WLC F - Chelsea (N) - KO 12:15 - BBC1

[Mr HJ]

Lol, Mary was poor in that match, what did you watch?

She was the only player that protected the ball well whilst others were pushed off far too easily. She ran Bronze ragged in the first half - Plus she played in about 4 really top crosses - just Chelsea defend balls into the box better than us.

It was unlucky today but something to build on - to be fair our weaknesses are easy to see - no centre midfield to support Yui, both fullbacks are weak and without Greenwood we have no-one capable of dominating a forward. Our forward line is possibly the best in the WSL and adding Hemp to it is plenty enough to win major honours.

 

[moomba]

Disappointing but (having only watched the first 10 minutes?) gives me a bit more confidence about the next three.

 

[r.soleofsalford]

Ellen White can fuck herself

 

[Mr HJ]

You can see how much Yui cares bless her.

 

[deano ou812]

Just need to be ruthless when the chances come,and be a bit more physical against Chelsea who think they can intimidate,I honestly can see the ladies handing out a hammering to them just need that bit more belief..

 

[Kinkys Left Foot]

Take aways.
We committed 4 fouls to Chelseas 13, guess which side got 2 bookings and the other 0?

Pity that, we were the better side for long periods and didn't deserve to lose that to two frankly lucky goals. They can't have that much luck constantly.

That pitch was a dogshit beach. Embarassing for Derby County for a showpiece final.

With Greenwood and Hemp in our starting 11 we win that. Clarence doesn't outpace Greenwood for the first and we would have been carving them open on the left as well as on the right IMHO.

We have another 3 go's to get it right! Lol.

 

[chesterbells]

That really sums up our year - awful from Ouahbi that was a 60/40 tackle and she lost it.Then just unlucky. I hope this shows the women that Chelsea are not as good as everyone seems to think and have needed 2 errors to score today.

Completely agree with every word of that pal.

 

[hertsblue]

We committed 4 fouls to Chelseas 13, guess which side got 2 bookings and the other 0?

Always the way with them, they are so protected by officials

 

[rodrizontal]

Who was better than Mary Fowler, for City, today?

Fujino, Prior, Yamashita and arguably Ouahabi were all better than Fowler.

 

[bluealf]

I thought Chelsea were very lucky to get the win today, a clinical City would have buried them.

A cruel way to lose.

 

[Xhavenjoe]

Lol, Mary was poor in that match, what did you watch?

I thought she was one of our better players.
She certainly wasn't poor.

 

[JRockBlues]

I thought Chelsea were very lucky to get the win today, a clinical City would have buried them.

A cruel way to lose.

That's the one thing we don't seem to be though at the moment. Create so many chances but either snatch at them or just miss out in some other way. Bunny still thinks she has to be the one to get the goals all the time and sometimes there are better options available. We were the better footballing team today but Chelsea probably had more of the better opportunities to score. We need to get a lot more out of Roord and the way she's been playing recently I might be tempted to play Coombs in that position instead.

 

[nmc]

That really sums up our year - awful from Ouahbi that was a 60/40 tackle and she lost it.Then just unlucky. I hope this shows the women that Chelsea are not as good as everyone seems to think and have needed 2 errors to score today.

Ouahbi Is very poor. A genuine weak link.

 

[Mr HJ]

Ouahbi Is very poor. A genuine weak link.

I agree - she has a very good left foot but her defending is at times comical. She seems like a really nice person but we need more than that!

I also think it's crazy we have not seen a minute of Tara O'Hanlon or Risa Shimizu this year. I hope Weinrother gets an outing in the next games.

 

[born2bblu]

Mary Fowler really is talented - maybe worth playing her alongside Yui as we are too easily pushed off the ball & without Alex don't have a player capable of winning 50/50's - that is the only difference in these two teams.

Positives are all our Japanese players and Mary.

We can beat these in the CL and WSL match.

