and West Ham and bigging ourselves up when we have a spirited loss against the aforementioned team that didn't even exist a few years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 She's already had her medical at Man City, only a matter of time before it's confirmed, we've probably asked Man City to delay announcing it to see if we can bring someone in first that might make it not seem so bad when it is confirmed We probably never thought anyone would trigger the release clause, £200k at the time would have been a world record or close to it, even now it's a big fee, apparently the tenth highest in WSL history, probably the only way we could get her to sign a contract extension at that point. She's had plenty of game time with us, she's played in nine of our WSL games this season, and twenty-one last season, and many of those were starts too, she was starting every game last season before Nobbs signed, and then was starting some games ahead of Lehmann on the wing, of our current squad I think only Mayling, Pachco, and Patten will have played more minutes for us The top four are way ahead of us, that's not something that can be magically changed just by insisting it shouldn't be so, the only way it can change is with a lot more investment, but that's not as easy as some think, it's not as if Sawiris and Edens can just put in as much money as they want to bring in all the top players, there's a wage cap based on revenue, so we're restricted, Man Utd are much less restricted in that sense, which is why they've been able to become as good as they have so quickly, they also didn't have to work their way up the pyramid, they were put straight into the Championship We still have a lot to play for this season, we're have a winnable quarter-final of a major tournament (funny how there was a meltdown about how Ward potentially cost us our place, but when the draw was made and it was a good one for us, no made one any mention of it whatsoever) and we're only six points off Liverpool and Spurs in the league, and we play them both in the next four games, a top six or even top five finish still not out of question, which would be a very good season, unless you're utterly deluded and thought we were going to finish top four, since Chelsea defeat we've been the fifth best in the league, we've actually taken the same amount of points as Man Utd in tha time That we could now actually make something of this season, it will be all the more baffling if when the window closes we only have three central defenders and three midfielders, as is the case as things stand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villanbee Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Genuinely always admire your positivity and your knowledge of the women's game. But I've watched nearly every game and we've looked woeful at times this season, sometimes ok but I'm struggling to think of any sustained period of time we've looked genuinely good. Do you honestly think we've got any chance of catching Spurs and Liverpool with potentially a weaker team? We've not laid a glove on either of those teams, or the top 4 this season. Best game was the opener at VP against Man U where we actually played with a bit of confidence (although they were the better team) which quickly disappeared once we were soundly beaten by Liverpool the week after. You say it's deluded to say we couldn't break into the top 4, but Liverpool are only 3 points away from Man Utd with half the season played. They've beaten Arsenal and Man U this season, so they seem to be having a good go. They are doing this season what we should have. Yet they only came back to the WSL last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Obviously if we don't strengthen then catching them is going look incredibly difficult, it's not just a matter of needing better players, it's that we don't have enough players fullstop, as it stands we only have three midfielders, and we play a three woman midfield, so we would be woefully short, some might even say neglectfully so, although appraciate the club were probably caught short by Blindkilde move, it's not just midfield where we're short either, we only have three central defenders, and we've known Parker is out for a while now. But if we can bring one or two in, then catching one of Liverpool or Spurs isn't that far fetched, they're not actually great either, when we played them it was when the team were in a rut because of ridiculously hard start to the season, so were seriously lacking in confidence at that time, we've recovered somewhat now, so hopefully should be able to give both a better game, if we actually have much of a team to face them that is We've played dreadfully at times this season, but other than Everton FA Cup game, which might actually be the worst performance since we were promoted, we've been improving of late and starting look more like we were last season We've got an incredibly important month coming up, four games that could give us something to play for in the league if we do well in them, I think ideally we need eight points, beating at least one of Liverpool or Spurs would be a big help too, and a quarter-final, hopefully we can rescue our season but as above that won't be looking likely if we leave ourselves short of players once the window closes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Miri Taylor has had a medical with us today, so presumably that will be announced soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Blindkilde to Man City now confirmed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villanbee Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Yep. A message dead on 11pm as the transfer window closed. Of course, no news about any replacements. Let's see what tomorrow brings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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