Aston Villa Women

[sne]

Only watched the last 5-10 minutes and City could have scored 5 in that period. The finally did just now sadly. Villa goalie having quite the workout.

[DaoDeMings]

Just now, sne said:

Only watched the last 5-10 minutes and City could have scored 5 in that period. The finally did just now sadly. Villa goalie having quite the workout.

We were looking really solid until about the time you tuned in...

[Recircle]

Irksome that Chelsea won the title (by the looks of it, United were absolutely lamentable today), but congrats to Hannah Hampton. She started and ended the season on the bench, but in between had a good run as first-choice keeper.

[ferguson1]

Disappointed to end the season with a defeat but expected really.  We were dogged and worked hard but the gulf today was plain to see.

I really hope the club back whoever comes in to replace Carla. The WSL is growing fast and we need to keep pace with it. Continued investment in the team is greatly needed.

Thanks again Carla for all your hard work and for some great memories

[Recircle]

9 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

Thanks again Carla for all your hard work and for some great memories

Well said and seconded.

[useless]

Disappointing loss, although not unexpected, if anything was expecting a bigger defeat in the circumstances, but still disappointing

Pleased that City didn't win the league though, I remember when they signed Blindkilde some of their fans tryng to rub it in saying they will look forward to celebrating the title at Villa Park, also Ward saying she begged Gareth Taylor not to sign Blindkilde in January as it would really hurt us, but they still did and then hardly used her until today

Big summer for us now

[VillaChris]

Pretty much summed up the season that game.

Completely dominated by a far superior team in the first half and hardly had an attack.

Then out of little Rachel Daly superbly finishes off a chance.

Then immediately concede and lose the game. Of course Man. City are much better but at 1-1 they knew they weren't winning the league and getting a point off them would've been ending the season on a high.

Been as much of a mid table season as you can get really and this year has shown how difficult it will be to break into the top part of the table as there's a far bigger gulf to those teams than in the Men's game imo.

[Farlz]

Shame to lose but think we defended really well.

As said by everyone in this thread, big summer months ahead for us. 5th and 7th is a solid base to build on, really hope we can kick on and continue investment into the side and general women's structure. We want all parts of the club pulling in the same direction. 

[Recircle]

18 minutes ago, useless said:

Pleased that City didn't win the league

It became a bit of a long shot after they let Arsenal in right at the end the other week, but I wanted City to do it. City's women's team is easier to admire than its men's team, plus Emma Hayes has become hard to like. It's a particular shame for Hasegawa to miss out on a WSL winner's medal; she's been a joy to watch pulling strings in the middle for City.

[Villanbee]

22 minutes ago, useless said:

Disappointing loss, although not unexpected, if anything was expecting a bigger defeat in the circumstances, but still disappointing

Pleased that City didn't win the league though, I remember when they signed Blindkilde some of their fans tryng to rub it in saying they will look forward to celebrating the title at Villa Park, also Ward saying she begged Gareth Taylor not to sign Blindkilde in January as it would really hurt us, but they still did and then hardly used her until today

Big summer for us now

I feel exactly the same way.

Was hoping they would fall short because of the Blindkilde situation.  I didn't want Blindkilde to win anything because I believe she let us down. She's so young, she could have got her dream move over the close season but instead jumped ship when we needed her.

If City rated her that highly, then they would have come back for her in the close season.  Instead she's warmed City's bench for the second half of the season when she could have started routinely for us.

She wouldn't have played today for as long as she did if it hadn't been as an injury sub.

[useless]

I don't really have anything against Blindkilde, in her situation I feel she almost probably had no choice, wages in women's football are nowhere near the level of men's football, where if a top level player is offered a better deal they can afford to wait because they're most probably already millionaires and being paid tens of thousand a week, but for Blindkile the increase in her wages probably made a massive difference to her life that she couldn't afford to turn down, I think most WSL players get less in a year than what the average Premier League player gets in a week

Of course she could have waited until the summer perhaps, but we don't know what kind of pressure Mancehster City put on her, she might have been told if she doesn't sign then they might not come back for her in the summer, she was basically an emergency signing for them after Roord's injury, as good and promising she is, if not for that I'm not sure any of the top four would have been coming in for her, not yet anyway, so she got an opportunity that otherwise might not have come this soon and may never have come again and so took it

We didn't have time to bring in a replacement in January, but hopefully we look to bring in a top quality replacement of a similar profile in the summer

Edited May 18 by useless

[useless]

Manchester City announce that Demi Stokes, Ruby Mace, Ellie Roebuck, and Filippa Angeldahl are leaving them.

Mace and Roebuck are the profile of player we should be going for

[MattVillaPortsmouth]

Just back from game, as said by a few it pretty much summed up our season, offered little going forward, defended well but was an air of inevitability - there is still a good team in there, just hasn’t really clicked this year. Subs for me again were strange, fought Taylor was at least showing for the ball and tried to move it forward - no idea how Dali and nobbs stayed on.

Great to see Carla get a good send off, no matter this season she has done so much for the club, and I don’t think she is finished - sounds like she is working out a role within the club. 

Big summer ahead, get the right person in and back them we can continue to build - lots of players moving around on frees.

In regard to Laura, I thought she was class today - really showed up what we are missing.

UTV

[briny_ear]

6 hours ago, sne said:

Only watched the last 5-10 minutes and City could have scored 5 in that period. The finally did just now sadly. Villa goalie having quite the workout.

Thanks for summarising (mansplaining?) the match based on watching 10 minutes max. If you had watched the whole thing you would know we put in a battling performance against a vastly superior side. Their sudden burst of energy came after we equalised and threatened them with an embarrassing end to their season. Even during that 10 minutes of extreme pressure we defended very well.