I agree that Fowler is really talented. I also think she has the potential, if she keeps working hard, to become one of the world’s best. She was the best in the first half today. But I don’t think she should play next to Hasegawa. If anything, she should play next to Shaw in a front two. That could be devastating to many defensive lines. One reason for our plight is that some of our best players are playing out of their natural positions; a favorite strategy of our sacked genius, and I hope Cushing will start straightening things up. In my opinion, Hasegawa should play as attacking midfielder. She excels for Japan in that position. I know we now have Miedema and Roord (who should be benched), but I won’t be surprised that Hasegawa will do better than any of them as attacking midfielder. Another example is Aleixandri who should play as defensive or box to box midfielder, like what she does very well for Spain. She is obviously struggling as a central defender (particularly in Greenwood’s absence) because that is not natural for her. I guess when we start using our top players in their natural positions, we will improve significantly.

 

[Aba452]

Considering how dominant Chelsea have been in the wsl I thought they were shite, they play route one and and rather thuggish. By contrast we had some good passes but just like the men were wasteful in front of goal, and were too easily brushed off the ball.

Think both ramirez and bright were detestable players for them, reffing standard in wsl has been piss poor and the pitch was dreadful. Need to really raise our game for CL and wsl otherwise it'll be another season drifting away.

 

[JRockBlues]

I agree that Fowler is really talented. I also think she has the potential, if she keeps working hard, to become one of the world’s best. She was the best in the first half today. But I don’t think she should play next to Hasegawa. If anything, she should play next to Shaw in a front two. That could be devastating to many defensive lines. One reason for our plight is that some of our best players are playing out of their natural positions; a favorite strategy of our sacked genius, and I hope Cushing will start straightening things up. In my opinion, Hasegawa should play as attacking midfielder. She excels for Japan in that position. I know we now have Miedema and Roord (who should be benched), but I won’t be surprised that Hasegawa will do better than any of them as attacking midfielder. Another example is Aleixandri who should play as defensive or box to box midfielder, like what she does very well for Spain. She is obviously struggling as a central defender (particularly in Greenwood’s absence) because that is not natural for her. I guess when we start using our top players in their natural positions, we will improve significantly.

We are far too top heavy in our squad balance. There are 8 players vying for the 4 attacking positions that we normally line up with and cases could be made for all of them being a starter. The link forward especially has Miedema, Fowler, Park and Roord all by itself meaning at least 2 play in a different position and the other misses out. Roord, I think is supposed to play as a #8 but I'm not sure whether she's not regained her fitness levels since her ACL injury or that she doesn't see herself as having defensive responsibilities..

We do not have proper cover for either the #8 position (unless LBB develops quicker than she has been) or for Hasegawa in the DM role (and we know what happened in the men's team here). Aleixandri hasn't played as a midfielder for Spain probably in over a year and plays as a central defender for the national team as well as us nowadays. She doesn't have great strength or speed (as we saw repeatedly today) but is fine in that position if partnered with a more dominant type rather than a youngster trying to make her way in the game. Unfortunately it's a needs must at the moment due to the injuries to Greenwood and Knaak.

 

[Bigga]

Fujino, Prior, Yamashita and arguably Ouahabi were all better than Fowler.

Fujino was, maybe, par not better.

Goal aside, she had unusually poor delivery in the game.

The others? Not a chance.

 

[magman]

Fujino has been good but was too slow sliding that ball to Shaw on that chance she had that the Chelsea keeper came out and stopped. Shaw needs to be quicker and better with her passing. Team needs to find another good CB. Tough loss to a team that always finds a way to win. Let's get this next one.

 

[Bigga]

I agree that Fowler is really talented. I also think she has the potential, if she keeps working hard, to become one of the world’s best. She was the best in the first half today. But I don’t think she should play next to Hasegawa. If anything, she should play next to Shaw in a front two. That could be devastating to many defensive lines. One reason for our plight is that some of our best players are playing out of their natural positions; a favorite strategy of our sacked genius, and I hope Cushing will start straightening things up. In my opinion, Hasegawa should play as attacking midfielder. She excels for Japan in that position. I know we now have Miedema and Roord (who should be benched), but I won’t be surprised that Hasegawa will do better than any of them as attacking midfielder. Another example is Aleixandri who should play as defensive or box to box midfielder, like what she does very well for Spain. She is obviously struggling as a central defender (particularly in Greenwood’s absence) because that is not natural for her. I guess when we start using our top players in their natural positions, we will improve significantly.

Been saying this about Fowler and Hasegawa for the longest!