It’s been a solid mid-tableish sort of season but there are some foundations there for progress next season, maybe enough to persuade some commentators to watch for at least, say 15-20 minutes before letting us have the benefit of their wisdom. 

[sne]

23 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Thanks for summarising (mansplaining?) the match based on watching 10 minutes max. If you had watched the whole thing you would know we put in a battling performance against a vastly superior side. Their sudden burst of energy came after we equalised and threatened them with an embarrassing end to their season. Even during that 10 minutes of extreme pressure we defended very well.

It’s been a solid mid-tableish sort of season but there are some foundations there for progress next season, maybe enough to persuade some commentators to watch for at least, say 15-20 minutes before letting us have the benefit of their wisdom. 

Yeah thanks. I stumbled across the part of the game that I did, no judgement about anything else, just that part. You do you and create whatever scenario you feel enhanses your point of view.

[useless]

I wonder if Tanya Oxtoby could be a contender for our new manager, was at Bristol City at the same time as Lee Billiard who is supposedly identifying our targets, did well at Bristol City, despite one of the lowest budgets in the league, similar to Carla at small heath, one season even managed to get them to sixth, then spend three years as Emma Hayes' assistant at Chelseas, she left them to become manager of Northern Ireland where she still is now, whether she would be prepared to leave them for us I don't know

Her wikipedia says she also played a big part in the devlopment of Ebony Salmon, Poppy Patinson, Katie Robinson, and Aimee Palmer, someone good at bringing through young players wouldn't be a bad option for us the club has spend a lot on that side of things according to Emma Sanders

Also notice that Billiard has appointed Matt Beard twice, once at Boston Breakers, and then as interim boss at Bristol City when Oxtoby took maternity leave. Beard unlikely, but Oxtoby could be interesting

Edited May 19 by useless

[useless]

Just watching Ward's post game press conference and she says she could look to return management in six months, so if she does take on another role with us might only be temporary, although she did joke she could return as our manager if her replacement doesn't do well and gets sacked in December

She also says she's not involved in the search for her replacement, as that would be 'unfair', and told Lee Billiard that she doesn't want to know anything about it, as if the players ask her what's going on she can't lie to them

[useless]

Everton have announced that their assistant manager Chris Roberts is leaving them, could he be coming to us as what would presumably be a cheap option? Has been Everton's interim manager as well, and will have worked with a number of our players who are ex Everton, he was also at Bristol City, but I think that mght have been before Lee Billiard's time there. Another possiblity is that Willie Kirk is set to get another job, and Roberts is going to be his assistant, as they have already worked together at Everton and Hibernian, although I hope we're not going t appoint Kirk

There's talk of Arsenal manager leaving them, but whether he would be a possibility for us, I don't know, we do have three ex Arsenal players that he would know, possibly four if that Arsenal keeper signs and depending on whether Nobbs stays, plus our assistant Leanne Hall worked as his assistant manager for a while, also whether he actually gets the sack is another thing too

Another possibility could be Sam Rose, as our sudden upturn in form and then downturn, kind of coincided with his arrival and departure, not saying he was entirely responsible for our good 22/23 season, but seems he played a big part on the coaching side of things

Would be fine with any of Melissa Phillips, Laura Harvey, Tanya Oxtoby, Jo Potter, or Remi Allen, or if Monchi and Vidigany know of any top Spanish coaches we could get, they as a nation seem to tbe doing well at women's football at the moment, or a coach from anywhere, doesn't have to be UK based or Spain, i'm sure there must be some good managers from other leagues

[DaoDeMings]

5 minutes ago, useless said:

Everton have announced that their assistant manager Chris Roberts is leaving them, could he be coming to us as what would presumably be a cheap option? Has been Everton's interim manager as well, and will have worked with a number of our players who are ex Everton, he was also at Bristol City, but I think that mght have been before Lee Billiard's time there. Another possiblity is that Willie Kirk is set to get another job, and Roberts is going to be his assistant, as they have already worked together at Everton and Hibernian, although I hope we're not going t appoint Kirk

There's talk of Arsenal manager leaving them, but whether he would be a possibility for us, I don't know, we do have three ex Arsenal players that he would know, possibly four if that Arsenal keeper signs and depending on whether Nobbs stays, plus our assistant Leanne Hall worked as his assistant manager for a while, also whether he actually gets the sack is another thing too

Another possibility could be Sam Rose, as our sudden upturn in form and then downturn, kind of coincided with his arrival and departure, not saying he was entirely responsible for our good 22/23 season, but seems he played a big part on the coaching side of things

Would be fine with any of Melissa Phillips, Laura Harvey, Tanya Oxtoby, Jo Potter, or Remi Allen, or if Monchi and Vidigany know of any top Spanish coaches we could get, they as a nation seem to tbe doing well at women's football at the moment, or a coach from anywhere, doesn't have to be UK based or Spain, i'm sure there must be some good managers from other leagues

Can't say I know enough about the women's game to comment on the managerial pick, but I reckon with the trajectory of the club and the ambitions of the women's team, we'll maybe try and go for a more marquee-type managerial appointment. Depends how much the club is willing to invest given a slightly disappointing year this time around and the financial restrains already evident in the men's team

[useless]

I don't know a great deal about the potential managers, just referencing the obvious names, and in Tanya Oxtoby's case someone who Lee Billiard has worked with before. Would be nice to see them make an ambitious move though, Tom Garry said it will be an attractive position for top managers because of how big the WSL is becoming, but we will see.